Gary Numan

Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His use of themes from science fiction, and his combination of aggressive punk energy with electronics, have been widely imitated.

Numan rose to prominence at the end of the 1970s as front man, writer and producer for Tubeway Army. In 1978, he released two singles, "That's Too Bad" and "Bombers". A third single, "Down in the Park", was released in 1979 and was featured on the soundtrack for the movie Times Square. Tubeway Army released the single "Are 'Friends' Electric?" in May 1979.

A few months later Numan found success in the chartswith "Cars", which peaked at No. 1 in the UK in 1979 and No. 1 in Canada and No. 9 in US in 1980. "Cars" and the 1979 album The Pleasure Principle were both released under Numan's own name. A sell-out tour followed and the concert video it spawned is often cited as the first full-length commercial music video release. A second single from the album "Complex" made it to No. 6 in the UK charts.

In 1980, Numan topped the album charts with Telekon, with the singles "We Are Glass", "I Die: You Die" and "This Wreckage". He embarked on his second major tour with an even more elaborate stage show.

In 1981, he releasded the album Dance which had a jazz, funk and ethereal, rhythmic pop musical style. The album charted as high as No. 3 on the UK charts, with an eight week chart run and produced one hit single, "She's Got Claws".

I, Assassin was released in 1982 and produced one Top 10 and two Top 20 singles. Numan supported the album with a concert tour in America in late 1982. In 1983, Warriors was released and peaked at No. 12. It produced two hit singles including the Top 20 title track and, like I, Assassin, spent six weeks in the charts.

Numan issued a series of albums and singles on his own record label, Numa. The first album was 1984’s Berserker followed by The Fury in 1985, which produced four hit singles. Numa Records folded after the release of Numan's Strange Charm album in 1986. Numan's final studio album of the 1980s, Metal Rhythm, was released in 1988. In 1989, the Sharpe + Numan album Automatic was released.

In 1991, Numan ventured into film-scoring by co-composing the music for The Unborn with Michael R. Smith and release the album Outland followed by Machine + Soulin 1992. In 1994, Numan released the album Sacrifice which was followed by Exile in 1997 and Pure in 2000. Numan toured the U.S. in support of Exile, his first stateside concerts since the early 1980s.

In 2002, Numan enjoyed chart success with the single "Rip", which reached No. 29 in the UK chart. This was followed by, in 2003, with the Gary Numan vs Rico single "Crazier", which reached No. 13 in the UK chart. In 2004, Numan launchied the label Mortal Records and released a series of live DVDs.

His next album, Jagged, was released in March 2006. Numan also launched a Jagged website to showcase the new album, and made plans to have his 1981 farewell concert issued on DVD by November 2006 as well as releasing the DVD version of the Jagged album launch gig.

Numan's new album Dead Son Rising was released in September 2011.