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
allowed create created electronic far infancy interested music possible sound sounds work
I have always been far more interested in sound than technique, and how sounds work together, how they can be layered. I think electronic music, in its infancy anyway, allowed us to create music in a way that hadn't really been possible before. It created a new kind of musician.
along became fan houses kids massive mime monkees
When I was 11 I became a massive fan of The Monkees. We had a so-called 'band' of kids on my street and we'd go along to people's houses and mime to Monkees records.
life moody therapy
Song-writing is therapy for me. I'm a very moody person, very difficult to live with. There's a lot going on and a lot of contradictions. My life is always one step away from disaster.
anymore children display fly life matter pilot proud realised three time
Being a display pilot is probably the thing I've been most proud of in my life. Don't really fly anymore now though. I have three small children and as most of my friends were killed in different accidents, I realised that it was probably just a matter of time before I went that way.
few main minutes playing realized songs verse
'Are 'Friends' Electric?' was two songs: the verse part and the talking part. Two different songs I couldn't finish. One day I was playing the main verse part of 'Are 'Friends' Electric?' and after a few minutes I got frustrated, as normal, then started to play the other song, and realized they went together.
aware believe death frightens greater none older purpose wish worm
I think that when we are dead, we are worm food, I don't believe there is a greater place. I don't believe there is a greater purpose or a greater being. I have none of that. I wish I did to some degree, because the older I'm getting, the more I am aware of death and the inevitability of it, and it frightens me now, in a way that it didn't when I was younger.
bat breaking dad forced job music paid rather various
Before breaking into music, I had various jobs: forklift driver, driving a courier. But I was forced into working rather than doing it off my own bat because that was my dad's way: you got a job and paid your way.
hard honestly job seem talk though widely
I honestly try really hard to talk to people, as though everyone's the same. No-ones better, no-one's worse, I don't think one job is better than another. I really try to look at the world and everyone in it evenly. I seem to be widely misunderstood often.
criteria honestly state
I honestly don't know what criteria makes someone right-wing or left-wing anymore. The boundaries of those definitions seem to be in a state of flux. I'm not socialist, I know that.
anywhere central company drifted engine gary internet pushing record search type
If you didn't have a record company or a PR company that was really out there pushing you then you couldn't get to them, so everything drifted away. Then the internet comes along, and all of a sudden, you have this central place where anyone, anywhere in the world can type Gary Numan into a search engine and find me and find out what's going on.
song writing successful
I always say it took me 10 minutes to write 'Cars,' but if I am honest it could have been even less than that - and it has been a really successful song over the years. It is still massively used, in advertising, in films, and people do cover versions of it a lot.
wanted blueprints accidents
Ultravox were the blueprint for what I wanted to do, but I stumbled across them by accident.
powerful hands voice
I'm very lucky in the sense that I've got a voice that's distinctive. Not good, but distinctive. That's a very useful thing to have in this business. I'm glad on the one hand that I've got it, but I wish it was more powerful. I wish I had a greater range. I wish it was more accurate at times.
kids people news
When I was a kid it was big news when someone flew around the world in a little aeroplane, but nobody cared when I did it. Then, to rub salt into my wounds, the customs people ripped my aeroplane to pieces, looking for stuff.