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Eighties pop group Spandau Ballet are to put aside years of bad blood and court battles to announce a comeback.

All five original members of the band, who had hits like Gold and True, are expected to reveal details of a tour.

They split in 1989 and a bitter feud over songwriting royalties ended up in the High Court in 1999.

Singer Tony Hadley did not speak to brothers Gary and Martin Kemp for a number of years - but they have now set aside their differences.

Journalists have been invited to the HMS Belfast in London, the scene of a landmark early gig in 1980, for the announcement later.

Speaking about the reunion, Hadley told The Sunday People: "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 to how we used to be.

"Obviously there'll be all the hits, the nostalgia, but there will also be a new take on what Spandau Ballet are about."

Spandau Ballet had their first hit in November 1980 with To Cut A Long Story Short. They went on to release six studio albums and had 10 UK top 10 singles, topping the charts with True in 1983.

But after they split, Hadley, saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble sued Gary Kemp, the group's songwriter and guitarist, for a share of songwriting royalties.

The three claimed a verbal agreement, made in 1980, entitled them to an 8.3% share of income from the band's back catalogue.

At the time, Gary Kemp said he was "hurt" by the action, which had "besmirched the history of the band I was proud of".

During the trial, Hadley told the court he ended up in a "desperate financial situation". Martin Kemp, the group's bassist, did not take part in the action.

The judge ruled in favour of Gary Kemp, who said afterwards: "It was like walking away from a car crash - you're glad to be alive but mortified and shocked by the wreckage."

The case left his three former bandmates with £400,000 legal costs. To pay the bills, the trio sold their shares in the company that had been used to distribute the royalties, and went back on tour.

But they were reportedly threatened with court by Gary Kemp for billing themselves as "ex-Spandau Ballet".

In 2003, Hadley told the Express on Sunday: "I never want to see those people again. I want to walk away from that side of my life."

And in 2007, he was quoted in the Express as saying: "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 I think hell is frozen and we still wouldn't do it."

After the split, Gary and Martin Kemp became actors, with starring roles in 1990 film The Krays. Martin Kemp later became a regular on EastEnders as club owner Steve Owen.

Hadley won ITV reality show Reborn In The USA in 2003 and appeared in the West End musical Chicago in 2007.

Spandau Ballet are the latest in a series of groups to reunite - Take That and the Police have both staged successful comeback tours in recent years and Blur are reforming for a series of gigs this summer.

BBC News