Music

Islington schoolfriends Gary Kemp, Tony Hadley, Steve Norman, John Keeble and Richard Miller formed a band, The Makers, in 1979. These style-obsessed soulboys had seen the exciting initial possibilities of punk fade to grey and headed back into a succession of clubs such as Billy’s, The Blitz, Le Beat Route and Le Kilt to dance to Bowie, ’70s funk and German electronica. With Miller replaced by Kemp’s brother Martin, and following an inspirational trip to Berlin, they changed their name to Spandau Ballet. Feature continues

They did learn one thing from punk: the importance of hype – never a problem when they had future BBC London 94.9 DJ Robert Elms onboard to give their every move some appropriately pretentious spin. After just a handful of gigs the band found themselves being courted by every A&R man in London and even rejected the advances of Island Records because they wanted total control over ‘graphic, visual and stylistic rights’. Keen for one last try at the best deal possible with a label that wouldn’t stop them from wearing their kilts, manager Steve Dagger – at the suggestion of his Berwick Street market trader father – booked the Belfast show.

The former Royal Navy battle cruiser – which had survived World War II – didn’t know what had hit it. The crew were expecting a party of students and a five-piece supper band; what they got was the debauched and flamboyant cream of London’s party set. ‘Philip Salon [notorious transvestite club promoter] turned up in a wedding dress covered in lightbulbs and saying, “Where can I plug myself in?” ’ recalled Gary Kemp in 2003. Perhaps it was a result of the ‘free buffet’ advertised on the poster, but the gig was a success. Just three months later the band were signed to Chrysalis and on ‘Top Of The Pops’ performing their debut single, ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’.