In the Swing of It Martin & Shirlie

• 1 Fly Me to the Moon 02:33
• 2 Ain't That a Kick in the Head 02:28
• 3 How D'ya Like Your Eggs in the Morning? 02:49
• 4 A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square 02:57
• 5 (Love Is) The Tender Trap 02:51
• 6 Nice Work If You Can Get It 02:26
• 7 You Was 02:42
• 8 Sway 02:44
• 9 A Kiss to Build a Dream On 02:57
• 10 The Way You Look Tonight 03:27
• 11 You Make Me Feel so Young 02:59
• 12 Like We Used to Do 03:13
• 13 When We're Apart 03:19
• 14 It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas 02:57
• Total Runtime 40:22

Info for In the Swing of It

For Martin Kemp and his wife Shirlie, recording a Swing album together has been as much of a surprise to them as it will no doubt be to their fans. Separately the '80s icons have enjoyed huge chart success over the decades with the Brit Award-winning Spandau Ballet and as one half of Pepsi and Shirlie, touring with best friend George Michael when they were backing singers in the glory days of Wham! Yet, up until the summer of 2019, the only singing the couple did together was probably in the kitchen while cooking a Sunday roast. 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. What came from the impromptu session was pure 'magic' and the album 'In the Swing of It' was born. The album is an 'open love letter' of carefully selected, uplifting Swing covers, chosen by the couple to reflect on their relationship and includes two new tracks written by their songwriter daughter Harleymoon Kemp.

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. The words that we are singing, what we have created, it is an open love letter for everyone to read, that we are going to leave behind us when we are long gone. ‘When we sing those love songs together there is a truth behind it. For Shirlie and I the words actually mean something so there is a spark there, which is what got everyone excited.’

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’. ‘Singing is a happy drug. If you are singing at home it makes you feel better, it releases endorphins, which is what we both experienced making this record; singing makes you feel good.’

Martin & Shirlie Kemp

Martin Kemp
Born in London in the early ‘60s, Martin Kemp rose to fame with the pop sensation Spandau Ballet, but as a youngster Kemp aspired to be an actor. He attended a drama club from a young age with his older brother – and eventual Spandau Ballet songwriter – Gary. Martin’s time with the drama club saw him appear in a number of TV shows, however after leaving school, Kemp became an apprentice at a print factory.

As he was getting sick of his job at the factory, he was offered the chance to play bass in his brother’s band. He learnt the instrument in three months, and performed with the band at a college party. The band, which was then called Gentry, changed its name to Spandau Ballet, and Martin left his printing job.

The band enjoyed a successful career throughout the 1980s, releasing six albums throughout the decade, with four making the top 10 of the charts. Their biggest hits included “True”, “Gold” and “Only When You Leave”. The group split in 1990 over a royalties dispute, but reformed in 2009 with a world tour and reunion album.

Kemp maximised on his public profile after the split and returned to acting, appearing alongside his brother in The Krays, playing the eponymous twins Ronald and Reginald. Martin went on to appear in a spate of Hollywood films, like Embrace the Vampire, and a number US TV series.

In 1998, Kemp was cast in long-running BBC series EastEnders, playing one of Albert Square’s many villains, Steve Owen. He won a number of awards for his time in the show before he left in 2002 and signed a contract with ITV.

This album contains no booklet.