Gary Kemp
Photo: Andrew D Hurley / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 — Wikimedia file page
Gary Kemp (born 16 October 1959) is best known as the guitarist, principal songwriter, and creative core of Spandau Ballet, one of the defining British bands of the New Romantic era.
For David Bowie, Kemp represented a younger generation of British musicians who had absorbed Bowie’s influence and, in turn, became collaborators during a later phase of Bowie’s career.
- Name: Gary Kemp
- Born: 16 October 1959 (London, England)
- Died: Unknown
- Role: Guitarist, songwriter, producer
- Bowie link: Guitarist in Bowie’s live band (early 1990s)
- Core idea: Songcraft, texture, and British pop lineage
From Spandau Ballet to Bowie’s band
Gary Kemp rose to prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s as the creative engine behind Spandau Ballet, writing many of the band’s most enduring songs. Like many New Romantic artists, Kemp was deeply influenced by Bowie’s early 1970s work.
This long-distance influence later became a direct professional connection when Kemp joined Bowie’s live band in the early 1990s.
Working with Bowie in the 1990s
Kemp played guitar for Bowie during the period following Tin Machine, contributing to Bowie’s live sound as he reasserted himself as a band-oriented performer.
His playing combined precision with restraint, supporting Bowie’s vocals without dominating the arrangements — an approach well suited to Bowie’s evolving material of the era.
Shared British musical DNA
Bowie and Kemp shared a distinctly British musical sensibility, rooted in pop craft, art-school experimentation, and theatrical presentation.
Kemp has often spoken openly about Bowie’s importance to him as a formative influence, making their later collaboration a notable example of artistic lineage coming full circle.
Beyond pop stardom
By the time he worked with Bowie, Kemp had already experienced both massive success and public scrutiny with Spandau Ballet. This experience made him a grounded and reliable presence within Bowie’s band.
His contribution was less about spectacle and more about musical cohesion — a role Bowie increasingly valued in his later touring and recording work.
Gary Kemp in Bowie’s creative universe
Gary Kemp stands as a representative of Bowie’s far-reaching influence on British pop, and of Bowie’s openness to collaboration with artists he had once inspired.
In Bowie’s extended creative universe, Kemp embodies continuity: the passing of ideas across generations, and the shared language of British pop modernism.