Spandau Ballet celebrate 40 years of “True” with bumper releases

It’s been 40 years since Spandau Ballet released their biggest and best known hit, “True”. The song came out in April 1983 and by the Summer of that year, was riding high in the charts around the world. It would give Tony, Martin, Gary, John and Steve their first UK number one, eventually going Platinum for sales of 600,000 copies plus, and their first major US hit when it peaked at No.4 there. Globally, “True” topped the chart across Europe and went top five ‘down under’.

To celebrate this milestone, Spandau Ballet have re-issued and remastered the original single in EP form with live versions and mixes along with a special 2-disc edition of the album “True” that came out in 1983 as well and featured their other big hit, “Gold”. “True” was co-produced with Tony Swain and Steve Jolley, who had also worked on another song celebrating 40 years in 2023, Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer“. It was Kemp brother Gary who wrote the song as an ode to Altered Images lead singer Clare Grogan, whom he had met in 1981 and felt an “instant connection”, although the relationship would never develop fully.

Spandau Ballet performed “True” at Live Aid in 1985 as part of their set and although the band have parted and regrouped over the years, their last known performance of the song happened in 2009 for the BBC’s Children In Need show. Tony Hadley still burns the flame for the song as a solo artist these days appearing at Let’s Rock 80’s festivals and other gigs across the UK and in America.

Some have dared to cover “True”, although this is one of those songs that simple cannot be beaten. Will.i.am and Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas tried in 2004 and celebrated Canadian singer Paul Anca in 2005, but perhaps the most successful incarnation of the song came back in 1991 when American group PM Dawn sampled the vocals and used the soundtrack of “True” for their global smash hit “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss”. Using the “ah ha ha ha haaaa” hook and the melody, the group fashioned an entirely new song and took it to the very top of the US singles chart. So “True” did finally make it to number one on the other side of the Atlantic!

Check out the Spandau Ballet “True” diary here