Interview: Tony Hadley talks George Martin, Spandau Ballet and the music industry ahead of Birmingham show

But enough of shoehorning Spandau songs into this interview (can you spot all five in our intro?!) – let's get down to business. Tony is gearing up for a handful of special shows this autumn that bring him to Birmingham's Symphony Hall on October 15, and we're excited to hear all about them.

Instead of the blue-eyed soul singer being accompanied by his usual band on this tour, he's bringing with him an entire orchestra. It's no wonder he chose the Symphony Hall. . .

"The first time I ever worked with an orchestra was in Birmingham, for the Prince's Trust with the Birmingham Philharmonic. The Beatles producer, George Martin, was conducting."

It's an impressive start. "I was about 24 or 25 and being a pop musician in front of this huge orchestra, it really was just like 'wow'. But George was really lovely and reassuring. As a singer it was a fantastic thing to do – it really was amazing. That was my first ever taste of it, and since then I've toured Europe and South America with orchestras and with artists like the late Joe Cocker, James Brown and Alice Cooper. I just decided it'd be a good idea to do it myself!"

It sounds like a great idea to us. With so many 'old' bands reuniting for what seems like nothing more than just a quick pay check, it's nice to see a singer challenging themselves to give their fans something fresh.

"We just wanted to concentrate on three shows – because they're quite big shows to put on to be honest. We've played the Symphony Hall quite a few times before, and it's beautiful, especially playing with an orchestra. We had to pick the best places for them. Next year we might do a bigger tour, but we settled on just three this time."

It sounds quite scary, really. We ask whether Tony is worried that his voice will be lost amid so many other instruments.

"When you first do it, you do feel a bit intimidated because you're among these fantastic musicians. But once you get to know them, they're really cool and they love being part of a pop rock ensemble and doing different stuff rather than just classical. We've orchestrated a lot of the Spandau stuff, plus new stuff from an orchestra album I'm going to be doing next year.

"We have the Tony Hadley Band for the rock bit, but we're surrounded by all of these fabulous musicians too. I don't read music, but I know how orchestras work and how they sound, when they're in tune and when they're out of time."

So what Spandau hits can we expect from the show?

"It's a real variation. Doing a version of Musclebound – which I haven't done for years – sounds fab with the orchestra. There's some more obscure Spandau too – a few album tracks that haven't been touched in years. There are people out there who have never heard me sing those songs live. There's a song from the first album called Toys which was never a single, but I always felt like it should have been. That sounds fabulous with an orchestra.

"We've changed some of the arrangements for other songs too – though we've kept to the core arrangements, what you do on top and how creative you are orchestrally, is a completely different thing. So from a singers point of view, it's amazing. Some songs you start with a simple string section and it sounds fantastic.

"When you hear pop and rock songs arranged with the orchestra, it gives a whole different dimension. Unless you're a classic music fan, you might not have seen this kind of thing before. From my point of view, I have to be incredibly disciplined. When I'm on stage with my band, if I want to go round again or I don't want to come in for another 16 bars, then we can do that. When I'm with an orchestra though, a 16-bar intro is exactly what it is. You cannot deviate from the plan! If you do, the orchestra will carry on and you'll be left alone, and that's a car crash, it really is. Even now it's pretty scary!"

Tony will have the old familiarity of the Spandau songs, but they're not all he's planning to perform at his Birmingham show. He's been hand-picking some of his favourite songs too, so we ask what made the cut.

"It's always a difficult process choosing which songs to do, because there are so many great songs out there. One that I really wanted to do was Life on Mars, because it was an orchestra song when it was first performed. I chose it before David Bowie passed away, bless him. It is just absolutely outstanding but a very difficult song to sing. People didn't give Bowie enough credit for the fact that he had a tremendous voice.

"Sometimes in the rock set, we do Boys of Summer by Don Henley because I just love that song, but New York Minute is cracking. We do Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce too.

"You don't want to do the same old, same old all the time. Someone from Universal Records, who we're talking to at the moment, couldn't believe that I'd done The Killers and The Kaiser Chiefs songs. I'm always trying to listen to young bands whenever possible, to see whether it'd work for me and my band."

Things seem busy for Tony. He tells us that as well as his new orchestrated album, he's got a Christmas album in the pipeline too.

"Kim Wilde has very kindly done a duet with me on Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and she sounds absolutely beautiful. When you get to do things like that, you have to mix it up a bit. It's bloody expensive though!"

Gone are the golden days of having record companies throwing money at you to make music. Tony has seen it all. "The industry has changed beyond recognition. Record companies now want things delivered on a plate but unfortunately, I've heard of artists that don't even bother to make 12-track albums any more. That's really sad, but records just don't sell.

"If you're Adele or Ed Sheeran they do, but even they're suffering the curse of streaming. As an artist you don't make any money from streaming, so you're more or less giving your music away to promote yourself for live concerts.

"It's just changed completely – I don't know what's going to happen long term. I'm always checking out what's out and how many albums are selling, and with 15,000 albums you've got a number one album! I've got discs where I barely entered the top ten after selling quarter of a million singles! No one is making money from records, so how long will it be before the funding to make them ceases?

"If you're a young band, you can set up in your garage and you can make an album. But if you're a solo musician, you have to employ people. So with an orchestra, you're looking at thousands and thousands of pounds! It's a weird one. . . but we're all alive, playing music and I think I'm singing better than ever and I'm already booked up for next year. So I have to pinch myself. I'm 56 this year and I still feel 26. How long have I been doing this? And people still want to see and hear me! Thank God they do."

We hum Through The Barricades (our favourite Spandau song) and agree – we do still want to see him. Tony mentions Midge Ure and Marti Pellow as other artists from that golden era who continue to be successful, the latter in theatre. We ask Tony whether treading the boards is for him. "I did theatre for three months and loved it, but that was enough!" he laughs.

"I like the variation I have now – one day I'll be in Italy, the next week I'll have two festivals and then I'm back in Italy again. Going to the theatre every single day felt like I was working in an office again – it scared the life out of me."

Touring with a band sounds like a great craic though. We ask Tony when we'll see that Spandau line-up at it again. "We toured last year and finished in September last year. It feels like yesterday. The thing is with Spandau is that it should be kept as something special. Maybe the other guys thought this was going to be the beginning of the beginning again. But I've been a solo artist for much longer than I was in Spandau Ballet for, and I've got my own band who were waiting around for me. We love working together and get on fantastically well, we write together and have a studio together, so I've got a whole career that exists outside of Spandau. My intention was never to be back in it full-time. I can't put a date or a year on it, but we'll get together when it feels right again."

We hope so, so touch wood. Tony does the same. "I'm touching my bit of wood before I say it, but I'm singing better than ever. I work on it all the time and have studied the voice. I do take it really seriously so hopefully that continues. There's not a week goes by when I'm not performing.

"It's like Tom Jones, he's a terrific fella – the guy sings all the time and that's why he sounds so fantastic. There's a depth to his voice now that wasn't there before. And though I can sing higher now than I could when I was 26, there's more timbre to my voice. I'm still here, and I'm still hanging on."

And if the hype surrounding his latest shows are to be believed, the fans are too. He Don't Need This Pressure On, but he's handling it really well.

For tickets to Tony's show at Birmingham Symphony Hall, visit www.thsh.co.uk/event/tony-hadley or call 0121 780 4949. Tickets cost from £28.

By Kirsty Bosley