On hold with the Amrath Hotel Amsterdam waiting to be connected to a Mr Rufus Stone in room 203, I found myself humming Spandau Ballet's Gold.
"Always believe in your soul, dah de dah, you've got the power to know, dah de dah, you're indestructible, always beliiieeeeevvveeeee..."
"Hello," said Stone as I almost swallowed my tongue to take back the last few, totally out of tune, notes I had just squealed down the handset.
"Caught you," he said, before finishing the end of the famous chorus.
And maybe I wouldn't have minded had Stone been a takeaway delivery man, or call centre operator. Unfortunately for me, Stone was in fact a cover name for Steve Norman — of '80s legends Spandau Ballet, the band behind the famously addictive tune.
I was well and truly busted, but at least it broke the ice.
"Fancy a pop at Through the Barricades too?" he sniggered, knowing full well I wanted the earth to swallow me whole. "Only joking, it was really quite good."
Norman and the '80s legends will be performing at 7he Sevens stadium on May 7 in a co-headlining concert with Rod Stewart.
Part of me wanted to bite back, but I decided this guy's been through the wringer — probably shouldn't wind him up.
Having enjoyed years as a member of one of the most fondly remembered groups of the '80s, Norman was also involved in one of the biggest and most bitter feuds in pop. The band, who split up in 1989 after scoring 17 UK Top 40 hits in the '80s, went their separate ways before launching court battles to sue for rights and royalties of the famous songs.
‘A powerful thing'
This is all water under the bridge since the five members shocked the music world this time last year with the news they were getting back together. "We found ourselves in a room together and it was total silence. It was a powerful thing," said Norman before a long pause.
"It had been 20 years and it wasn't easy. It was awkward and we'd lost respect for each other. Things go sour very easily when it comes down to it. Too easily. The loss of respect means the loss of everything."
Their reunion was revealed last April on board the HMS Belfast by Tower Bridge in London, where they played one of their earliest gigs in 1980. This was remarkable, given the animosity between the band members during and after their high-profile High Court case in 1999.
Saxophonist Norman, frontman Tony Hadley, and drummer John Keeble were going all out to sue Gary Kemp, who wrote the majority of the songs, for £1 million (Dh5.63 million) in songwriting royalties — a battle they eventually lost.
"Being reunited is great. It was a tremendous feeling and a momentous occasion when we eventually got back together," said Norman. "With hindsight, we should have plugged it in years ago. Hindsight is a funny thing.
"We started playing again and it was magic, a different kind of chemistry and for a while we just all stood open-mouthed. We are lucky to have been given another chance."
The first contact Norman had with anyone in the band was in Ibiza last year, where he had moved to for a period. Fiftth Spandau member Martin Kemp realised Norman was living on the Balearic island and started "banging on my door like a crazy person".
A few drinks and a lot of tears later, Norman said slowly the other members — Hadley, Martin's brother Gary, and Keeble — started to come on board.
‘Alternative family'
"We said we should start building bridges," said Norman. "I was in Ibiza trying something new. I love the island, but not the crazy side of it. People imagine the pubs and clubs, but it has a very spiritual side which is easy to get lost in. The peace and tranquillity is actually quite ironic, but it helped me mature and find a way to move past the problems with the band."
But behind the media fanfare, the comeback was a particularly poignant day for brothers Martin and Gary Kemp, whose parents died within 48 hours of each other in a Bournemouth hospital less than a week before the announcement.
In an ironic twist, the Kemps' once-loathed bandmates helped them through the pain.
Former EastEnders star Martin Kemp said at the time: "It was really therapeutic. If I was on a film set I can't imagine being around people who would have known my parents so well.
"It would have been much harder for me to get over, but being around an alternative family made it that much easier."
The newly-reformed Spandau Ballet announced tour dates from Manchester to Melbourne. And, of course, Dubai. Not daunted by the prospect of a gruelling tour, the guys claim the comeback is all about the music rather than the money.
"Touring isn't easy," said Norman, admitting age wasn't exactly on their side anymore. "Sleeping on buses overnight. We're not exactly spring chickens anymore, but the music is what surprises you. It grabs you and keeps you buzzing when you come off stage and that is a great feeling. It's about being a musician before anything else and I think until what we do on stage starts to get tough then we'll be around.
"You have to get into a flow and pace yourself. It's a bit like being at summer camp — you can party hard if you play hard."
The north London group was one of the most successful groups of the 1980s, forming as The Roots at school in Islington in 1976.
Both Kemp brothers have since embarked on acting careers, with Martin now appearing in the BBC soap EastEnders. Gary Kemp continued as a successful songwriter.
But Hadley, Keeble and Norman struggled to keep their careers alive during the 1990s.
Back to basics
So what does it mean to have a new single, Once More, and be supporting the great Rod Stewart in Dubai on May 7? "We can't wait to support Rod," said Norman. "He is an artist who is very much ‘up there' when it comes to our wish list. It's an honour.
"I met him once across a football field at a charity match and he seemed like a great guy. He was a nice fella."
The latest single was co-written by Norman and Gary Kemp and is about relationships and the strength they have.
Technology may have moved on since their early days in the studio, but when it comes to the music the band have gone back to basics. "It was a case of sitting around in Gary's living room and taking things back to the simple elements," he said.
"You can get away with anything in a studio these days and we didn't want to do that. Nothing about our new album is manipulated and I like that. It's acoustic and simple.
"Tony's voice was magic and it took us all by surprise as it used to all those years ago."
As recently as 2007, Hadley declared: "I know you should never say never, and bands in the past have said hell would freeze over before they got back together, but in our case hell is frozen and we still wouldn't do it."
"Just goes to show," said Norman, "in this utterly, unpredictable world you really should never say never".
Do you remember?
Once More is Spandau Ballet's latest offering but there's no doubt the Dubai audience will be waiting for the favourites.
tabloid! takes a trip down memory lane and picks the top five songs (and videos) of the '80s masters:
1. True
2. Gold
3. Through the Barricades
4. Only When You Leave
5. Lifeline
The fight
In 1999, Tony Hadley, John Keeble and Steve Norman tried to sue Gary Kemp.They also vowed to appeal after losing the court battle to claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in royalties from Gary, the pop group's main songwriter. Mr Justice Park told the High Court in London he found it "unconscionable" for singer Hadley, drummer Keeble and saxophonist Norman to lay claim to "large sums of money which they knew Mr Kemp" had regarded as his. The trio claimed they had a verbal agreement dating back to 1980 giving them a one-12th share of royalties from hits such as True and Gold, and even if there was no agreement, their contributions to the records still entitled them to money. But Mr Justice Park said the three's bid had "failed in its entirety".Kemp described the battle as "like walking away from a car crash — you're glad to be alive, but mortified and shocked by the wreckage".
Don't miss it
Spandau Ballet and Rod Stewart perform at 7he Sevens stadium on May 7. Tickets cost Dh750 for Golden Circle and Dh350 for general admission at boxofficeme.com and Virgin Megastores.
