Gary Kemp
Encyclopedia
Gary Kemp is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 musician and actor who is the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 player and chief songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 for the 1980s Synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

 band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

 Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...

. His brother, Martin Kemp
Martin Kemp (actor)
Martin John Kemp is an English actor, musician, and occasional television presenter, best known as the bassist in the New Romantic band Spandau Ballet, as well as for his portrayal as Steve Owen from the BBC soap opera EastEnders...

, plays bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 in the band. Gary Kemp also provided backing vocals on many of the tracks to lead singer Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley is an English pop singer-songwriter, occasional stage actor and radio presenter who gained celebrity as the lead vocalist for the 1980s band Spandau Ballet.-Early life:...

.

Early life

Kemp was born in St Bartholomew's Hospital
St Bartholomew's Hospital
St Bartholomew's Hospital, also known as Barts, is a hospital in Smithfield in the City of London, England.-Early history:It was founded in 1123 by Raherus or Rahere , a favourite courtier of King Henry I...

, Smithfield, London, and grew up in Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

, London, in a working-class family. He attended Rotherfield Junior School
Rotherfield Primary School
Rotherfield Primary School is a primary school for boys and girls of age 3 to 11 years, in the Islington borough of London.- External links :* *...

 and Dame Alice Owen's
Dame Alice Owen's School
Dame Alice Owen's School is a mixed voluntary aided secondary school in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England, founded in the London Borough of Islington.-Admissions:...

 school, Islington, as well as the Anna Scher Children’s Theatre
Young Actors Theatre (Islington)
The Young Actors Theatre is a community theatre school for children and young adults in Islington, London, run on a non-profit sustainable-funding basis.-The school:...

 drama club, along with his brother, Martin. In 1968 he began appearing in TV and film, including a role in the 1972 film Hide & Seek
Hide and Seek (1972 film)
Hide and Seek is a 1972 British drama film directed by David Eady starring Peter Newby, Gary Kemp, Robin Askwith, Liz Fraser and David Lodge.-Cast:* Peter Newby as Keith* Gary Kemp as Chris* Eileen Fletcher as Beverley...

, alongside Roy Dotrice
Roy Dotrice
Roy Dotrice, OBE is a British actor known for his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance in the revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten.-Life and career:...

.

Kemp eventually decided to concentrate on a career in music and, in the late Seventies, he formed a band called The Gentry with school friends. The Gentry was later renamed Spandau Ballet.

Spandau Ballet

After recording Spandau Ballet's final album, Heart Like A Sky, Kemp and his brother returned to acting. He won the contempt of his fellow band members, Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley is an English pop singer-songwriter, occasional stage actor and radio presenter who gained celebrity as the lead vocalist for the 1980s band Spandau Ballet.-Early life:...

, Steve Norman
Steve Norman
Steve Norman is an English musician who plays saxophone, guitar, percussion, and other instruments, for Spandau Ballet.-Early career:Steve Norman was initially a guitarist in the group with Gary Kemp...

 and John Keeble
John Keeble
John Keeble is a British pop musician, who is the drummer with the 1980s band, Spandau Ballet.Spandau Ballet disbanded in 1990, 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 1999, John...

, but good reviews for his performance as Ronnie Kray in The Krays
The Krays (film)
The Krays is a 1990 film based on the lives and crimes of the British gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray, twins who are often referred to as The Krays...

(1990). Making this film was the death-knell to Spandau Ballet.

In 1999, Tony Hadley, Steve Norman and John Keeble attempted to sue Kemp for alleged unpaid royalties. They claimed that an agreement had existed between Kemp and the rest of the band, whereby Kemp, who was the main songwriter in the band, would pay his bandmates a share of the royalties earned. The claims were vigorously denied by Kemp, and Hadley, Norman and Keeble subsequently lost their court case. Although initially vowing to appeal the verdict, they later decided against this.

In early 2009, newspaper reports claimed that Spandau Ballet was set to reform later that year. The rumours were later confirmed by the band at a press conference held on board HMS Belfast in London on 25 March 2009.

Later career

Kemp released a solo album entitled Little Bruises in 1995, followed by a tour of Britain and Ireland. He has written songs with a number of other writers for other artists, although few of them have actually been recorded and released. Two of his songs appeared on the debut album by American soap star Jacob Young
Jacob Young
Jacob Wayne Young is an American actor and singer. He is perhaps best known for his role as JR Chandler on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children...

 in 2001. He then made an abortive attempt to reform Spandau Ballet in 2004. He now uses MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 to get his music heard.

Since 1995 Kemp has continued acting, taking the role of 'Serge' in the West End production of Art in 2001, film roles in Dog Eat Dog, Poppies and American Daylight, and TV roles in Murder In Mind, Murder Investigation Team, and Casualty.

He has since written music and additional lyrics with Guy Pratt
Guy Pratt
Guy Pratt is a session bassist and also a songwriter, actor and comedian. He is the son of actor Mike Pratt. In Kensington and Chelsea, London, in 1996, Pratt married Gala Wright, the daughter of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright...

 for the musical production "Bedbug", which was performed in a variety of venues during the Shell Connections Youth Drama Festival in 2004, and has written a musical, also with Guy Pratt, entitled "A Terrible Beauty", based on the life of William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...

 and Maude Gonne.

In January 2008, Kemp appeared on a celebrity special of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire with his brother Martin, in order to raise awareness of and funds for the Encephalitis Society.

In March 2008, Kemp starred in a low-budget 20-minute short film directed by his brother, Martin, entitled Karma Magnet. This was released on the internet only.

On 28 March 2011, Kemp lent his support to the British Music Experience
British Music Experience
The British Music Experience is a permanent exhibition, taking up more than 20,000 square feet, installed into The O2 Bubble, part of The O2 in Greenwich, London...

 charity, by holding an "in conversation" session with an audience of 80 people. During a 90 minute interview, he performed several songs acoustically, including True and Gold. He also entertained questions from the audience, revealing that a couple of the songs he'd like to have written himself were Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...

 and Alison
Alison
- Music:*"Alison" , 1994 single by Slowdive*"Alison" , song by Elvis Costello*"Alison", song by French former child pop star Jordy Lemoine*"Alison Hell", song by Annihilator...

 by Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

.

Personal life

He was married to actress Sadie Frost
Sadie Frost
Sadie Frost is an English actress, who currently runs fashion label Frost French and has designed the kitchens for a new development in the East End of London.-Biography:Frost was born Sadie Liza Vaughan in London...

 with whom he had one son, Finlay Munro (born 1990). The couple divorced in 1995. In 2003, Kemp married costume designer
Costume Designer
A costume designer or costume mistress/master is a person whose responsibility is to design costumes for a film or stage production. He or she is considered an important part of the "production team", working alongside the director, scenic and lighting designers as well as the sound designer. The...

 Lauren Barber, with whom he has two further sons, Milo Wolf, born in 2004, and Kit, born in 2009.

Kemp's parents, Frank and Eileen, both died in 2009. Eileen was undergoing treatment for a heart bypass at Bournemouth Hospital, where Frank was brought in after suffering a fatal heart attack. Eileen died 48 hours later.

Gary is an atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

 and a supporter of the Labour Party.

He played a lead role in Blockbuster Movie - The Bodyguard.

Filmography

  • Hide & Seek
    Hide and Seek (1972 film)
    Hide and Seek is a 1972 British drama film directed by David Eady starring Peter Newby, Gary Kemp, Robin Askwith, Liz Fraser and David Lodge.-Cast:* Peter Newby as Keith* Gary Kemp as Chris* Eileen Fletcher as Beverley...

    (1972)
  • The Krays
    The Krays (film)
    The Krays is a 1990 film based on the lives and crimes of the British gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray, twins who are often referred to as The Krays...

    (1990)
  • The Bodyguard
    The Bodyguard
    The Bodyguard is a 1992 American romantic-thriller film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Costner stars as a former Secret Service Agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect Houston's character, a music star, from an unknown stalker. Lawrence Kasdan wrote the film in the 1970s,...

    (1992)
  • Paper Marriage
    Paper Marriage
    Paper Marriage is a 1988 Hong Kong film directed by Alfred Cheung and starring Sammo Hung and Maggie Cheung.-Plot:...

    (1992)
  • Killing Zoe
    Killing Zoe
    Killing Zoe is a 1994 film, written and directed by Roger Avary. The story details a safe cracker named Zed who returns to France to aid an old friend in performing a doomed bank heist...

    (1994)
  • Magic Hunter (1994)
  • The Larry Sanders Show
    The Larry Sanders Show
    The Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV show, and the...

    (Episode #26)
  • Dog Eat Dog (2001)
  • American Daylight
    American Daylight
    American Daylight is a 2004 film directed by Roger Christian and produced by Kaleidoscope Entertainment. The film stars Nick Moran as Lawrence, an American music executive, who falls for Sujata , a call center worker in India, then flies halfway around the planet to meet her...

    (2004)
  • Poppies
    Poppies
    Poppies can refer to:*Poppy - the plant*The Poppies - multiple uses*"Poppies", a song by Patti Smith Group from their 1976 album Radio Ethiopia*"Poppies", the first track on the debut album by Marcy Playground....

    (2006)
  • A Voice From Afar (2006)

Links

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