Spandau Ballet is a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles and four Top Ten albums in the UK between 1980 and 1990. The band split acrimoniously in 1990 but announced their reunion in March 2009, complete with a tour that began in October 2009. "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.
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 most remembered song in the U.S., reaching number four on the Billboard.