Tony Hadley is best known for being the singer of Spandau Ballet – but he missed out on thousands of pounds from the band’s royalties…
The singer – who is on James Martin’s Saturday Morning today (April 12) found fame in the 1980s. The hitmaking band consisted of brothers Martin and Gary Kemp and frontman Tony. As well as saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble.
Despite their huge success though, behind the scenes not everything was as it seemed. And after a bitter split, several members, including Tony, tried to sue Gary – but it didn’t end well…
Tony Hadley sued Spandau Ballet member Gary Kemp
In 1990, Spandau Ballet announced a break, which resulted in the members pursuing solo careers.
The hiatus ended up in the band splitting though, after Tony, John and Steve attempted to sue Gary in a High Court Battle over royalties.
It turned out that the band never signed a contract regarding themselves and the band’s royalties. Instead, they only had a ‘verbal’ agreement in place.
Due to Gary being the songwriter he received the majority of the earnings from the publishing rights of their hits, which include Gold and True.
As a result, Tony, John and Steve took Gary to court for £1 million.
‘We just did things on trust’
It’s been claimed that the group had informally agreed that they would split the loyalties equally. Apparently, the band agreed on this before they signed their first record contract back in 1980.
John Keeble told The Guardian: “We had an arrangement between ourselves, and we were schoolmates. We weren’t cynical, we just did things on trust. Besides, we were playing in the Hope and Anchor, in small pubs at that time. The idea of sorting out a serious contract didn’t cross our minds.”
At the trial, which took place in 1999, the trio’s lawyer Andrew Sutcliffe also spoke about the alleged informal agreement.
He added: “They all say that Gary Kemp agreed from the early stage of the discussions that it was fair that all the members of the band should have some share of the publishing royalties despite the fact that he wrote the lyrics, music and basic chord structure of all the songs.”
What did the judge say?
However, the judge ended up ruling in favour of Gary.
They said it “unconscionable” that the trio attempted to claim the hundreds of thousands of pounds that they were aware Gary considered as his own.
The judge also pointed out how despite the trio’s “impressive” contributions to the songs over the years, they did not influence them enough to be branded as joint authors.
Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley on taking Gary to court
After the verdict, a gutted Tony said: “Let this be a serious lesson to any up-and-coming artist or band. No matter how good mates you are or whether you were at school together, get a contract.
“We did try to sort out the whole thing amicably many, many times. In my heart of hearts I was hoping that someone would tap me on the shoulder just before the court door opened and say: ‘Come on lads this is stupid; let’s go out to the pub, let’s have a drink and sort it out.’
“But it didn’t happen. I don’t think anyone can take pleasure in going to court to fight it out with their old best mates.”
Meanwhile, Gary said: “I see this as a victory on behalf of all songwriters.”
Not only were the trio turned down from claiming thousands of pounds, but the court case cost them a massive £200,000 each.
Watch Tony on James Martin’s Saturday Morning at 9:30am on Saturday (April 12) on ITV1.
Read more: Martin Kemp on rows with brother Gary that ended in a ‘proper fist fight’
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