Former Spandau Ballet bassist Martin Kemp said Thursday that giving up booze a decade ago had a “huge, huge” impact on his health.
Appearing on UK talk show Lorraine, the 59-year-old musician admitted “it was the drinking thing that I realized was slowing me down, and for me that was the big change in my life.
“As soon as I stopped that I started to feel a lot healthier.”
Kemp explained: “As I got older … I started to realize, ‘Hang on, Martin you need to find some kind of exercise that you’re happy with and something mentally that you’re happy with that keeps you feeling young.’”
Kemp said he hasn’t completely given up alcohol – “I have the odd glass of wine here and there,” he said – but he no longer considers himself a drinker.
“I don’t drink at home, I don’t smoke.”
And, don’t get him started on smoking. “There's nothing that upsets me more in this world than seeing young girls and guys smoking,” said Kemp. “That upsets me more than anything else.”
Spandau Ballet peaked in 1983 with the hits “True” and “Gold” off the band’s third studio album. The band had a bitter split in 1990 that was followed by a legal battle in which singer Tony Hadley and bandmates John Keeble and Steve Norman sued guitarist and songwriter Gary Kemp for more royalties.
Spandau Ballet reunited in 2009 but Hadley quit in 2017 and Kemp told ITV in 2019 the band would not perform again unless “Tony comes back.”
Asked how he will celebrate his 60th birthday in October, Kemp replied: “I reckon I’ll talk to the band, see if we can get back together for a couple of numbers.”