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➢ Choose “View full site” – then in the blue bar atop your mobile page, click the three horizontal lines linking to many blue themed pages with background articleMORE INTERESTING THAN MOST PEOPLE’S FANTASIES — THE SWINGING EIGHTIES 1978-1984
They didn’t call themselves New Romantics, or the Blitz Kids – but other people did.
“I’d find people at the Blitz who were possible only in my imagination. But they were real” — Stephen Jones, hatmaker, 1983. (Illustration courtesy Iain R Webb, 1983)
“The truth about those Blitz club people was more interesting than most people’s fantasies” — Steve Dagger, pop group manager, 1983PRAISE INDEED!
“See David Johnson’s fabulously detailed website Shapers of the 80s to which I am hugely indebted” – Political historian Dominic Sandbrook, in his book Who Dares Wins, 2019
“The (velvet) goldmine that is Shapers of the 80s” – Verdict of Chris O’Leary, respected author and blogger who analyses Bowie song by song at Pushing Ahead of the Dame
“The rather brilliant Shapers of the 80s website” – Dylan Jones in his Sweet Dreams paperback, 2021
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❏ Header artwork by Kat Starchild shows Blitz Kids Darla Jane Gilroy, Elise Brazier, Judi Frankland and Steve Strange, with David Bowie at centre in his 1980 video for Ashes to AshesVINCENT ON AIR 2026

✱ Deejay legend Robbie Vincent has returned to JazzFM on Sundays 1-3pm… Catch up on Robbie’s JazzFM August Bank Holiday 2020 session thanks to AhhhhhSoul with four hours of “nothing but essential rhythms of soul, jazz and funk”.TOLD FOR THE FIRST TIME
◆ Who was who in Spandau’s break-out year of 1980? The Invisible Hand of Shapersofthe80s draws a selective timeline for The unprecedented rise and rise of Spandau Ballet –– Turn to our inside page
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RECENT ADDITIONS
- 2026 ➤ What made Molly the inimitable
- 2025 ➤ No telling how often I fell in love at Maggie’s…
- 2025 ➤ Love is in the air once more for Jon and George
- 2025 ➤ The New Romantics history book currently turning heads
- ➤ Possibly the first post here at Shapersofthe80s in 2009
- ➤ Six magazines that changed the course of postwar British journalism
- 2025 ➤ Finally a candid insight into the glittering New Romantics revolution
- 2025 ➤ Champagne all round!
- 2025 ➤ Here’s an extravaganza of a show to confirm the Blitz Kids’ place in history
- 2025 ➤ In a busy week, Derek Ridgers relives his addictive past
- 2025 ➤ Here’s to those Faces who created a new breed of journalism for the 1980s
- 2015 ➤ Steve Strange’s anniversary: deciphering the pen portraits of the man of masks
SEARCH our 925 posts or ZOOM DOWN TO THE ARCHIVE INDEX
UNTOLD BLITZ STORIES

✱ If you thought there was no more to know about the birth of Blitz culture in 1980 then get your hands on a sensational book by an obsessive music fan called David Barrat. It is gripping, original and epic – a spooky tale of coincidence and parallel lives as mind-tingling as a Sherlock Holmes yarn. Titled both New Romantics Who Never Were and The Untold Story of Spandau Ballet! Sample this initial taster here at Shapers of the 80sCHEWING THE FAT
LANDMARK FAREWELLS. . . HIT THE INDEX TAB UP TOP FOR EVERYTHING ELSE

➢ Search for all on Bowie here
at Shapers of the 80s✱ “I’m not a rock star” Bowie often said – No, David, you were a messiah – Obituaries and key videos about
the godlike one✱ Prince Rogers Nelson RIP: ‘A funny cat’ and ‘sole authentic genius’ of the 1980s

✱ 2015 – Original Blitz Kids say farewell to Steve Strange – read exclusive tributes to the King of the PosersArchive — Many publication dates are arbitrary, so click and take pot luck!
RANDOM!
Tag Archives: Martin Kemp
➤ What it’s like working with Martin Kemp
Tagged Anna Brecon, Jane March, Martin Kemp, Stalker, trailer
➤ Too cool to crow — Paradise Point just happen to be gigging in Hyde Park before Grace and Pulp

“It takes a minimum of four girls to start The Scream,” said Steve Dagger in the 80s: the old rule of pure-pop was certainly fulfilled at Islington’s sold-out O2Academy when Paradise Point headlined tonight. Cam Jones leads an encore of Run In Circles which basically the girls sang for him — in between screams. Roman Kemp at left, Adam Saunderson right © Shapersofthe80s
◼ THIS WEEK BASSIST ROMAN KEMP told Hemel FM: “We’ve only been around for eight months so we’re amazed by how it’s been going. The other day we were confirmed for the Wireless Festival on Sunday. We were amazed. Playing before Pulp!”
OK, a bit of artistic licence there. The club scene’s dynamic pure-pop teen band Paradise Point are scheduled to strike up at exactly 15:20 in Hyde Park, which is about four hours before Grace Jones goes on, to be followed by Jarvis Cocker’s band Pulp who top the bill at the three-day fest. All the same, Kemp wasn’t exactly overdoing the crowing rights. This gig is a huge coup for a bunch of live 18-year-old popsters without a recording deal.

In the audience for Paradise Point at Islington’s O2Academy: Spandau manager Steve Dagger and Martin Kemp vote Roman Kemp’s band a hit. So no surprises there, then.
Call of the Wyld is a blogger who “tracks young, new and exciting bands as they emerge” and last month he wrote: “This lot are sex on legs and even if they weren’t actually any good they would still find it hard to walk on stage without being shrieked at. Fortunately their music is excellent too. These are real pop gems — certainly 80s inflected, but delivered with a whomp and panache that would put a lot of other acts to shame. The Only One is a track that is going to get them a lot of attention.” As a taster or three, view PP’s live debut last November (below), videoed by Shapersofthe80s, scan our first PP concert review and give the Hemel FM interview a spin:/%20
Posted in Clubbing, London, Pop music, pure-pop, Youth culture
Tagged 2011, Concert, Hemel FM, Hyde Park, livepop, Martin Kemp, Paradise Point, Steve Dagger, Video, Wireless Festival
➤ Martin Kemp’s Stalker set for autumn release
❚ WONDERING WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO Martin Kemp’s debut as a horror movie director? Keen readers of Shapersofthe80s will recall a video interview last summer in which Spandau Ballet bassist Kemp discussed his movie mogul plans for the production company Black & Blue Films. Now Variety reports that the Hammer-style psycho-drama Stalker will be the first release this autumn on B&B’s own DVD label. [Update August 25: Stalker gets two cinema premieres, Oct 7 in Manchester, Oct 15 in London, and goes on general release October 10.]
Kemp’s partner, 30-year-old producer Jonathan Sothcott who was previously head of programming for The Horror Channel, said: “I have always intended to grow Black & Blue into a mini studio.” His indie outfit recently announced a nine-film co-production deal with Soho based post-production company The Mews, and it will include the upcoming horror spoof Strippers Vs Werewolves as well as Stalker. The DVD arm is being launched in the UK with indie distributor 4Digital Media.
Stalker is about a best-selling author, played by TV actress Anna Brecon, who moves into an old dark house to get her creative juices flowing. “People start dying,” says Sothcott and Kemp adds: “All in one house. That’s a good premise for low-budget film.”
Sothcott told Dread Central: “We had an amazing cast — a bona fide Hollywood star in the brilliant Jane March, a versatile leading lady in Anna Brecon, and a really offbeat turn from Billy Murray as a slippery journalist. And Martin directed them all with real skill, drawing out subtle performances of the type you don’t often get in this genre.”

Poster for Stalker: due for October cinema release in the UK. (Publicity photo by Harleymoon Kemp)
➢ View the trailer for Stalker
➢ Update: Behind-the-scenes pictures of Stalker
➢ Update: Interview with Stalker producer Jonathan Sothcott
at aintitcool
2011 ➤ When Shirl asked Peps if she fancied an arena tour, Peps said to Shirl, Why not?
❚ ON THE EVE OF THE HERE & NOW TOUR, Shirlie Kemp from 80s pop duo, Pepsi & Shirlie, talks to Vanessa about reuniting with Helen “Pepsi” DeMacque after 20 years — and why the reunion took so long. Answer: “Because when I had my daughter I realised that was all I wanted. I had a beautiful husband, Martin Kemp, a beautiful baby, and I wasn’t going to risk losing that.” Shirlie (née Holliman) also recalls how she joined Wham! as a backing singer to two of her former schoolmates, Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael. When Pepsi & Shirlie went their own way in 1986 their debut single Heartache went to No 2 in the UK singles chart and the American dance chart.
Posted in London, Media, Pop music
Tagged 2011, Concert, Heartache, Here and Now tour, Interview, Martin Kemp, Pepsi & shirlie, Shirlie Kemp, Video, Wham!
➤ Martin Kemp’s live tutorial via bass cam

❚ SHOT ON TOUR somewhere in Europe last year for Jonny Kline’s video tour diary. Spandau Ballet’s bass player Martin Kemp clamped a camera to his guitar to grab this down-the-neck lesson in fingerwork…
➢ VIEW ♫ Kemp’s nine-minute clip recently posted at Vimeo
Somewhere in the background Tony Hadley’s unmistakable voice is giving us Fight For Ourselves. In the opening shots Steve Norman introduces the band members — and yes, that’s his saxophone trying to steal the limelight later.

Ever the showman: Martin Kemp clad in PX at Spandau's Heaven concert, 1980, bass held high in anti-rock pose. Photographed by © Shapersofthe80s
Kemp’s instrument of choice is a British Wal bass and it’s surprising to recall that right from the start he maintained: “I learnt to play bass in order to get into the group, not because I liked music.” These days, as he grooves away onstage Martin steers his bass fondly like an old jalopy, nicely improvising and developing themes of his own, where many bassists think all they have to do is underline a thumping beat.
Back in the early 80s he said: “I hate bass players — most of them just blend in and don’t add anything. I’m a showman. Some bass lines I’ve written are really catchy: I’m proud of Lifeline because you hear people humming it, not the hookline! The essence of the Spandau sound is melody, Tony’s voice obviously, Steve’s sax lines, Gary’s top line, my bass lines. We all think in terms of melodies.”
➢ Jonny Kline’s video tour diary in Amsterdam
➢ How Roman Kemp helped his dad Martin to pick up the bass again
Posted in Europe, Pop music, Technology
Tagged 2010, Concert, Heaven, Jonny Kline, Martin Kemp, Reformation tour, Spandau Ballet, video diary




