Smithfield, London
Kemp was on born 16 October 1959, to parents Eileen and Frank Kemp in St Bartholomew's Hospital, Smithfield, London, within the sound of St Mary-le-Bow's bells and grew up in Islington, London, in a working-class family. He attended Rotherfield Junior School and Dame Alice Owen's grammar school in Islington and later in the sixth form relocated to Potters Bar.