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Gary Numan (born March 8, 1958), a.k.a. Gary Webb, is a British singer, songwriter and electropop pioneer.
Numan rose to prominence at the tail end of the 1970s, initially recording under the band name Tubeway Army. After recording an album's worth of punky demos, he was signed by Beggar's Banquet in 1978. A self-titled, punk-orientated album later that same year sold few copies but introduced Numan's fascination with dystopian science fiction and, more importantly, synthesisers. Almost from nowhere, Tubeway Army reached number one in 1979 with the classic electronic single "Are 'Friends' Electric?", the parent album Replicas simultaneously climbing to number one in the album charts. A few months later he repeated the feat with "Cars", which became a top ten hit in America as well, and the 1979 album The Pleasure Principle, both released under Numan's own, assumed, name, which he had plucked from an advert in the "Yellow Pages". Topping both single and album charts simultaneously was impressive enough; doing so twice in the space of six months was astonishing. A sell-out tour followed. Numan had clearly hit a nerve. Science fiction was big business in the UK 1979, not just because of Star Wars, but also because of the popular Blakes Seven and Dr Who television series. The Pleasure Principle was a rock album with no guitars whatsoever; instead, Numan used synthesisers instead, fed through guitar effects pedals to achieve a phased, heavy metal tone. Self-produced in a fortnight for very little money, 'The Pleasure Principle' sounded like nothing else, and remains impressive today.
Numan wore heavy make-up and was clearly inspired - self-admittedly so - by David Bowie, Marc Bolan and contemporary electronic acts such as Ultravox! and The Human League, both in their pre-fame incarnations. In interviews he came across as aloof, pretentious and mildly obnoxious, attributes which would latterly be assignd to a mild form of Asperger's Syndrome, whilst his great popularity and unashamed love of money did not endear him to the press, who could not find anything to write about him in any case. Gary Numan was a driven, creative, troubled 21-year-old loner who still lived with his parents. He was not punk. He was not quite New Romantic either, and retrospectives of the period tend to ignore him and his influence, as he was not easily categorised. The music which brought him fame was groove-based, riff-based heavy metal performed with synthesisers, Numan's distinctively reedy, cockney voice delivering lyrics which seemed to have been read from the pages of Philip K. Dick. From nowhere Numan generated an army of instant fans, a clone army of Numanoids who would remain loyal for years afterwards, bleak years which would see Numan increasingly use saxophones and female backing vocals.
In 1980 Numan again topped the album charts with 'Telekon', although the concurrent single 'We Are Glass' only reached number four. By this time Numan was sick of the pressures of fame, and announced his 'retirement' from touring with a series of expensive, sell-out concerts at Wembley Arena. Subsequently Numan turned his back on electronic music, experimenting instead with jazz, funk and lightweight pop. Numan's career quickly nosedived, eclipsed initially by Adam Ant, and later by such acts as Duran Duran, Culture Club, and Depeche Mode. He spent the decade in a creative malaise, trying to recapture his former chart glory with undistinguished albums stylistically derivative of artists like Robert Palmer and Prince. Each album saw a new 'image', none of which captured the public's imagination to nearly the same extent as the electronic space cadet of the late 1970s. His penchant for sharp suits and hats seemed faintly ridiculous, whilst his later adoption of shell-suits and mirrored shades seemed opportunistic. Collaborations with Bill Sharpe of Shakatak did not help his image. His own record label, 'Numa', had been launched in a flurry of idealistic excitement, but a lack of radio play and sales drained away the fortune he had amassed in the late 1970s. By the mid 1990s he was living in a small semi-detatched house, driving a cheap hatchback Rover, pondering his future.
During the late 1980s Numan had his life threatened on several occasions by a mysterious stalker.
Numan considered his 1992 'Machine & Soul' a career low point; the music was uninspired and the album sold only a few thousand copies. By 1994, Numan decided to stop attempting to crack the pop market and instead to concentrate on exploring his personal fascination with loud noises - and a surprising, dark interest in theology. He re-evaluated his career and went in a harsher, more industrial direction with his songwriting on the album Sacrifice. His next two albums Exile (1997) and Pure (2000) restored Numan's critical reputation. After years of ridicule in the press, he found himself an artist respected by his peers, with such musicians as Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson proclaiming his work an influence and recording cover versions of old Numan hits. The band Basement Jaxx had a huge hit in 2002 with "Where's Your Head At?", which relied on a sample of Numan's "M.E." - from 'The Pleasure Principle' - for its hook. The band Fear Factory produced a cover of Cars featuring a guest appearance by Numan. Cars remains Numan's most enduring and endearing song; it was a hit again in 1987 and 1997, in the latter case thanks to an appearance in an advert for Carling.
His wife, literally a member of his fan club, diagnosed him as having Asperger's syndrome. She has discussed this and how they met in at least one UK women's magazine.
In 2003, Numan enjoyed chart success once again with the single "Crazier," which went into the UK charts at #14. Later that year, he and his wife Gemma had their first child, Raven.
Numan is also known for his love of flying, and has owned several aircraft, one of which he famously crashed (only according to the press, he was, in fact, only a passenger in the plane) in 1981, shortly after attempting a round-the-world jaunt during which he was briefly imprisoned in India on suspicion of spying.
As an amusing footnote, Gary Numan is 13 days older than Gary Oldman.
Not including numerous compilations, many of them unauthorized
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