Martin Kemp

Three Months to Learn the Bass

Gary played in a band then called the Gentry. When the bass player left, Martin took the job, though he could not play the instrument. He learned it in three months, according to Smooth Radio's account of the band's early years. The group went through several names before it settled on Spandau Ballet, and Martin played bass with it from 1981 to 1990, the span Encyclopedia.com gives for his years in the band.

Gold, True, and the Royalties Fight

Spandau Ballet became one of the defining bands of the New Romantic era, with hits including "Gold," "True," and "Through the Barricades." The band played Live Aid. It split in the early 1990s.

The break-up turned into a legal fight. Tony Hadley, Steve Norman, and John Keeble sued Gary Kemp, the band's songwriter, for a share of the publishing royalties. The case reached the High Court in 1999, where Justice Andrew Park ruled that it "fails in its entirety." Martin stayed neutral and was not a party. The band reunited in 2009.

No figure for Martin Kemp's share of the band's income has been disclosed, and no reputable outlet has published a dated estimate of his wealth, so this article does not give a net worth figure.

Reggie Kray in The Krays

The Anna Scher training paid off in 1990, when the brothers played the East End gangster twins in The Krays: Martin as Reggie, Gary as Ronnie. Hello magazine wrote that the role "served to open doors for him into the acting business,".

Steve Owen in Albert Square

In December 1998 Kemp joined EastEnders as Steve Owen. The part won him a National Television Award for most popular actor in 2000 and British Soap Awards for best actor in 2001 and 2002. He stayed until April 2002, when the character was killed off, and moved to a two-year contract with ITV.

St Lucia and a Missing Certificate

Kemp married Shirlie Holliman, a former Wham! backing singer and one half of the duo Pepsi and Shirlie, in 1988 on St Lucia. In 2025 he told Hello that the paperwork never arrived after the clifftop ceremony: "We've never got the actual paper to say that we're married, but listen, who needs a piece of paper when you love each other?" Woman and Home counted 37 years of marriage that November.

They have two children, both now adults. Their son, Roman Kemp, is a television and radio presenter who finished third on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2019.

From the Jungle to Doctor Plague

In late 2025 Kemp followed his son into the I'm a Celebrity jungle. He was voted out on December 5, 2025, after 20 days, finishing seventh. "When Roman went in there, I thought, I want to do it as well," he said. "When I was in there, I felt like I was wearing his clothes, and living in his apartment."

In April 2026 he stepped down from his Greatest Hits Radio show, The Mix Tape, to make room for his Back to the 80s live shows. "I've had an incredible run on Greatest Hits Radio but it's time to let someone else share their Mix Tapes with the nation," he said. On screen, he plays Detective John Verney in Doctor Plague, a London thriller about a masked killer dressed as a 17th-century plague doctor, which Hello reported in November 2025 was set for release in the new year. He turns 65 on October 10, 2026.

Sources

• Martin Kemp - Biography
• Kemp, Martin 1961- | Encyclopedia.com
• Martin Kemp Facts: Spandau Ballet Star's Age, Wife, Children, Brother and More Revealed
• Anna Scher 1944-2023
• Martin Kemp: From Spandau Ballet to star of the screen
• (Legal) Career Killers: Spandau Ballet and Songwriting Royalties
• Martin Kemp reveals secret to 37-year marriage | Woman & Home
• Martin and Shirlie Kemp suffer marriage mishap at clifftop wedding
• Martin Kemp departs I'm A Celebrity...
• Exclusive: Martin Kemp's 'explosive' serial killer thriller looks seriously creepy