This is the 72nd post in our Musician of the Day series.
Adam Ant was born as Stuart Leslie Goddard in 1954 in London. Adam did well in school and even went on to attend the famous Hornsby School of Art but he dropped out before finishing his B.A. in order to focus on his music career.
The first band he joined after dropping out of school was called Bazooka Joe in which he played Bass. After Bazooka Joe, he formed the B-sides which never earned themselves a gig. It was around this time that he had a nervous breakdown, which lead to suicide attempts and forced hospitalization. When he was finally released from the hospital he renamed himself Adam Ant and formed Adam and the Ants.
The band signed to CBS records in 1980 and released Kings of the Wild Frontier. The album reached #2 on the UK charts. The following year they released Prince Charming which had two #1 hits, "Stand and Deliver" and "Prince Charming." But in 1982, Adam Ant felt like certain members lacked enthusiasm and therefore disbanded the band.
Without Adam and the Ants, Adam went on to have his own solo career. He released Friend or Foe in 1982 which had the single "Goody Two Shoes" which topped the charts in both the UK and Australia and #12 in the US.
In 1983 he released another album that he created with Phil Collins and Richard James Burgess entitled Strip. The album was not as successful as his previous attempt and slowly pushed Adam out of the limelight as one of the UK's big rockstars.
It was after this that he tried acting for a few years before returning to music in 1989. He released Manners & Physique in 1989 and then put together another album Persuasion. But the label dropped him and refused to release the new album. Though Adam joined another label and released the album Wonderful, Persuasion remains unreleased. Wonderful was released in 1993 and is Adam's last released album.
In recent years remastered copies and re-releases of Adam's albums have caused him to gain some popularity. It is even rumored that he will be releasing a new album.
To learn more about Adam Ant visit his official website or Sing365.
