What we have as a couple is rare,” acknowledges Shirlie, sat with Martin in a meeting room at their record company Sony. In 2012, Kemp finished third in the tenth series of Celebrity Big Brother, and in 2017 he appeared as a judge on the BBC series Let It Shine. Lucia in 1988 and went on to have two children: daughter Harley Moon Kemp (born August 1989), and son Roman Kemp (born January 1993).

After seven years of silence, Hackney-raised Timothy Lee McKenzie, now 30, is a comeback king, releasing three albums in a year, including a collaboration with Sia and Diplo.Speaking on the album Martin said ‘It’s brought us even closer’, ‘what they did in the 50s with swing was they made love songs that made you happy. Following In The Swing Of It, Shirlie has even been persuaded to sing live with Martin, performing three shows early next year as part of musical package Big Band Broadway . Eventually the band was renamed Spandau Ballet and Kemp left his printing job to concentrate on the band full-time. In The Swing Of It brings the couple together for the first time having both individually enjoyed huge chart success in iconic 80’s bands Spandau Ballet and Pepsi and Shirlie. I never know what’s going to come in, whether it’s how to cook the perfect ruby or going to live on an island off Panama with Bear Grylls for a month.

The couple had never even considered doing an album together before, and Shirlie (57) admits to feeling nervous about getting back into the recording studio. Shirlie added, “I feel happy when I listen to this music; I hope people dance and sing along to the album when they are in their homes, doing the cleaning or cooking the Sunday roast. Although Shirlie was happy out of the spotlight, she’d suggested that she and Martin make a song together, just as a family memento. Martin had been working on a solo album with super producer Brian Rawling (Cher, Tina Turner, One Direction) when he invited his wife to step back into the recording studio for the first time in 30 years to help him out on a track. There have been challenges to overcome during their three decades together, not least when Martin was diagnosed with two brain tumours in the mid-’90s and spent several years battling back to health following life-saving surgery to remove them.

Martin and Shirlie's son Roman is currently in the jungle entertaining audiences in ITV's 'I'm a Celebrity.

The session was the start of something magical, and made them realise how much they enjoyed recording together going onto work on a carefully selected track listing of uplifting Swing covers, chosen by the couple to reflect on their relationship. Shirlie says that she listens to Roman and their daughter Harleymoon, "because they're current, they're young and they know what's going on, and their encouragement and approval of what we were doing meant a lot to me. This album is wholly upbeat, even the potential ballads (A Nightingale Sang,The Way You Look Tonight) are swung.It's hard not to see Imagination And The Misfit Kid, the tale of a boy who sells his imagination to a businessman in exchange for success, as a cautionary tale based on Labrinth's own journey. From the age of 7 he attended the Anna Scher Theatre drama club [2] with his brother Gary, and appeared in many TV shows, including Jackanory, The Tomorrow People and Dixon of Dock Green. Writing for Classic Pop since our first issue, John has been to Adam Ant’s house, sworn at by Bob Geldof, touched Johnny Marr’s favourite guitar, interviewed Richard Coles on his vicarage bed and serenaded with Last Christmas by Shirlie Kemp. As well as Spandau Ballet, Martin has, of course, enjoyed one of the most varied careers in showbusiness. S: Her first real experience of it was the kids at school marching towards her, chanting: “Your dad’s Martin Kemp!