JOURNEYS TO GLORY

Gary reveals True colours; Spandau Ballet creator Gary Kemp may have fallen out with some members of the band, but there's still one he's pals with - brother Martin. (Features)

Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland); 9/23/2000; Brown, Merle

GARY KEMP may not be as famous these days as his EastEnders- starring brother Martin, but there's no hint of jealousy from the man who created '80s superband Spandau Ballet.

While Martin has become one of the best known and best loved faces on our TV sets through his role as bad boy Steve Owen on the BBC soap, Gary has continued working at what he does best - songwriting.

He's also playing a drug baron called Jesus in a Film Four and Tiger Aspect movie, Dog Eat Dog, and has written a musical about Irish poet WB Yeats after falling in love with his work when he lived in Ireland in the '80s.

Back in the late '70s, Gary formed Spandau with his brother Martin and John Keeble, Steve Norman and Tony Hadley.

Together they made the transition from cult club band to one of the biggest pop bands in the world.

His brother Martin might not have been known to any of us at all if it hadn't been for Gary and the band's manager, Steve Dagger.

"We actually had another bass player in the band," Gary reveals. "But then Steve saw Martin at the bar at one of our gigs and said, 'Look at him, he's a pop star, get him in the band'. I tried to explain that Martin couldn't play the bass to save his life, but he said I should teach him.

"So we got Martin in and I spent hours teaching him how to play.

"It was a great move; he was a real pop star. He wore outrageous clothes and that was what he wore every day. That's how it was back then - we didn't have stage gear.

"Martin was very good looking and all the girls followed him around - he was great to have in the band."

Following the demise of the band in the early '90s, after Martin and Gary had starred together in hit movie The Krays, thing went horribly wrong for the younger Kemp when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Gary admits it was one of the worst times in his life.

"I thought, 'That should be me' when I heard he had a brain tumour. I gave him a laptop because he thought he was going to die and wanted to write for his kids. Of course he didn't bloody die and here he is now with his story in the best-selling list, and he's making a mint.

"But, seriously, I am very proud of my brother, he's a great guy and so talented.

"He told me he'd been offered EastEnders and he wasn't sure, but I said just do it - and he's now one of the biggest celebrities in the country.

"He's a star, my brother, and we are very close. He's such a pro as well, everyone seems to love him. Even tough interviewers like Frank Skinner, Clive Anderson and Mark Lamaar haven't given him a hard time.

"I told him to be careful when meeting guys like that, but there's been no need for it because they all love him.

"One of the best things we did together recently was a Des O'Connor chat show about celebrity siblings."

Gary himself is no stranger to stardom. He started out in a cult band and ended up at the peak of his career as a sought-after leading man.

In the early '90s he was living the Hollywood dream as an A list actor with his then wife, actress Sadie Frost.

Dreams don't last forever and now Gary is back in London on his own. But life is still good.

Ten years on from the end of his Spandau Ballet days he's quite happy to reminisce about the good - and bad - times.

"I went to LA with my wife Sadie after the breakdown of Spandau, to act," he says.

"Martin and I had success with The Krays and acting was something I wanted to do at that time.

"I did The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, and Sadie did Dracula. It was amazing out there really, we were right up there at the top of the pile. We had a big house high in the Hollywood Hills and the first year I had a birthday party there and everyone turned up - all these famous people that I had never even met.

"But then a year later we were living further down the hill, and we had another party and it was like, Sadie, me and a few friends. No one came. And that told us it was time to go.

"But there were good times. Doing The Bodyguard was excellent. Whitney Houston sang gospel in the morning and was so nice.

"Kevin? Well, he was more, er, reserved. I had to audition in front of him four times which was a little nerve-wracking to say the least.

"When I first met him he told me that he and his wife had got married to True. That was just amazing. And he sang it badly as well, when he told me."

True was Spandau Ballet's defining moment. It was their first No1 success, and the song which put them in the big league.

"We got two million airplays in America, which was amazing.

"Being No1 was fantastic, and it was such a big deal back then. It took a lot of sales to get there and you stayed there for longer - not like now."

Unfortunately relations between the former Spandau members turned sour last year when Hadley, Keeble and Norman sued Gary for more than pounds 1 million in royalties they claimed they were owed.

They lost. Gary won everything, including Keeble and Norman's drums and saxophone.

It's no surprise really as Gary - articulate and intelligent - is not the kind of man used to losing. All the way through the interview and photo shoot, he is self-assured, perfectly in control of his words and image.

Hadley, Keeble and Norman were brave men to take him on - and probably a lot wiser after they had lost.

Despite his victory over his former Spandau pals, Gary admits to a tinge of sadness about the way things have turned out.

"I am very disappointed it happened," he says. "And sad, in a way. It was unbelievable it came to that.

"But it hasn't tainted the memory of the period for me completely. I think when we did call it a day, it was time to do so.

"I think releasing the Greatest Hits album now is a good time to do it. There is enough distance now to look back on it without any bias."

The court case is not something Gary wishes to dwell on. He'd rather reminisce about the good old days - so much so that he gets the band's manager, Steve Dagger, involved.

He calls Steve, who still works with him, on his mobile phone to check the names of various venues they played at in Scotland.

And before I know it, Gary has passed his phone to me, saying that Steve wants to tell me a story.

I take the phone and listen as Dagger recounts one of Spandau's tour dates in Glasgow, when hordes of screaming girls ambushed the hotel the band were staying in, much to the chagrin of a "supercilious manager who had such an obvious toupee".

This manager reckoned he could stop the girls from entering his hotel, ignored Steve's warning and went outside to speak to them.

He was knocked over in the rush, and lost his toupee as well as his footing. You could sit with Gary Kemp and listen to stories like this forever.

We've already gone well over our allotted time, but he seems happy to carry on.

He gabs away freely about his ex-wife Sadie and her new family, actor Jude Law and their son Rafferty.

"I was just on holiday with Sadie, Jude, and both the kids. Then they left and I spent more time on my own with my son Finlay. He's the most important thing to me.

"That's why it's important that we all get on - and we do."

He berates today's lack of musical talent.

"I like Radiohead," he says when asked. And that's it.

He reckons this is the "archive generation".

"Back in the '80s," he explains, "we would never have bought stuff from the '60s like the Beatles or The Stones.

"It wasn't until a lot later that I started collecting stuff from the past on CD.

But these days I just think people spend their money on different things, and music has suffered because of that.

"There isn't really a sound of this generation, apart from the dance explosion of course.

"I think more and more people are buying music of their past."

With Spandau Ballet entering the album charts at No 8 with their recently released Greatest Hits album, it looks like he's right.