Despite a high-profile High Court fight over royalties in 1999, new romantic pioneers Spandau Ballet have confirmed a flood of music industry rumours by reforming for a world tour.
Official confirmation was expected at a March 25 press conference on board HMS Belfast, which has been moored on the River Thames in London and used as a floating museum since being taken out of active service.
"The boys are back in town and we can't wait. It's going to be brilliant, we're very excited, but it will be very different," said lead singer Tony Hadley, 48, who - with drummer John Keeble and saxophonist Steve Norman - was one of the three band members that took action against songwriter Gary Kemp over royalty splits.
They claimed that a verbal agreement made in 1980 entitled them to an 8.3 percent share of royalties from the band's catalog of songs including hit singles "Gold" and "True."
Kemp said no such agreement existed and Justice Clark ruled in his favour.
The timing of the decision to reunite is particularly salient, according to The Independent. Spandau Ballet plotted the path of new romanticism in the early '80s, a movement protesting against the "grey, drab fashion of the period, which was itself indicative of the low spirits caused by the recession of those times," the paper said.
It also says that in view of the somewhat acrimonious battle that followed the split, the reunion comes as more of a surprise than those of fellow New Romantics Duran Duran, The Sex Pistols, Take That, The Spice Girls and Blur.
Some of the band's members have already embarked on other careers, including Martin Kemp and his brother Gary appearing as gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray in the 1990 film "The Krays." Martin Kemp has enjoyed further acting success, most notably as the villain Steve Owen in the BBC soap "East Enders."
Hadley re-launched his career in 2003 after winning the reality television show "Reborn In The USA." In 2007 he was asked to play the lead role of Billy Flynn in the West End musical "Chicago."
The music industry has been awash with rumours that the group was set to reform after it emerged that the individual members who had fallen out so spectacularly in the courtroom were back on speaking terms.
The rumours were fueled by the group's Web site, which was "under construction" at press time but is already inviting fans to sign up for "a forthcoming announcement."
No tour dates were available at press time.
Click here to read The Independent's coverage.
Click here for the Spandau Ballet Web site.