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Martin Kemp made a cheeky dig at former Spandau Ballet bandmate Tony Hadley after he was axed from I’m A Celebrity.
The singer and actor, 64, appeared on Good Morning Britain today to discuss his exit from the TV show and couldn’t resist making a little quip at Tony’s expense.
They famously fell out in 2017 after Tony quit the band following a period of heightened tension.
Hosts Charlotte Hawkins and Adil Ray asked Martin to talk more about his revelation on the reality programme that he had once auditioned for James Bond.
Martin laughed and admitted that it was an anecdote he had ‘dined out on for years’ after 007 producer Barbara Broccoli asked him to come in and read for the part when he was living in LA.
However, he suggested that now he’d rather play a ‘James Bond baddie’ – but when Adil suggested Martin should be the suave spy and his brother and fellow Spandau Ballet star Gary Kemp could be the villain, Martin responded: ‘Are you coming in as Tony Hadley?’
He then laughed and said ‘yeah, you get it’ as Adil suggested himself for the role of Moneypenny.
Spandau Ballet – comprised of bass player Martin, vocalist Tony, guitar player and singer Gary, saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keenle – were at the height of their fame in the 1980s with hits such as True and Gold.
However, they split in 1990, with Tony, Steve and John later launching legal action against songwriter Gary and his company for a share of Spandau Ballet’s songwriting royalties, which they lost.
It appeared they could overcome any hard feelings as the group reformed in 2009 for a greatest hits world tour before Tony – who did I’m A Celebrity in 2015 – left for good in 2017, quitting the band in favour of solo work.
In 2021, he claimed his former bandmates had ‘made my life pretty impossible’, saying that he ‘wasn’t going to repeat the usual diatribe but they know why I left the band’.
‘You don’t just leave a band like Spandau Ballet just because for the fun of it,’ he shared on Loose Women.
‘It was a very difficult decision, but they made my life pretty impossible.
‘One day I wish they’d be honest and someone had asked them why did Tone leave?’
Spandau Ballet’s reaction to his leaving suggested it wasn’t the outcome they wanted, with the group’s response to his official exit announcement reading: ‘Much to our frustration, Tony had made it clear in September 2016 that he didn’t want to work with the band anymore. This has not changed and 2015 was the last time we were able to perform or work with him. So we have now made the decision to move on as a band.’
They replaced him as frontman with West End actor Ross William Wild – real name Ross Davidson – before splitting again in 2019.
In 2024, Davidson was convicted of one count of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of voyeurism at Wood Green Crown Court following three women coming forward.
Tony maintained to Metro in 2022 that Spandau Ballet’s feud wasn’t his fault, stating that it was ‘never my intention to leave’.
‘But there were certain actions they took against me that just weren’t very pleasant,’ he continued.
‘And it got to the point where I just couldn’t do it anymore. If these are supposed to be my friends, who needs enemies?
‘People need to know it wasn’t my fault. You don’t leave a band like Spandau Ballet because they put sugar in your tea.’
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