The street where I grew up: Tony Hadley, 62, singer and former Spandau Ballet star

I lived at Percy Circus near King’s Cross in central London, which was essentially a roundabout with a green in the middle, until I married my first wife aged 22. I was in Spandau Ballet by then, so was spending much of my time on the road. 

People thought I was rolling in it as soon as Spandau were on Top Of The Pops but it doesn’t work like that – I still had to borrow 20 quid off Mum and Dad if I was meeting my mates at the pub for a drink.

My mum Josephine and dad Patrick had a house with three bedrooms. I was one of three – I’ve got a younger sister, Lee, and younger brother, Steve – and I shared a bedroom with my brother. 

Hadley grew up Percy Circus, Clerkenwell, Islington, London. He said: ‘The Islington of my youth was very different to the Islington of today. Some of the neighbours would go to the Merlin Street washing baths, but luckily for us Dad had a bathroom installed in the house’

The Islington of my youth was very different to the Islington of today. Some of the neighbours would go to the Merlin Street washing baths, but luckily for us Dad had a bathroom installed in the house. 

Dad joined the RAF at 16 and during the war he put the bombs on the Lancaster bombers that flew across the Channel. He then did an apprenticeship and got a job as an electrical engineer at the Daily Mail, where he made good money. I’d pop down to Fleet Street and visit him in the machine room – no one worried about health and safety back then.

Mum was always there for us when we were young, but she got a job as a receptionist for the health authority when we went to secondary school. I always gave Mum and Dad a kiss when I went out. 

One day a mate of mine saw me kiss Dad and said, ‘You can’t kiss your dad, Tone.’ I replied with a chuckle, ‘If you can’t kiss your dad who can you kiss?’ 

Sadly we lost him aged just 63 more than 30 years ago. Mum has never remarried but she’s got a good support network of family and friends. She’s just turned 90 and only recently sold the house.

I suspect I was a pain in the backside as a kid. I was always the first to the top of any tree, and I once got caned at school for misbehaving. I have happy memories of playing on nearby bombsites. In my teens some of my mates started nicking cars, but I said, ‘I’m out.’ I didn’t want to bring that disrespect on my family.

Hadley said: ‘I suspect I was a pain in the backside as a kid (pictured). I was always the first to the top of any tree, and I once got caned at school for misbehaving’

I went to Dame Alice Owen’s Grammar School, along with three other members of Spandau Ballet. My parents were ambitious for my siblings and me, and growing up, I wanted to be an orthopaedic surgeon, but in my teens I discovered music. 

I sang in choirs, got up on stage to sing on a family holiday at Pontins at Camber Sands, and at 16 formed a band called The Cut with Gary Kemp and the others. We played pubs and clubs and after a couple of name changes, ended up as Spandau Ballet.

I was so convinced we were going to make it that I walked out of school for good. Dad was furious because he’d wanted me to go to university. Even after Spandau found fame, Dad, bless him, was worried that the band’s success might evaporate. ‘Don’t take it too seriously, son,’ he’d tell me.

As told to York Membery.