{"id":455503,"date":"2026-04-27T02:21:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T02:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/455503\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T02:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T02:21:19","slug":"roman-kemps-dad-martin-says-we-had-nothing-as-he-fights-back-tears-over-realisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/455503\/","title":{"rendered":"Roman Kemp’s dad Martin says ‘we had nothing’ as he fights back tears over ‘realisation’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spandau Ballet star Martin Kemp spoke candidly about his late father on son Roman Kemp’s You About? podcast, recalling how his dad’s faith in him changed everything\"Martin<\/p>\n

Martin and Roman Kemp(Image: (Image: Getty))<\/p>\n

Martin Kemp battled to contain his emotions while discussing with his son Roman Kemp how his late father reacted to his daring choice to quit an apprenticeship in order to pursue a music career.<\/p>\n

During an appearance on Roman\u2019s You About? podcast, Martin, 64, who also has daughter Harleymoon Kemp with wife Shirlie, recalled the moment his father, Frank, wrote a letter essentially giving him permission to leave and try to forge a path in showbusiness.<\/p>\n

Sharing the memory, Martin said: \u201cWhen I was an apprentice compositor in print, my dad wrote the manager a letter when I wanted to leave to be in a band.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it said, \u2018Dear sir. You have to excuse Martin from his apprenticeship. Will you release him early because he wants to be\u2026 a rockstar?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that wasn\u2019t really about trust \u2014 that was about my dad having faith in me and wanting to give me a chance, and not wanting to nail me down in one place,\u201d reports the Manchester Evening News.<\/p>\n

\"Martin<\/p>\n

Martin and Roman Kemp(Image: ITV)<\/p>\n

When questioned why he couldn\u2019t write the letter himself, Martin explained: \u201cI was only 17 and you can\u2019t, because apprenticeships in those days \u2014 you are locked in. You are locked in for five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Becoming noticeably moved while thinking about his father\u2019s vital support, Martin\u2019s voice wavered as he continued: \u201cDo you know, I think there was a big bit of my dad that wanted it to come true.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told that story so many times, but it\u2019s kind of like every now and again, you realise how important it is. When my dad wrote me that letter, we had nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LONDON,<\/p>\n

Martin Kemp(Image: Eamonn M. McCormack, Getty Images for Bauer)<\/p>\n

The I\u2019m A Celebrity\u2026 Get Me Out of Here! star revealed that, given the family\u2019s dire financial situation at the time, he could have offered crucial support by sticking with his apprenticeship \u2014 but his father had unwavering faith that he would succeed in music.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Martin has spoken about his father. Earlier this year, the former EastEnders<\/a> actor and Spandau Ballet star shared his experience of losing both parents in 2009 and how deeply it affected him.<\/p>\n

Martin\u2019s mother died just 48 hours after his father, and he later reflected on their lives for a new short film.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Mail\u2019s Love Sunday magazine, he said: \u201cBoth of my parents have passed on now, but I\u2019ve got memories of them and it feels like I can still smell them when I see old clips.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Martin and Roman Kemp<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a load of old tapes of the kids and a few Christmases ago, Shirlie bought me a camera that can play them all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t 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 beautiful memories. That\u2019s the power of capturing these moments. It\u2019s something that mustn\u2019t be taken for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roman Kemp is set to feature on The Great Celebrity Bake Off: Stand Up To Cancer on Channel 4 this Sunday, April 26 at 7pm.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spandau Ballet star Martin Kemp spoke candidly about his late father on son Roman Kemp’s You About? podcast,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,6640,18,117,26554,19,17,14002,8312,85260],"class_list":{"0":"post-455503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-eastenders","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-im-a-celebrity-get-me-out-of-here","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-reality-shows","16":"tag-soap-operas","17":"tag-spandau-ballet"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116474288186157473","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}