True (Spandau Ballet Song)

True (Spandau Ballet Song)

"True" is the title track from Spandau Ballet's 1983 album True, originally recorded at Compass Point Studios, Bahamas. It was composed by group leader, Gary Kemp, and is a six-minute (in its original album version) slow pop-ballad love song that in part pays tribute to the Motown artist Marvin Gaye and the sound he helped to establish. The song was recorded before Gaye's murder a year later, which was itself followed by the release of the song "Nightshift" by The Commodores, which was a tribute to both Gaye and Jackie Wilson.

The song was a huge worldwide hit, peaking at number one in the UK for four weeks in the spring of 1983, becoming the sixth biggest selling single of the year, and charting highly in 20 other countries. It is Spandau Ballet's biggest hit and their most remembered song in the U.S., reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the autumn of that same year and topping the adult contemporary chart for one week. It is notable for its use in the 1984 film Sixteen Candles.

In 1985, the band performed the song during Live Aid. A new mix by Tony Swain and Gary Kemp was released in 2002 on the compilation album Reformation.

On 30 April 2008, the single celebrated its 25th anniversary, and in honour of this, EMI released a brand new True EP on 5 May 2008, which included the original single, the new mix found on Reformation and the remastered album version, plus a live recordings of "True" and "Gold" from the last show of the group's 1983 tour at Sadlers Wells.