Adam Ant
Stuart Leslie Goddard, better known as Adam Ant (born 3 November 1954), is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK top ten hits from 1980 to 1983, including three UK No. 1 singles. He has also worked as an actor, appearing in many films and television episodes.
For the band he fronted 1977-1982, see Adam and the Ants.
Adam Ant
Stuart Leslie Goddard
3 November 1954[1]
Marylebone, London, England[1]
- Musician
- singer
- actor
- Vocals
- guitar
- bass
- harmonica
- piano
- mandolin
1977–present
Ant began his musical career playing bass in the band Bazooka Joe. From 1977 to 1982 he performed with Adam and the Ants. Their debut album Dirk Wears White Sox (1979) reached number one on the UK Independent Albums Chart. Before recording his second album as Adam and the Ants, he asked producer Malcolm McLaren to manage his band; McLaren instead took his backing band to form Bow Wow Wow. Ant regrouped with new members, including Marco Pirroni, to release his second album Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980). It reached number one in the UK Album Chart, spawned three hit singles, became the UK number-one selling album in 1981, and won Best British Album at the 1982 Brit Awards. He released his third and final album with the group, Prince Charming (1981), which spawned two UK number-one singles "Stand and Deliver" and "Prince Charming".
In 1982, he began a solo career, retaining Marco Pirroni as co-songwriter. His first solo album was Friend or Foe (1982), from which the debut single "Goody Two Shoes" reached number one in the UK and Australia in 1982, and became his first top-20 hit in the United States. The album reached number five on the UK Albums Chart and number 16 on the US Billboard Album Chart, becoming his most successful solo album. His next two solo albums Strip (1983) and Vive Le Rock (1985) were less commercially successful. Ant began to focus on an acting career, performing on stage and in film and television roles throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He released his fourth solo album Manners & Physique (1990) which was produced by André Cymone and featured a Minneapolis sound. Despite the US Top-20 success of the single "Room at the Top", Ant was dropped from MCA Records, and his album Persuasion (1991) was shelved and never officially released. He signed with Capitol Records to release Wonderful (1995). The single "Wonderful" became Ant's third US Top-40 hit single.
Since 2010, Ant has continued his music career, recording and releasing a new album Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter (2013, UK number 25), and completing eight full-length UK national tours, five US national tours, and two Australian tours. A further album, Bravest of the Brave, was recorded in 2014[3] and is still awaiting release.
Musical style[edit]
The tone of Ant's debut solo album, Friend or Foe, was defined as glitzy glam pop with "tongue-in-cheek tunes, delivered with an excess of flair and good humour". It was also described as being "one of Ant's best records and one of the best new wave albums".[92]
In a review for Strip, the songs were considered to contain a "mixture of driving, danceable rock with humour".[93]
The music on Vive Le Rock has been said to be a "50s-style rock & roll sound".[94]
The fourth studio album, Manners and Physique, was said to be a combination of "contemporary dance tracks" and Ant's "old flair for mockery".[95] Ant himself later said that the album was styled after the bass heavy Minneapolis sound of which André Cymone, in Ant's words, was "one of the architects".[96]