Gary Numan

The godfather of synth pop in the 1980s, Gary Numan had dabbled in punk with Mean Street in 1977, before embarking on solo project Tubeway Army, releasing a number of records with moderate success before hitting number one in the UK singles Chart with 'Are Friends Electric' in 1979. The song was from the album 'Replicas' that also hit the top spot, and shortly after Numan found time to record and release another number one album 'The Pleasure Principle', featuring the famous single 'Cars'. He was on a roll and followed it with a further number one album 'Telekon' in 1980, although he was starting to raise the ire of music industry press, particularly over his vocal support of Margaret Thatcher. However, a loyal fan base ensured his subsequent work could always be found at the top of the charts as he continued to pump out commercial hit albums such as 'I, Assassin' in 1982 and 1983's 'Warriors'.

Numan started to self-release after 1984 on his own label Numa, with his work becoming increasingly only of interest to his die-hard fans until 2000 when his offering of 'Pure' demonstrated he could still give modern electronic bands a run for their money. It appeared he had found something of a niche in the brave new world of digital music, working with Ace Fenton on 2006's comeback album 'Jagged'. Numan spent the next few years touring and performing while working on his 20th studio album, 'Splinter: Songs from a Broken Mind', which was eventually released in 2013. The album made it into the UK top 20 and was followed by 'Savage: Songs from a Broken World' in 2017.