✱ Three new dates booking for next year: Steve Norman Live & Personal will be an intimate encounter including an acoustic performance at PizzaExpress Live in London 25–27 May 2018, plus this 25 November in Birmingham. . . Later Steve shares the stage when Bowie pianist Mike Garson and his band perform Aladdin Sane in its entirety plus a set of Bowie favourites on 28 & 29 November in London and Sheffield
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✱ Heaven 17 are back as Glenn Martyn Gregory Ware touring UK 10 Nov-17 Dec from Sheffield to Aberdeen
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✱ Catch up with Spandau Ballet’s relaunch at Facebook Live – In September Gary, Steve, Martin and John hosted a screening of the new Through The Barricades documentary then gave a 40-minute interview about their plans . . .
Also – Over at SonyLegacyUK they’re collecting stories from Spandau Ballet fans about how the band’s music has soundtracked your life. Email your stories to legacylovestories@gmail.com and the best will be used in their next Love Stories feature. More info here
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✱ Former Animal Nightlife singer and face about town Andy Polaris relived his London life with Gary Crowley on BBC Radio London in August, then on the iPlayer
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✱ FINALLY! What ought to prove the definitive appreciation of the style bible that shaped the 1980s. . . Cultural guru Paul Gorman tells The Story of The Face from the magazine’s launch with £3,500 of Nick Logan’s savings in 1980 to its sale to Emap in 1999, in between “paving the way for the digital delivery of visual culture in the 21st century”. – From Thames & Hudson £35 this November, 352 pages, 379 illustrations!
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✱ Pop Stars in My Pantry is showbiz hack Paul Simper’s memoir of the early days of one of pop’s most successful eras: the 1980s. It’s an account of how a wide-eyed lad landed in London just as the capital’s club scene went into orbit. Available from Amazon, from August 2017… Read an extract here at Shapersofthe80s – Sade’s first foray to New York City
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✱ Ex-Spandau singer Tony Hadley and his band headline the Lost 80s Live tour through Sept 2017… Returning to Blackburn 29 Sept, Chile 4 Nov, later to top the bill at Wembley’s SSE Arena for the Let’s Rock Christmas Retro Show also starring Kim Wilde, Nik Kershaw, Go West, Nick Heyward, T’Pau and others tbc
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✱ Oct-Nov Martin Kemp stars in Million Dollar Quartet, the musical history of rock-n-roll in Inverness, Edinburgh, Chichester and Ipswich
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✱ The original Blitz Club deejay’s first solo album capturing the spirit of 80s electronica, Rusty Egan Presents Welcome to the Dancefloor, was published last year – read a full review of its 14 tracks here at Shapers of the 80s. . . Hear WTTDF via the Mixcloud player. . . Come and listen to Egan telling “the truth” about his colourful past on 6 Dec in An Audience With Rusty at London’s new Pizza Express Live venue
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✱ Matt Bianco’s Mark Reilly and the 8-piece New Cool Collective celebrate their collaboration album The Things You Love with a European tour through the summer – Facebook has Mark’s dates). Bianco’s 1984 album Whose Side Are You On? introduced jazz to a chart scene still dominated by British new wave, ska and punk. Hit singles followed
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✱ The Black History Issue 72 of Soul Survivors magazine features reviews and interviews with Eric Benet, Emilio Castillio (Tower of Power), Shirley Jones (The Jones Girls), Eddie Piller (Acid Jazz), Jeffrey Daniel (Shalamar), Tony Q aka Frenchie and Bruce ‘Mississippi’ Johnson, plus news of soul music events. Under Fitzroy Facey, the mag celebrated its tenth anniversary with a new compilation on Expansion Records (above).
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✱ Quids In Mons, FCK Thurs, #FRI251, Big Weekender Sats at the legendary Factory Manchester – clubnights, cocktail masterclasses and live bands – chart, dance, EDM, RNB, house, garage, hiphop and indie over three floors designed by Ben Kelly on Princess St, Manchester M1 7EN – @factorymanchester
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✱ Manchester’s Remake Remodel claims to be “The Nation’s Saving Grace of Alternative, Rock’n’Roll” — Mondays at Soup Kitchen M1 1DF & every 1st Saturday at The Ruby Lounge M4 1QB – @RemakeRemodel1
