Adam Ant

One of the most identifiable, colourful and distinctive characters to emerge from Britain's punk era, Adam Ant will always be associated with wilfully eccentric early 1980s pop hits Kings Of The Wild Frontier, Antmusic, Prince Charming and Stand & Deliver. He was also one of the few from the era who also found success in the US and on one memorable occasion was voted sexiest man in America by MTV viewers. From a Romany background, he had a troubled childhood, but channelled his energy into music and after dropping out of a graphic design course at Hornsey College of Art, joined his first band, playing bass with Bazooka Joe. Inspired by the first-ever Sex Pistols gig, he renamed himself Adam Ant and formed The Ants. A brief management arrangement with Malcolm McLaren ended with his band leaving en masse to join McLaren's latest creation Bow Wow Wow, but Adam had the last laugh as he formed a new band with guitarist Marco Pirroni and bass guitarist Kevin Mooney to create a hugely infectious rhythmic sound built around two drummers - heavily influenced by the regimental Burundi beat of East Africa. When the Ants split in 1982, Adam launched a solo career, resulting in the UK Number 1 Goody Two Shoes and he subsequently collaborated with Grace Jones, Phil Collins and Andre Cymone while diversifying into acting. Dogged by mental problems, Adam was sectioned under the Mental Health Act due to various incidents with the police but recovered after psychiatric treatment to make his stage comeback in 2010.