'They're brilliant songs and they're a major part of my life'

Singer Tony Hadley on Spandau Ballet, putting a big-band spin on their pop hits and why his next tour is set to go with a swing

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At 64, some might think former Spandau Ballet frontman Tony Hadley would no longer have the vocal power he once displayed as he belted out the band’s huge hits including True, Gold and Through The Barricades.

But four decades on, the singer says he is still able to perform in the very same keys that he did back in the 80s when he and his New Romantic bandmates were topping the charts.

As Tony takes to the road again with a brand new big band tour later this year, he says he is loving his work — which very much does not include a Spandau reunion any time soon.

“Yeah, the old chops still work,” he laughed. “I’m lucky. I work quite a lot with orchestras in Europe and a couple of years ago, I was in Holland. I remember the conductor came up to me and he said, ‘These scores are in the original key?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘But you are very old.’ Being very direct and very Dutch — he didn’t pull any punches. But I haven’t dropped any of the keys. In fact, I probably can sing with more control and power and range than I could when I was 25.”

Tony will never shy away from performing the much-loved Spandau Ballet hits that made him famous.

He said: “I've always got to do those songs. They’re brilliant songs and they’re a major part of my life and a major part of other people’s lives, too. I'll be doing four or five Spandau numbers in among about two hours of playing.”

The original Spandau Ballet line-up — Tony, Gary Kemp and his brother Martin, John Keeble and Steve Norman — first split in 1990 after notching up eight UK top 10 albums and 10 UK top 10 hits. After a bitter legal dispute between Gary and the trio of Tony, John and Steve, over songwriting royalties, the band reformed in 2009. But in 2017, following two years of inactivity, Tony announced he had left due to “circumstances beyond my control”.