Adam Ant

Stuart Leslie Goddard aka Adam Ant gained huge 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 between 1980 and 1983, including three UK No. 1 singles.

I really knew I wanted to be Adam, because Adam was the first man. Ant I chose because, if there's a nuclear explosion, the ants will survive.

The first band Goddard joined was Bazooka Joe, in which he played bass guitar. Adam and the Ants started as part of the burgeoning punk rock movement. Ant later acted in Derek Jarman's seminal punk film Jubilee in 1977, just as Adam and the Ants was beginning to gig around London with manager Jordan from the SEX Boutique on Kings Road.

His debut as a recording artist was the song Deutscher Girls, which featured on the film's soundtrack, along with the track Plastic Surgery which was performed in the film itself.

Late 1979 saw the release of their début album Dirk Wears White Sox (1979).

Adam Ant approached Malcolm McLaren (the manager of The Sex Pistols) and asked him to manage the band. McLaren subsequently took the rest of the Ants from the original group when he introduced the singer Annabella and began the process of honing Bow Wow Wow for chart success.

Malcolm McLaren was a sort of mentor in my life and as close as you can get to a surrogate father.

Malcolm said to me... Look, what do you want? I said... I wanna sell millions of records. 
He said... Well, you're going the wrong way about it. This (talking about Dirk Wears White Sox) is the kind of esoteric stuff you do when you've done eight albums, you're living on a yacht, and you can do what you want.

A new version of Adam and the Ants was formed with Marco Pirroni (guitar), Kevin Mooney (bass guitar), and two drummers, Terry Lee Miall and Chris Hughes, who used the name Merrick. The band signed a major label deal with CBS Records and recorded Kings of the Wild Frontier during the summer of 1980.

The album was an enormous hit in the United Kingdom and the Antmania that ensued put the band at the forefront of the New Romantic movement. The single Antmusic went to No. 2 on the UK singles chart by December 1980.

In November 1981, Adam & the Ants released another highly successful album, Prince Charming. The album featured two United Kingdom No. 1 singles – Stand and Deliver and the title track Prince Charming – as well as the No. 3 UK hit Ant Rap.

I've been told I sold 110 million albums and singles. If that's the case, I should've come here in a space rocket.

In March 1982, feeling certain band members lacked enthusiasm Ant disbanded the group. A few months after the split Ant launched a solo career (though he retained Marco Pirroni as guitarist and co-songwriter).

Ant's first solo hit was Goody Two Shoes which went to No. 1. His first solo album, Friend or Foe also produced another top ten single, Friend or Foe, which reached no.9 in September 1982.

The LP Strip produced a top ten single, Puss'n'boots, which reached no.5 in October 1983.

I took no holidays – and I mean no holidays. When Kings of the Wild Frontier took off, I was halfway through making Prince Charming, and so on, because we had to bring out an album and four singles a year. But the price you pay... I split my cartilage in Cleveland doing Goody Two Shoes, it was my body saying... Look, no! Then I was back onstage doing the Motown 25 (1983) show 10 days later, having had the operation. Nobody could have stopped me, or make me do it. I did it. I was very, very bad at pacing!

Apollo 9, reached no.13 in September 1984.

In July 1985, Ant secured a spot at the Live Aid concert, but was asked to cut his set to one song, for which he chose his new single, Vive le Rock the title track of his album of the same name which was released in September 1985.

I wanted to make good records. But my problem is I've got a low boredom threshold, so I wanted it to look and sound different with each album.

Ant paused his career in music at the end of 1985 to focus on his acting career.

In 1990, Ant returned with Manners & Physique, a collaboration with André Cymone, a solo artist and an early member of Prince's band. The album was another moderate success, and featured the single Room at the Top, which was a Top 20 hit on both sides of the Atlantic. 

In 1995, Ant released the album, Wonderful. The title track was a successful single, as was a tour of the US in support of the album.

Creative people are more prone to depression. It may be a coincidence, but from the minute I took anti-depressants, I didn't pick up a guitar or a pen for seven years.

In September 2006, he published his autobiography, Stand & Deliver. Marking the release of the book, Adam Ant did a UK book signing, which went from London to Edinburgh.

In October 2008, he received the Q Icon award at the Q Awards.

Bipolar disorder, manic depression, depression, black dog, whatever you want to call it, is inherent in our society. It's a product of stress and in my case over-work.

On 4 March 2010 Adam Ant registered his new label Blue Black Hussar Ltd. as a private limited company at Companies House.

Ant toured the UK in 2016 and North America in early 2017, performing his Kings of the Wild Frontier album in its entirety. 

His next album, titled Bravest of the Brave is due for release.

In 2019 he is taking his hit album Friend or Foe on the road, performing dates across the UK with a US leg scheduled for 2020.

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