Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Anthony James Webb, better known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Born in Hammersmith, London, he first entered the music industry as the lead singer of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, Numan released his debut solo album The Pleasure Principle in 1979. Most widely known for his chart-topping hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars", Numan achieved his peak of mainstream popularity in the late...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPop Singer
Date of Birth8 March 1958
Without doubt, there are unexpected pressures that come with success, that I would be surprised if many people are prepared for, or even aware of beforehand, that takes getting used to. But then again, when you're doing very well, you earn a great deal of money so at least you can sit there worrying in a nice big house, rather than a little house.
The reason I started, and got into playing punk as a band was quite mercenary, to be honest. I wanted a record deal and everybody was signing punk bands, so I started doing it. My own weak pop version of it really, we weren't particularly good or convincing, but that's what I did, and it worked and I got a deal.
There does seem to be a kind of split. There are those people who are more entrenched in the early electronic years, and new people who have come to it because of people like Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.
When you decide to do this kind of music then you just accept the facts.
I'll be the in to your sane.
I sometimes wonder if I might be a bit of a disappointment to people, because they are expecting all these '80s hits and what they get is a dark industrial wall of noise.
Time heals nothing, it merely rearranges our memory.
It seems no matter what you say and how politically correctly and carefully you say it, you offend someone. Or at least I always do.
I've spent a lot of time in the United States and I'm not under any illusions that it's a crime-free nirvana. I'm well aware it has plenty of problems, though they seem to be associated with particular areas.
And I used to go the punk clubs such as a gay club in Poland Street that everyone would go to because it was the only place you could go to looking like that without getting beaten senseless.
I've got Asperger's syndrome and I'm not a very good people person, so I've always been more comfortable around machinery. Not in a weird way - I don't want to marry my car or anything stupid like that!
I became famous so quickly and so young - it was daunting. I was immature and I used to say some really stupid things in interviews. I never smiled on stage so I looked really serious, but it was because I hated my teeth and was incredibly nervous.
Ultravox were the blueprint for what I wanted to do, but I stumbled across them by accident.
Album sales have collapsed, with few artists making money from albums; touring is more lucrative. But I'm 53 now and won't be able to tour forever, so a logical step is to get into writing film scores. Trouble is, you need to be somewhere which has a big film industry - another reason why I'm thinking about living in California.