'I've been there, got the T-shirt – now I can enjoy life'

Former Spandau Ballet star Martin Kemp on leaving his party boy days behind, his family movie archive, and the magic of making memories

- WORDS: KENZI DEVINE

He may have been the life of the party at the height of his music career but, these days, Martin Kemp prefers his home comforts. “I always used to look at myself as an anecdote vampire.

I would go out every night and stay until I had a great anecdote to tell around the table the next day. I guess these days you'd call it fear of missing out,” laughs the former Spandau Ballet star as he sits down for a chat at his Hertfordshire home. And while he clearly looks back on his past with fond memories, Martin, 63, is a far cry from the party boy he once was.

“I think nowadays, the fear of missing out doesn’t come into it any more,” he says. “I kind of feel like I’ve been there, I’ve got the T-shirt — now I can just enjoy life.”

Away from work, enjoying life means spending time in his garden and relaxing at home with wife Shirlie, also 63, as he beams, “I like to exercise in the morning, not for the exercise aspect of it but just to go out and get my headspace.

“Then I love spending a lot of time in my garden. Being out there gives me real peace of mind, you know, and I can be out in the garden for hours. Shirlie and I will often take pictures of it over the seasons to see how it changes.”

Martin tied the knot with Shirlie — who found fame in the 1980s as a backing singer for Wham! and one half of pop duo Pepsi & Shirlie — in 1988, making it one of the longest-standing marriages in show business. Is there a secret to their success?