The bass player publishes his third book this month, reflecting on life in one of the 80s biggest bands. He talks about recovering from two brain tumours, acting and why he would like to apologise to Tony Hadley
After Martin Kemp had two brain tumours removed, people kept teasing him. “A few of my friends said: ‘I don’t know what they’ve done but they’ve put something in, instead of taking something out. They’ve put intelligence in, Mart.’” He is laughing. “Making light of it,” he says. “But all I mean is: we all learn at different parts of our lives.” Kemp turned 61 last month, and is very much still learning and creating. He took up writing in the late 1990s as part of his psychological recovery from those tumours, and next week publishes his third book, Ticket to the World – My 80s Story. He has had all his old Spandau Ballet outfits out of their vacuum packs in the loft. But it’s his older writing self that is the real hero.
Kemp read a lovely thing in a self-help book after the tumours – that “every cell in your body is replaced every seven years. So you’re a completely different person.” The idea has stuck with him, because on this basis, he’s “about six times removed from that kid” of the 80s. And he does have a newly made look: with those glittering blue eyes and silver hair, he positively gleams. He says it’s the makeup, but his skin glows as if he has just shed an old one.
