Tony Hadley has branded the doomed Spandau Ballet reunion “bloody difficult” due to his feud with Gary Kemp.
The band behind hits including “Gold” and “True” originally split in 1987, but reunited in 2009 before frontman Hadley quit six years later “for reasons beyond his control”.
Hadley, 65, later accused his bandmates of actions he described as “not the behaviour of friends”. While he has remained silent on what exactly this consisted of, he has now revealed their reunion was anything but golden.
“God, that was bloody difficult,” he said in a recent interview.
“The crux is always me and Gary,” he told the i, referencing his long-running feud with guitarist and songwriting bandmate Kemp.
“There’s always two in a band that have a fallout and that was a very hard meeting between the two of us, with John Keeble [drummer] being referee. I don’t know – we tried. We buried the hatchet and we said, ‘It’s never going to be the same but let’s try.’”
He said their tour, which took place from 2014 to 2015, was “good” and “very successful”, adding: “I will always have fun when I’m playing live, regardless of anyone else’s emotions.”
When Hadley quit the band, singer Ross Davidson was hired to take his place, which he described as “a weird one because I haven’t died”.
“At least Freddie died before Queen got Paul Rodgers in,” he added. “I didn’t have a problem with it. But it just looked a bit incongruous, because he was this young, super fit-looking bloke with four older guys. It didn’t work. I didn’t take any joy in that.”
Kemp has expressed a desire for Hadley to return to Spandau Ballet, to which Hadley responded in the interview: “You should have thought about that before, mate.”
In 1999, Hadley, Keeble and saxophonist Steve Norman unsuccessfully sued Kemp for unpaid royalties.
Hadley previously hit out at a mockumentary following brothers Gary and Martin Kemp as they celebrated the 40th anniversary of Spandau Ballet.
In The Kemps: All True, a painting of Hadley is depicted with fangs, red eyes and horns.
“I wasn’t approached and would not have anything to do with it,” Hadley, who now performs solo, said.
“They want me back for good but it ain’t going to happen. I’d rather be happy on my own than be in that band again.”
He continued: “If they want another lead singer, that’s their choice. But if you want to hear those songs sung by the original singer then you can only really see one bloke – and that’s me.”
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