Gary Kemp(I)
- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
Gary Kemp was born in Islington, London in October 1959. On his 10th
birthday, he got his first guitar from his parents. In the 70s, he and
his younger brother, Martin Kemp,
went to learn drama at Anna Scher's acting school. Then, in 1978, Gary
Kemp formed "The Makers". After Richard Miller left, his brother
replaced him on bass. That's when Gary changed the name to
Spandau Ballet. Spandau's break came in
March 1980 when they were filmed for a documentary on ITV. When the
documentary was broadcast, the record companies were bursting out of
their ears. They chose to sign to Chrysalis, as they were offered the
most money. For 10 years, they had hits like "To Cut a Long Story
Short" (1980), "Chant No. 1 (I don't need this pressure on)" (1981),
"True" (1983), "Gold" (1983), "Only When You Leave" (1984) and "Through
the Barricades" (1986). After
Spandau Ballet completed a tour in 1987,
Gary and Martin decided to go into acting once again. They auditioned
for the part in The Krays (1990) and,
in 1989, they played "Ronald" and "Reggie". Soon afterwards this,
Spandau Ballet would split. During the
'90s, Gary continued to act, most notably playing a part in
The Bodyguard (1992). In 1999, Gary
was involved in a court battle over £1,000,000 royalties against
John Keeble,
Steve Norman and
Tony Hadley, his 3 other bandmates. Gary won
the case. However, in March 2009, all 5 members of
Spandau Ballet called a truce, and they
announced on the HMS Belfast in London that they would be reuniting for
a world tour later in the year.
