Ex-Spandau Ballet frontman and Reborn In The USA winner Tony Hadley is in the middle of a huge, long tour that comes to Halifax Victoria Theatre on March 6. He talked to JENNY PARKIN about life on the road - and that voice
ON TONY Hadley's website there's a factfile that reveals he's 43, he's 6ft 4ins tall and he's got hazel eyes.
Among his favourite drinks are real ale and Jack Daniels. His favourite food is Indian and his favourite colour is black.
This is the sort of profile you used to see in Smash Hits in the mid 80s - an era to which he'll always be inextricably linked.
With that he-wail, tempered with a touch of sophistication, Tony Hadley wrapped his larynx around the soundtrack to many a pencil-skirted youth.
Pop music doesn't get much better than the likes of Gold, True and Through The Barricades.
After 20 years, the band broke up and court claims and wranglings over cash ensued.
Nowadays Tony's concentrating on his solo career - and his current tour with Peter Cox of Go West.
Over 46 theatre dates, the pair, who both appeared on ITV reality show, Reborn In The USA, are performing all their hits.
Tony, the overall winner on the show, says: "We've known each other donkey's years and we did Reborn In The USA together.
"The logical thing for us was to go on tour together. We just love singing and performing. It's a lot of fun."
The two even duet on a couple of songs including Robert Palmer's Simply Irresistible.
It's not all been singing for Tony recently. He's been putting together his autobiography, To Cut A Long Story Short, with the help of a writer, for release in May.
He says: "It's from the heart. I just talked for hours and everything I said was written down.
"When it was all finished, it was two weeks before I could bring myself to read it.
"There are a couple of moments that upset me. The court stuff? No, I mean things that happened in my early life."
Tony was born in Islington, North London, and first sang for an audience at his Clerkenwell primary school.
He suffered a serious bone marrow infection at the age of 10 and decided he wanted to be a surgeon.
This all changed, though, when his mum and dad bought him his first tape recorder.
The turning point, when Tony knew he wanted to devote his life to performing, came when he was 13.
He sang Lady Madonna in front of 400 people and forgot half the words but still managed to go out with the most beautiful girl he'd previously fancied from afar.
After stints in a few bands, Spandau Ballet formed in 1978. They were signed by Chrysalis two years later and, of course, went on to worldwide success, recording until 1990.
Unfortunately the split and following years were acrimonious. But Tony says: "I'm still proud of the band's achievements.
"We had some good times and great times. I'd be a fool to deny my past.
"When I sing True and Gold and Through The Barricades I certainly don't sing them through gritted teeth."
If he eschewed his old favourites in favour of all new material, it'd be like Frank Sinatra not singing My Way, he says.
So how does Tony look after his voice? "I take things easy," he says. "I don't go to bed at 9pm with a cup of cocoa but I always get a good night's sleep, eight or nine hours.
"And I do training, voice exercises."
The dad-of-three is still London-based and his children's tastes mean that when he's at home, he listens to more Queens Of The Stone Age than anything else. "I'm a grunge boy," he laughs.
But are the kids fans of the Spandau sound? "Not really," says Tony. "To them I'm just their dad who goes out and does a job, like any other dad does."
Tony enjoyed his taste of reality TV but maintains he wouldn't fancy a trip to the jungle for I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!
He says: "That's just about being famous and I'm not into that.
"I get invitations to parties and premières and I just don't go.
"I like touring and recording and performing. That's what I enjoy. Celebrity status means nothing to me."
* For tickets to the Halifax show call 01422 351158.