Martin and Shirlie Kemp’s lives from being set up by star to spiked wedding cake

Martin and Shirlie Kemp have long proved themselves to be one of the hottest couples in showbiz. The one-time Spandau Ballet bassist and former Wham! backing vocalist have been together since 1988.

But it took a special catalyst to help make their love blossom all those years ago, and that came in the form of Wham! lead singer, the late George Michael. Speaking on an episode of ITV’s This Morning back in 2017, Shirlie said she had met the former EastEnders actor a ‘long, long time’ ago, and despite being attracted to Martin, George had to push her for weeks to make her call him.

Shirlie said: “I did fancy Martin, as many girls did. We bumped into him one night and he gave me his number. I had that for a few weeks. George kept asking me, ‘are you going to call him, are you going to call him?’”

READ MORE: EastEnders: ‘Dirty’ Dan Sullivan star Craig Fairbrass looks completely different 20 years after leaving show

She added: “And I was at his [George’s] house and he went into his sister’s bedroom, and picked up the phone and dialed the number. He just passed it to me. I’d never rung a boy in my life! I was so nervous. But when Martin answered he just said, ‘I’ve been waiting for you to call’.”

Recalling the occasion from his perspective, Martin told The Sun: “As I walked to Camden Palace, the worst thing happened. She was with her mate… but her mate was George Michael. I spent all night trying to get rid of him.”

However, little did Martin and Shirlie know at the time that they would go on to marry and have two kids together – daughter Harley Moon, 33, and son Roman, 29.

Over three decades since they tied the knot, the two are still the same rockstars they were when they first met, although one act of rebellion they did at their wedding might have been one step a little too far.

Martin once said that guests at the event back in 1988 were “off their faces” after eating their wedding cake which had a certain secret ingredient – cannabis. The Krays actor told The Sun: “There was a man and woman at the top [of the cake] and it was traditional but somebody else had made it… the whole thing was made of dope.”

He continued: “The whole thing was a space cake. People were walking around my house off their faces. It went on for hours and hours. But I’ll tell you something, it was the only cake where we had adults queuing up to take a bit home”.

Fans of the couple can see them in action at 7pm on BBC One tonight when they feature as guests on the TV game show The Wall Versus Celebrities .