1992–1996: The State of Play and When Saturday Comes After Spandau Ballet disbanded, Hadley pursued a solo career, signing to
EMI and recording his first album,
The State of Play, in 1992. The album spawned three singles, but neither it nor any of the singles achieved any kind of chart success, and after one final single,
Absolution, released in the summer of 1993, Hadley was subsequently dropped. After leaving EMI, Hadley formed his own record company, SlipStream Records, and his first release was the single "Build Me Up", from the soundtrack of the film
When Saturday Comes. In 1996, Hadley performed in a BBC Radio 2 live performance of
Jesus Christ Superstar, playing the title role opposite
Roger Daltrey's Judas.
1997–2000: Tony Hadley and collaborations On his return from that tour, Hadley collaborated with
Tin Tin Out on their hit "Dance With Me", which reached #35 on the
UK singles chart, and was the first in a series of electronic, dance and house collaborations over the course of the next three years. In May 1997, Hadley signed a joint deal with
PolyGram TV, and released his next eponymous
solo album, which included
covers and songs that were chosen to match his voice. The album also featured some of his own self-penned songs, such as "She", which he wrote for daughter Toni. The album spawned three singles, but none charted and the album only reached number 45 in the UK. In 1999,
Alan Parsons chose Hadley as the lead singer for the track "Out of the Blue" on his album
The Time Machine.
2000–2002: Unreleased house album Following a number of successful collaborations with other house artists and DJs, Hadley became the subject of some newfound respect in the 2000s, rooted in an "ironic" appreciation for Spandau Ballet. This saw him begin work on album of solo euro-house material, which remains unreleased, after signing a deal with European label Frontera Recordings. Two singles from the project were released to markets in continental
Europe, with
Will U Take Me being released in November 2000 and
Sweet Surrender in March 2002, neither of which sparked enough interest for the album to be released. Back on home soil, fearing that the project was too far removed from his origins with Spandau Ballet, Hadley released an EP of four new songs,
Get So Lonely, on his own label, Blueprint Recordings, in the summer of 2001. Meanwhile,
Debut and
Obsession, two live albums featuring recordings taken from a performance in
Cologne in 1992 and Ronnie Scott's in 1999 respectively, were released in limited numbers by small-budget labels. The summer of 2002 saw Hadley reunite with former band members
John Keeble and
Steve Norman for a tour entitled
An Evening of Gold, under the moniker Hadley, Norman and Keeble.
2003–2005: Reborn in the USA and True Ballads Although a collaboration with
Marc et Claude followed in April 2002, no further singles from the house album were released; and by the autumn of 2002, Hadley had signed up to participate in the new
ITV reality series
Reborn in the USA. Hadley beat ten other artists, including
Peter Cox,
Michelle Gayle,
Elkie Brooks,
Sonia, and
Leee John, to win the prize of a recording contract with
Universal Music. The resulting album was
True Ballads, a compilation of three re-recorded hits from the Spandau Ballet days, ten tracks from his 1997 self-titled album, and two new songs: a cover of "
I Can't Make You Love Me", which he performed on the show, and "After All This Time", the theme song from the
BBC drama series
Down to Earth, which ran from 2000 until 2005. in 2005|left Following his success on the show, Hadley continued with a busy performing schedule, and co-headlined a tour with Cox, performing songs from both the
Go West and Spandau Ballet back catalogues, as well as number of covers. The tour spawned a live album and DVD, both of which were released in 2004. The following year, Hadley co-headlined another tour, this time with
Martin Fry of
ABC, in very much the same vein; performing both ABC and Spandau Ballet songs. A live album and DVD of this tour was released in 2005.
2006–2008: Passing Strangers 2006 saw the release of Hadley's first solo album in nine years, a
jazz-
swing album entitled
Passing Strangers. The album consisted of eighteen tracks, both covers and original songs, and was laid out in the format of a vinyl album, described by Hadley as being a "nod" to the good old days. In support of the album, Hadley headlined a "By Request" tour from March to May 2006, followed by a
big band tour later in the year. Hadley performed a set with several other 1980s acts at the
Retro Fest on 1 September 2007 at
Culzean Castle in
Ayrshire, Scotland, which saw him reunite with Fry and Cox for a special rendition of "
Addicted to Love", with Fry and Cox. In February 2008, Hadley took part in the Italian Sanremo Festival, where he duetted in both English and Italian with contestant Paolo Meneguzzi on Meneguzzi's song, "Grande" ("
Big"), during the third day of the contest, where all contestants re-interpreted their songs with guest artists. On 22 February 2008, he performed as an interval act at the semi-final of Dora 2008, the selection of the Croatian entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest. By the summer of 2008, rumours of a Spandau Ballet reunion had reached the press and in the summer of 2009, a reunion tour with the original line-up was announced.
2011–2014: Spandau Ballet hiatus After two successful years touring, Spandau Ballet once again entered hiatus in June 2010. In 2011, Hadley stated that his solo career has been more financially rewarding than his period at the top of the charts with Spandau Ballet. He stated that 2008 was his best-ever earning year, having performed in over 220 shows. In 2014, Hadley took part in the prime-time
RAI TV show
La Pista as team leader of the Tacco 10 female dance troupe. Over the course of the competition, Hadley performed both Spandau Ballet's "
Gold", as well as "
Rio", originally a hit for rival band
Duran Duran. The summer of 2014 saw the release of a new solo single, "Take Back Everything", before a further tour with Spandau Ballet to celebrate the band's 35th Anniversary was confirmed for the summer of 2015. Although recorded several years before, an unreleased album of Christmas songs was released on 27 November 2015, shortly after the conclusion of the tour.
2017–2021: Talking to the Moon On 3 July 2017, Hadley announced on Twitter that due to circumstances beyond his control, he was no longer a member of Spandau Ballet. Towards the end of 2017, Hadley duetted with
Jane McDonald on the song "I See It in Your Eyes", from her album
Hold the Covers Back.
Talking to the Moon, Hadley's first album of original solo material since
Passing Strangers, was released in the summer of 2018, backed by the single "Tonight Belongs to Us", and also including "Take Back Everything", despite it having been released four years earlier. A tour in support of the album followed in the autumn. Subsequently, work on a follow-up album began in early 2020, with "Obvious", the first single recorded for the project, being released on 12 June. Later in the year, Hadley was one of the featured vocalists on the single "The Best Christmas (in Lockdown)", a charity assemble of around one-hundred celebrities recording for the Hertfordshire-based Electric Umbrella organisation. In 2021, Hadley appeared alongside
Marcella Detroit,
Jools Holland and
Glen Matlock on a charity version of the
Robbie Williams song "
Angels", recorded in tribute to the producer Steve Brown and with funds going to the late producer's COVID-19 charity.
2022–present: 40th Anniversary Tour On 18 February 2022, Hadley released his first solo single in over two years, "Because of You", an up-tempo number that marked a distinct change in his sound from previous solo material. During March and May 2022, Hadley embarked on a 40-date tour of the United Kingdom to celebrate his 40th Anniversary in the music business. The tour was scheduled for 2020, but was delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The tour concluded with four special additional dates in October 2022, which saw Hadley backed by a full orchestra. ==Other work and awards==