Spandau Ballet: True

Spandau Ballet are a British new wave band formed in London in the late 1970s. The band initially was inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic movement, becoming one of the most successful groups to emerge during the New Romantic era.

The group's debut single "To Cut a Long Story Short", was the first of ten UK Top 10 hits, including a No. 1 single in 1983 with the song "True". The No.2 single "Gold" is considered an 80's classic and is their most requested song while performing live today. The band also has had eight UK Top 10 albums, including three "greatest hits" compilations and an album of re-recorded material.

"True" was composed by group leader Gary Kemp who wrote the song at his parents' house, where he lived at the time. It is a six-minute (in its original album version) slow pop-ballad love song that in part pays tribute to the Motown artist Marvin Gaye, who is mentioned in the lyrics, and the sound he helped to establish. The song was recorded before Gaye's murder a year later, which was itself followed by the release of the song "Nightshift" by The Commodores, which was a tribute to both Gaye and Jackie Wilson. The song was also partly about Kemp's platonic relationship with Altered Images singer Clare Grogan. Some phrases in the lyrics (including the much-quoted reference to "seaside arms") were adapted from Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, a copy of which Grogan had given Kemp.

The song was a huge worldwide hit, peaking at number one in the UK Singles Chart on 30 April 1983 for four weeks, becoming the sixth biggest selling single of the year, and charting highly in 20 other countries. It is Spandau Ballet's biggest hit and their most remembered song in the U.S., reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in the autumn of 1983 and topping the adult contemporary chart for one week.

https://youtu.be/xn_x1zqLj1k

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