Tony Hadley
(born Anthony Patrick Hadley, 2 June 1960, Islington, London) is an English pop singer who is the frontman for the 1980s band Spandau Ballet.
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Biography
Born at the
Royal Free Hospital,
Holloway, Hadley at school was looking forward to a medical career, but joined his friends in their band.
Spandau Ballet
The group disbanded in 1989, after their final
studio album,
Heart Like a Sky
, failed to live up to the critical and commercial success of their earlier albums, such as
True
and
Parade
. In fact,
Heart Like a Sky
was not even released in the
United States. In April 1999, Hadley along with fellow band members
Steve Norman and
John Keeble failed in their attempt to sue
Gary Kemp for a share of his
royalties [1] [2] [3], as the band's principal
songwriter. However, in recent years Norman is again on good terms with Gary and his brother,
Martin Kemp, who used to play
bass guitar in the band. In early 2009, newspaper reports claimed that Spandau Ballet was set to reform later that year
[4] [5] [6]. On 25 March 2009 it was confirmed that the band would reform and embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland in October 2009.
Solo career
After
Spandau Ballet disbanded, Hadley pursued a
solo career, with considerably less success, signing to
EMI and
recording his first
album,
The State of Play
, in 1992. After leaving
EMI, Hadley formed his own record company, SlipStream Records, and his first release was to be the
single "Build Me Up", from the
film "When Saturday Comes"
. Shortly after that, in December 1996, Hadley embarked on an
orchestral
tour of
Europe, along with
Joe Cocker,
Paul Michiels,
Dani Klein and
Guo Yue, playing to 500,000 people in six weeks.
On his return from that tour, Hadley signed a joint deal with
PolyGram TV, and released his next eponymous
solo album,
Tony Hadley
, in 1997, which included
covers and
songs that were chosen to match his
voice. The album also featured some of his own self-penned songs, such as "She", the song that Hadley wrote for his daughter, Toni.
To plug the gap between
studio albums, Hadley also released a
live album, in 1995, recorded, in just one night, at the club
Ronnie Scott's, in
Birmingham, called
Obsession
(later re-released as ''Obsession Live").
He also collaborated, in the past and present, with various dance acts and
DJs, such as
Tin Tin Out, Eddie Lock, Marc et Claude, Regi Penxten (
Milk Inc.) and the Disco Bros., and played alongside
musicians such as
Alice Cooper,
Paul Young,
Jon Anderson, and
Brian May. Hadley's permanent band line up nowadays features
John Keeble (
drums), Phil Taylor (
keyboards),
Phil Williams (
bass guitar),
Richie Barrett (
guitar), and Angie Grant on
backing vocals. His early band, with whom he realized his
debut album, included instead, besides he and Keeble,
Spandau Ballet's regular
keyboard player Toby Chapman,
Jerry Stevenson (
guitar), and
Kevin Miller (
bass guitar).
Hadley was also the subject of some newfound respect in the 2000s, rooted in an "ironic" appreciation for his old group
Spandau Ballet;
John Darnielle of the
indie folk rock group
The Mountain Goats wrote about his admiration for Hadley's vocal strengths. In 2000, his very first
solo greatest hits album was issued, entitled
Debut
, made up of some early
solo songs.
In 2003, Hadley was the winner of the
ITV reality television series,
"Reborn in the USA"
, appearing alongside other ex band singers, such as
Elkie Brooks,
Peter Cox from
Go West and
Leee John from
Imagination. Capitalizing on his victory of the
American reality show, his
Debut
compilation was re-issued, and his second collection was also released in the same year,
True Ballads
, including some of his
solo tracks, most of the
cover songs which were already contained in his second
studio album, and historical hits from the
Spandau Ballet period.
Hadley recently had a busy performing schedule, and also recently toured with both Peter Cox from Go West and
Martin Fry from the band
ABC. He released a
jazz-
swing album 2006, entitled
Passing Strangers
, and travelled on a "by request" tour from March to May 2006. This was followed by a
big band tour in late the same year.
In January 2007, Hadley performed in the
West End musical "Chicago"
as crooked lawyer
Billy Flynn, at the
Cambridge Theatre [7]. Hadley took over from ex-
Emmerdale actor Ian Kelsey, and featured from
29 January to
14 April 2007. He said: "Three months was long enough, I didn't want to out-stay my welcome. I got a phone call offering me the part. I went to see the show, which I thought was great. While I was in it, I got great reviews. Chicago tied in with my
swing album,
Passing Strangers
, so the whole thing worked well."
Hadley stated on the
television show "Loose Women"
(
22 February 2007) that he is 6'4" and 17½ stone. He worked as
radio presenter with
Virgin Radio, taking over the
"Friday Night Virgin Party Classics"
show from
Suggs (of the band
Madness), in August 2007. In January 2008, Tony was given the
"Saturday Night Virgin Party Classics"
show as well. He left both shows in September 2008.
Hadley performed a set with other 1980s acts, at
Retro Fest
, on
1 September 2007, at
Culzean Castle, in
Ayrshire,
Scotland. This appearance included a rendition of "
Addicted to Love", with
Martin Fry of
ABC and Peter Cox of
Go West.
In February 2008, he took part in the
Italian Sanremo Festival
, where he dueted in both
English and
Italian with contestant Paolo Meneguzzi on Meneguzzi's song, "Grande" ('Big'), during the third day of the contest (where all contestants re-interpreted their songs with guest artists). On 22 February 2008, he performed as an interval act at the semi-final of Dora 2008, the selection of the Croatian entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest [8].
Hadley appeared, sang and gave advice in
Pinoy Dream Academy (season 2), a singing reality show in the Philippines. He also appeared in
RocKwiz, an Australian TV programme that aired on 8 November 2008.
Hadley has also shot his scenes for the forthcoming British short movie
Shoot The DJ
, in which he plays Eddie Richards. The film is due for completion in summer 2009 and also features Hadley's daughter, Toni
[9] [10].
Other Interests
An enthusiast for
beer, Hadley has interests in two
brewing companies. Since 2006 Hadley has been co-owner of the Red Rat Craft Brewery in
Suffolk, and also has his own-brand of award-winning ales, including Hadley's Golden Ale, Hadley's Crazy Dog Stout, and due to be launched in late 2009 Hadley's Gold and Hadley's SB.
Personal life
Hadley is the father of four children: Thomas, Toni, and Mackenzie by his first wife, Leonie Lawson, and Zara (born
21 December 2006) by Alison Evers, whom he married in July 2009 at
Cliveden House,
Berkshire [11]. Hadley split from Leonie in 2003, after twenty years of marriage.
Hadley is also an
Arsenal fan and plays for the Arsenal ex-Professional and Celebrity XI team. Hadley also runs and enjoys
skiing.
Discography
Studio Albums
- 1992 - 1st studio album: The State of Play
(debut album)
- 1997 - 2nd studio album: Tony Hadley
(cover album, (also including some self-penned songs))
- 2006 - 3rd studio album: Passing Strangers
(jazz/swing double album)
Live Albums
- 1995 - 1st live album: Obsession
(subsequently re-issued as Obsession Live
)
Compilation Albums
- 2000 - 1st greatest hits collection: Debut
(with early solo tracks, as performed live on German TV in 1992)
- 2003 - 2nd greatest hits collection: True Ballads
(including solo tracks, cover songs, and Spandau Ballet's classic hits)
Singles
- 1992 - Lost in Your Love
/Why Can't We Fall in Love
/Theme No. 7
- 1992 - For Your Blue Eyes Only
/Tonight
/Close-up
- 1992 - The Game of Love
/Fever
(acoustic version)/On and On
- 1993 - Absolution
/Through the Barricades
/The Boys of Summer
/Rock'n'Roll Suicide
- 1996 - Build Me Up
/One to One
/Jealous Mind
/Build Me Up
(instrumental) [soundtrack for the film "When Saturday Comes"
]
- 1998 - First of May
(radio edit)/The First Cut Is the Deepest
/Love Affair
/Maybe You and I
[withdrawn release]
- 1998 - Save a Prayer
(radio edit)/She
/Have You Seen Her
/Save a Prayer
(album version) [only released in Belgium in early April]
- 1998 - Dance with Me
/She
[only released in The Netherlands on 16 February
- 1998 - Dance with Me
(radio edit) [only released in Italy
- 1999 - Dance with Me
(radio edit mix)/(extended mix)/(angels of love break) [remix CD single only released in Italy
- 2000 - Will U Take Me
(single mix)/(Tony Hadley's a cappella)/(DJ Wout's level mix) [techno version only released in Benelux in November]
- 2000 - Will U Take Me
(single mix)/(extended mix)/(DJ Wout's level mix)/(Tony Hadley's a cappella) [techno version only released in Spain in November]
- 2001 - "Tony Hadley EP"
: Get So Lonely
, Beautiful Girl
, Follow Me
, Have I the Right
[released on 17 September
- 2002 - Sweet Surrender
(Milk Inc. radio remix)/(Mr. Sam remixes) [released in May]
- 2006 - The Mood I'm in
[promo released in November]
- 2007 - Wives & Lovers
[released in January]
- 2007 - The Good Life
[released in April]
Literature
References
- Spandau Ballet in court over royalties BBC News, 27 January 1999, retrieved 10 May 2009
- Spandau court bid fails BBC News, 30 April 1999, retrieved 10 May 2009
- Spandau three drop royalties appeal BBC News, 15 October 1999, retrieved 10 May 2009
- Gordon Smart, Is it act II of Spandau Ballet?, The Sun, 5 January 2009, retrieved 16 March 2009
- Gordon Smart, Spandau are Nou Romantics, The Sun, 13 February 2009, retrieved 16 March 2009
- Spandau Ballet to re-form 30 years on with hopes of 'doing a Take That', The Daily Mail, 15 February 2009, retrieved 16 March 2009
- Tony Hadley signs to Chicago | The Sun>
- Dora semi-final| esctoday.com>
- This Morning - Tony Hadley, retrieved 10 May 2009
- Toni Hadley, retrieved 10 May 2009
- star Tony Hadley marries Alison http://www.confetti.co.uk/article/view/13525-8358-0-Pop_star_Tony_Hadley_marries_Alison_Weddings.do, confetti.co.uk, retrieved 7 August 2009