Shirlie reveals Martin had rejected previous offers of solo records, saying: “Martin kept turning the idea down. Shirlie Kemp (née Holliman; born 18 April 1962) is an English singer, who found fame in the 1980s with Wham! It's swing music which is such great music to listen to and it's glamorous and it's mainly about our relationship. So is he not tempted to take on the frontman role in Spandau – after lead singer Tony Hadley decided to quit the band? Lee, was paid on a per performance basis as a backing singer, and continued to live with her parents.

The idea for the album was born off the back of an impromptu recording session with Martin, whilst working with producer Brian Rawling (Cher, Tina Turner, One Direction. So when Martin was struggling with a cover of You Make Me Feel So Young, he suggested it should become a duet with his wife… “Even saying yes just to Martin, I suddenly started to feel a huge pressure,” Shirlie admits.The result, In The Swing Of It, is released next month and will be followed next year by a mini tour, Big Band Broadway, which kicks off at London’s Royal Festival Hall. As well as Spandau Ballet, Martin has, of course, enjoyed one of the most varied careers in showbusiness. We didn’t have a big wedding, but seeing all those people working on our project, I felt overwhelmed.

Giving a nod to what their late friend George Michael would have thought about the album, Shirlie said: “He would love this, he would be annoyed he didn’t think of it. Holliman then went to work managing Aegean, a business associated with music and entertainment production. Being a DJ is the most euphoric feeling – to have 1,000 people in front of you all singing every word to the best 80s words.It's really nice that we haven't done it before now because this whole thing is brand new, it's so late-on for us," Martin (58) explains.

Being Christmas, Sir Rod did remember to include one turkey, bizarrely teaming up for a duet with Robbie Williams on It Takes Two. In 1999, Spandau ended up in a legal battle after Tony and bandmates Steve Norman and John Keeble launched an unsuccessful case against Martin’s brother Gary for a share of his songwriting royalties. He’s a rare example of an old-school entertainer, equally happy at the superior end of reality TV as acting or giving To Cut A Long Story Short some serious bass on tour.

In 1995, Kemp moved back to the United Kingdom and took a break from acting for a short while, recovering from removal of two benign brain tumours. She has a media company that makes TV commercials, so she did that side of it for us too," adds Martin proudly.

They have a great friendship, make each other laugh – as well as laughing at each other – and there are no egos on show. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.But, as his long-term love laughs alongside him good-naturedly, he adds: "No, Shirlie sounds great on the album. He went from literally nothing wrong to: “Oh my god, you’ve got two tumours and we’re going to operate next week.