Martin Kemp says he has found himself in tears over his son Roman as he reminisced on old times with the presenter, admitting he “misses” quality time with him.
He may have been the life of the party at the height of his music career but, these days, Martin Kemp prefers his home comforts. “I always used to look at myself as an anecdote vampire. I would go out every night and stay until I had a great anecdote to tell around the table the next day.
“I guess these days you’d call it fear of missing out,” laughs the former Spandau Ballet star as he sits down for a chat with Mirror at his Hertfordshire home. And while he clearly looks back on his past with fond memories, Martin, 63, is a far cry from the party boy he once was.
“Nowadays, the fear of missing out doesn’t come into it any more,” he says. “I kind of feel like I’ve been there, I’ve got the T-shirt – now I can just enjoy life.”
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Away from work, enjoying life means spending time in his garden and relaxing at home with wife Shirlie, also 63. “I like to exercise in the morning, just to go out and get my headspace. Then I love spending a lot of time in my garden. Being out there gives me real peace of mind. I can be out in the garden for hours. Shirlie and I will often take pictures of it over the seasons to see how it changes.”
Martin tied the knot with Shirlie – who found fame in the 1980s as a backing singer for Wham! and one half of pop duo Pepsi & Shirlie – in 1988, making it one of the longest-standing marriages in showbusiness. Is there a secret to their success?
“No, I don’t think there is,” replies Martin. “I think it’s just what everybody knows. It’s about being kind to each other, loving each other, looking after each other and the person that is your best friend. I don’t think it’s a secret because everyone knows what it is, but you just have to make it real and put it into action.”
They are parents to daughter Harley, 35, and son Roman, 32, who has followed his mum and dad into showbiz with a presenting career, and is now a household name. But to Martin, it only feels like yesterday that his children were growing up.
Detailing his fond family memories, Martin says, “My kids are now in their thirties, but I’ve got footage of them taking their first steps, and it’s mind-boggling when I watch it back.
“You miss them so much when they grow up. It’s weird, when I watch old videos of Roman I can even remember the way he would smell of milk as a baby. Both of my parents have passed on now, but I’ve got memories of them and it feels like I can still smell them when I see old clips. It’s priceless.
“We had a load of old tapes of the kids, and a few Christmases ago, Shirlie bought me a camera that can play them all. I hadn’t seen these tapes in years, so I was watching them back through this little lens on the camera with my eye up against it, crying my eyes out!
“It brought back so many of the beautiful memories. That’s the power of capturing these moments. It’s something that we mustn’t take for granted. The older you get, the further away you get from memories like that and you want to bring them closer. You don’t realise how important they are until you’re older.”
Realising the importance of family milestones and memories is what led Martin to working with Samsung on their Life Unfolds Fast campaign, which featured the former EastEnders actor taking part in a short film where he looked back on old family footage from his own life.
The campaign encourages users of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7 to view and capture memories with its Galaxy AI-optimised large screen.
“I wanted to get involved with this campaign because I know the value of video and I know how valuable life is,” he says. “Back in the day, we filmed a lot, but I still feel like we never filmed enough, so I wanted to get involved to tell people how important it is to capture these good times while we can.”
Martin is focused on his DJ career, but says he hasn’t got Shirlie and the kids VIP tickets to his events yet. “They haven’t been to my shows!” he admits. “I like to keep it quite separate. It’s the weirdest thing, you know. I just find that when I walk out of the house and I go and work. It’s my thing.”
Martin’s work as a DJ has seen him tour the UK this year and take to the booth with sets of 80s classics, and he says that while he may now enjoy a slower pace of life in some areas, music is something he has no plan to retire from.
“I love it. I DJ up and down the country and we have played to thousands and thousands of people over the last few years. I absolutely love it, It’s a thrill. I’m at a stage now where my hobby and job are blurred. It feels like I’m just going out to do my hobby, so why would I ever stop that?
“I look at The Rolling Stones and think, they’ve got plenty of money, but they do it because they love it. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing what I love.”
Martin Kemp narrates a new short film of the poem ‘Life Unfolds Fast’ which accompanies a movie featuring a selection of home videos from his family archive. The film supports the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7,celebrating life’s greatest moments which you can relive on Samsung’s most expansive phone screen yet