Tony Hadley is getting in the festive mood with a Christmas tour beginning this month but the season for forgiveness does not stretch to one of his former bandmates.
The singer, 66, whose vocals for Spandau Ballet on "Gold and True" are among the most memorable of the Eighties New Romantic era, says that he keeps up with some band members but there would "have to be a lot of bridges built" before he could share a stage with Gary Kemp again.
"As young musicians, we had this idea of forming this utopian sort of union where everything was gonna be great and fluffy and wonderful, and then it wasn't," Tony tells HELLO!.
© GettyGary, who wrote all of the band's hits, is entitled to all songwriting royalties. In 1999, Tony and two fellow band members sued Gary for a share of the royalties and lost. Although they reconciled in 2009, Tony quit the band again in 2017. Tony now says he doesn't "have a problem with Martin", Gary's younger brother, but Gary is another matter.
"I don't regret anything I did, absolutely not. I don't believe in regrets. But I wish it hadn't happened.
"Whether [bridges] could ever be rebuilt, I don't know. There's been a lot of things said and done. I'm not sure whether we could ever overcome it, but who knows? You never know."
Deep conversation with Diana
Tony, who now performs with his own band, recalls that one of his happier memories with Spandau Ballet was when they met Princess Diana at Kensington Palace in the Eighties.
© Getty Images"We got in such a heavy conversation about music and life and everything else in Kensington Palace that she had to be reminded by an aide that she had various other people [to meet], not just me. We literally got into an endless conversation about life and music and how grand it was and what it was like being in a band and what it was like to be a princess."
At another royal encounter, at his investiture for his MBE in 2022, Tony was under strict instructions about how to behave in front of Princess Anne. "My wife Ali said, whatever you do, don't start gesticulating."
Tony says that he likes to think he has Italian blood because of his habit of using his hands while talking.
"I just can't stop. Before you knew it I was [gesticulating wildly]. She was just laughing at me. I think she thought I was quite amusing – either that or a pain in the arse."
New grandson joy
Tony's latest joy is his grandson Freddie, who was born in May 2025 and may soon be staying with his grandfather to give his mother, Toni, 40, a break.
© Getty Images"He's now walking and just pulling everything off the shelf. You've literally got to watch him all the time. Freddie is just full on-lunatic. He's brilliant, but you just have to follow him everywhere he goes."
Is that what he was like as a child? "I think my brother Steve was probably the naughty one. I was the one that drove my mum and dad [mad] because I was always getting into some sort of shenanigans or climbing a tree that was far too high for me and then falling off."
Tony, who has five children – three with his first wife, Leonie, who he split with in 2003 after 20 years of marriage, and two with his wife Alison, who he married in 2009 – is looking forward to being with his family at Christmas after his tour. "Every year I keep thinking, is it going to be a quiet year? It's never quiet yet. We're off to Chile next year, we're off to America."
Tony, who lives in Buckinghamshire, says he loves Christmas. "For the first time in a few years, I'll be able to go to the village carol concert and go to the pantomime."
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