On this page we only want to give you a very rough year-by-year summery of the Spandau Ballet story concentrating on some big and important events... to tell their story the way it should be done would mean to create a complete site just devoted to the band... if you are looking for something like that you will find a very good site at ...

Arben Previzi's Unofficial Spandau Ballet Page

The Chrysalis Years

17.11. ... 50 friends are invited to an Islington rehearsal studio to witness the birth of Spandau Ballet

December ... Island Records offer a deal, but manager Steve Dagger declines being sure to find a better offer in just a couple of months time

1980

13.05 ... LWT does a special feature on New Romantics and films a live performance of the band at the Scala Cinema ... the show attracks the attention of the national media and elevates the club scene into something 'for the kids'

June ... The band do their first foreign gigs playing two weeks in St Tropez at the Papagayo Club.

26.07. ... They play on the HMS Belfast, only one of the unusal venues they chose for their first live gigs. They spend the summer negotiating over the best record deal

10.10. ... They finally sign a contract with Chrysalis which guarantees them £85,000, an amount of money never paid before to an unsigned band

October ... Quickly the band records 'To Cut A Long Story Short' at Jam Studios in Islington

27.10. ... 'To Cut ...' is released in the UK and enters the charts at no.5

29.12. ... The band plays a gig at the Heaven Club, it's the first concert they advertise for

12.01. ... Their second single 'The Freeze' is released, in less than one month they sell 90,000 copies of it and reach no.17 in the charts, it's also the first song ever by a white funk band that's released in the 12" format

February ... Their first album is released: 'Journeys To Glory'. It reaches the no.5 spot in the charts, a fantastic result for a debut album

23.03. ... 'Musclebound' is released

May ... Spandau join Axiom, a collection of young British designers, and bring New Romanticism to New York

06.07. ... 'Chant No.1' is released

Summer ... The band conquers Europe by playing in Florence, Paris, Rome, Milan, Madrid and Ibiza's Ku Club

Autumn ... They record 'Paint Me Down' and shoot a very daring video on Primrose Hill, London ... unfortunately the video will be banned by the BBC later on for being too sexually suggestive

02.11. ... 'Paint Me Down' is released, unfortunately due to the ban of the video it only makes no.30 in the charts

11.01. ... 'She Loved Like Diamond' is released and doesn't get any higher than no.49 ... a shame but probably due to the fact that Gary decides to become a bit experimental instead of just copying the success formula of their previous hits

March ... The band release their second album 'Diamond' and a box set with remixes of every track of the album. The whole album is far more experimental than their debut, especially the second side cannot be called commercial at all ... and this is exactly the band's intention "I still think we break down conventions and we still enjoy doing that [...] hopefully we're not a band that has to rely on their last single" (Gary Kemp, Record Mirror 1982)

25.03. ... Release of 'Instinction', remixed by Trevor Horn ... brings the band back into the Top10

April ... The band embarks on their first UK tour and in Glasgow band members are shocked by their first fainting female fans "I thought 'Oh my God, she's dead', but she wasn't" (Gary Kemp, Melody Maker 1982)

Summer ... Gary goes solo - no, don't worry, he just does some guitar playing for Pamela Stephenson on her single release 'Unusal Treatment' (a two record set released on the Mercury label)

Autumn ... Everyone goes off to Nassau to record new songs with producers Jolley & Swain

23.08. ... With the release of 'Lifeline' Spandau score their first hit single from the upcoming new album 'True'

28.01. ... The next hit single comes into the shops: 'Communication'. Funny enough for this single the band does two videos, one action style one for Europe and a 'band video' for the States

February ... Their third album 'True' is released and reaches the no.1 spot in the UK charts, it manages to be in the Top100 for 90 (!!!) weeks

Spring ... The band start their first major tour of Britain playing larger sized venues. They are on the road for five weeks and call the tour 'Over Britain'

12.04. ... 'True' is released and becomes their first no.1. They sell 60,000 copies daily (!) and knock David Bowie off the top where they remain for the next four weeks. Spandaumania is here ... also in the rest of Europe 'True' reaches top positions in the charts, even in America it climbs to no.4 and stays there for four weeks

Summer ... After their last UK gig at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall Spandau conquer Europe playing live all over the place. In the Rotterdam Ahoy' they play in front of 12,000 fans."Every country we visit, the next week we find the record goes gold" (Steve Norman, No.1 1983)

05.08. ... 'Gold' is released, and even while being far away from home it makes no.2 in the charts and the album goes double platinum

Winter ... The lads cross the Atlantic to tour the US and Canada

Winter - Spring ... Spandau reside in Munich, Germany to record their fourth album 'Parade', which is produced once again by Jolley & Swain

24.05. ... The first single 'Only When You Leave' is released and becomes a Top3 hit. The band can be seen publicly again at the Montreux Festival

June ... The long wait is over, finally 'Parade' is released - it's far more rock orientated than everything the band has done before. "It's rock'n'roll but it's more artistic" (Gary Kemp 1984). It storms into the charts at the no.2 slot

08.08. ... 'I'll Fly For You' is being released and makes it to no.9 in the UK charts despite some controversy about the video.

04.10. ... 'Highly Strung' is the next single off the album and reaches no.15 - Spandau are trend setters again with their exotic and over the top videos

November ... The Spans launch their World Parade Tour in Japan - the tour sells out across four continents, it's the biggest British tour of an English band for years, in the UK alone the concerts are watched by 133,500 fans. In between touring they still have time to challenge pop rivals Duran Duran in the famous show 'Popquiz'

21.11. ... The last single release off the album: 'Round And Round' - after their last exotic videos the band go back to basics and shoot a beautiful b/w clip

December ... Straight from promotion duties in Germany the band flies back to London to be part of the Band Aid project

February ... Spandau are part of the San Remo Festival in Italy and start Spandaumania there as well

January - April ... The tour continues as total triumph - ticket demands are so high that some far off places have to be kicked out of the tour agenda. Unfortunately in Los Angeles, USA Steve Norman hurts his knee and brings the tour to an abrupt end

13.07. ... Live Aid - Steve has recovered enough for a historic performance on a historic day 'I was there then'!!!

Summer ... The lads use their time off duty to start quarreling with their record company what means for the fans that there is no hope for any new releases in the near future

November ... As little compensation (or just to cash in quickly on the band's success) Chrysalis releases 'The Singles Collection' against the explicit wishes of the band. While still trying to get out of their contract the lads already work on new songs in Ireland

Have a look at Ballet Days Vol.2 to find out all about the CBS Years