Brief Biography of Spandau Ballet
At the first sound of their name, you
will mistake it as another form of ballet that originated in
Spandau. Seemingly funny but this has been the common mistake of a
number of people.
Spandau Ballet is an all European
musical group composed of five men namely Tony Hadley (vocals), Gary
Kemp (guitar), Steve Norman (saxophone and percussion), Martin Kemp
(bass guitar) and John Keeble (drums). Highly considered as one of
the classic favorites- they were hailed as a brave, original and
innovative band. Emerging from London’s underground and club scene
of the late 70’s, they broke new ground for styles of electronic
dance rhythms and white funk. They notched up 20 hit singles and
spent a combined total of nearly 500 weeks in the UK charts and
achieved album sales in excess of 20 million copies worldwide.
To date, Spandau Ballet has 12 albums
which were all internationally acclaimed. They are the following:
Journeys To Glory (1981), Diamond (1982), True (1983), Parade
(1984), The Singles Collection (1985), The Twelve Inch Mixes (1986),
Through The Barricades (1986), Heart Like A Sky (1989), The Best of
Spandau Ballet (1991), Gold: The Best Of Spandau Ballet, Reformation
(2003) and Spandau Ballet Live.
Before their world-wide success,
Spandau Ballet had their own share of humble beginnings. They often
played to crowds in the smokey pubs of the East End. After a short
trip to Berlin, a major turnaround happened and the rest as they
say, is history. By the fall of 1979, November 17th to be
exact, a studio was rented with 50 people witnessing the unveiling
of the new Spandau Ballet. The debut concert was a smashing
sensation that they embarked on gigs only at the most fashionable
and trendy spots in London. They began to soar in popularity with
their hits where several dealers have been chasing after them. One
offer came from Chris Blackwell of Island Records. Spandau Ballet,
however, did not wish to sign to any which they thought could put
them “at risk of losing their identity and autonomy.” Finally, in
October of 1980, they had a record agreement to Chrysalis.
Today, their original compositions
are still much in the airwaves through revivals of modern artists
like the Backstreet Bots, Black Eyed Peas, Teddy Riley, Rui da Silva
and Nelly. Perhaps the most winsome was PM Dawn’s Set Adrift On
Memory Bliss, an interpolation of True which took the no.1 spot on
the Billboard charts. They have also been featured as soundtracks in
Hollywood blockbusters such as The Wedding Singer and Charlie’s
Angels.
If you are still wondering where they
got their name, it was actually derived from an inscription on a
wall near a prison in Spandau, a town in Berlin, Germany.
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