Adam Ant, Wonderful to many
Adam and the Ants -
In the beginning before the
breakup
Adam Ant Persuasion -
The unreleased album
Free eCard
Show someone you care, send one
now.
Adam Ant (Stuart Goddard)
at, what some would say was, the height of
his career. From the Strip
Album
Adam Ant - A Prince Charming from the
start?
Adam
Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard
), born in Marylebone, London on November 3, 1954, was an only
child. Adam Ant's (Stuart Goddard) first school was
Robinsfield Primary where he created a considerable stir
by throwing a brick through one of the school windows.
Matters were presumably settled to everyone's satisfaction for
he continued to attend Robinsfield.
One of the themes Adam Ant used in his later work
(Kings of the Wild Frontier, suppressed minorities) was
part of his inheritance; Adam Ant is of gypsy
linage. His grandfather, Walter Albany Smith, was a
full-blooded Romany.
Adam Ant recalls "There was no luxury,
but there was always food on the table." His father worked as
a chauffeur and his mother was a cleaner, briefly working for
Paul McCartney. Although Adam Ant didn't actually meet Paul
until many years later his mother was able to get him an
autograph by one of the
Beatles.
|
Adam and the Ants - In the beginning before the breakup |
|
|
Adam Ant Persuasion - The unreleased album |
|
|
Free eCard Show someone you care, send one now. |
|
|
|
|
|
Adam Ant - Stuart Goddard and where it all startedAdam remembers his early years as "A lonely childhood, one in which I had to invent and conjure up entertainment for myself. I was very insular, and I can hardly ever remember entertaining anybody at home." The little family of three lived in two small rooms in St. John's Wood in a place called Dewalden Buildings, a daunting collection of Victorian Dwellings. The image of those two low ceilinged rooms has stayed powerfully with him, and the late 50's decor of the living room looking through to the bedroom with the great double bed of his parents. The most constant sound in the years of toddler Adam was the lavatory on the landing. The hardship of these dwellings was increased by several families all having to share the toilet. Having to go out in the middle of the night on to the landing. There was no water on tap. They were living in a fashion to which the Working class families of London had become accustomed. Hence there were no real complaints. "It was always clean and happy."I mean there's poor, and there's real poor. There was no luxury, but there was always food on the table. If we were ever desperate, then it was lways concealed from me."The time came for him to start school and he was enrolled at Robinsfield Primary. The most notable mark he made on the school was on its windows, and this he chose to do with a brick. For some reason, which Adam can't recall, on his way to school one morning a lovely brick along the way took his fancy. Arriving at the school he hurled it in through the window which displeased the governors of his education. Adam discovered a whole pile of bricks and for the two following mornings he repeated his act. The parents were called up to the school to answer for this terribly disturbing protest of their son. A lot of Adam's energies were directed toward less breakable objects, namely the young ladies. He had fallen in love with the girl next door, her name was Tracy. Adam still recalls with relish the first girl he ever kissed, a girl called Sonia, "she was lovely." His eyes sparkle as the images of years ago flood back fresh...."I remember playing doctors & nurses with a girl called Harriet under the table in the art room "you show me yours and I'll show you mine"-- she showed me hers but I didn't show her mine because the bell rang. Those relationships that I can vividly remember I was very attracted to them, to me they were very gorgeous. But of course they must have been just tiny tots." Adam Ant's musical interests had begun to develop as well. His grandfather on his fathers side had been a jazz musician, a versatile performer who could play anything. Among his mothers records a new favorite had risen, Perry Como's "Catch a Falling Star" and "Magic Moments". Two tracks which remain impressed upon Adam's sense of song' and which gave him a respect for those singers which go on and on. By the time he got to Barrow Hill Junior School, his parents had split up. Its a hard thing for a 7 year old to understand. "It was, I think, quite emotionally difficult for me to sustain." He moved with his mother away from Dewalden Buildings into another set of 2 rooms practically identical. She was working as a cleaning lady for the McCartneys in St. Johns Wood. He took to visiting father every Sunday and together they went off visiting places like Hampton Court. Adam developed a passion for History, he got a real buzz' off visiting places that still had a foot in the past, castles that stood like hollow shells reverberating with the characters in English history.
It was through one of his teacher's encouragement that Adam started painting and drawing, and produced his first "work" , it was a picture of a goose with multi- colored feathers. From then on he was determined. He had found something that he was good at, and Adam says quite emphatically, "Painting and drawing were quite evidently the changing point of my life, it seemed to mark out a destiny for me." The final term of school and the A level exams came. He was the only one taking art and so he was shown into a turret high above the school. In the small circular room he was greeted by the sight of a set of stainless steel egg cups arranged on a table. He wondered why it was those who set exams always pick out the most boring part of the discipline to be examined. Before the results came out, he had already been for an interview at Hornsey School of Art, waltzing through with a packed folio and winning a place at the college. In the first couple of years he was hardly noticeable in the college. He was rather withdrawn and quite shy. He wasn't pushy or overbearing. He generally dressed in denim and a T-shirt. "He used to wear glasses the whole time and was just a quiet guy". He would always work very hard and get good grades for everything. Illustration was Adam's passion. Adam was busy channeling his own private fantasies into his illustration work . He took several specialized courses on things like Futurism, Feminism and the History of Art. The course he found most interesting was the erotic arts course which was given by one of the tutors, Peter Webb, in his 2nd year.Peter Webb has written a respectable academic study of the Erotic Arts and has often been called to give evidence at trials on pornography. Adam was undoubtedly one of the most enthusiastic members of Peter's course. Adam was particularly interested in the imagery that one chooses to be excited by, and the difference between exploitative sexual imagery in pornography and really creative and exciting sexual imagery in the world of art and literature. For Adam, a whole new world had opened up and a new set of images and ideas. He devoured book after book and looked at hundreds of slides, so fascinated was he by the subject. He got very interested in the work of the artist Allen Jones. His work was usually of women in high black boots, or in tight rubber clothes often holding whips. Some of Jones' images reappear on the badge Adam designed for the album "Dirk Wears White Sox" and perhaps most obviously Jones' influence can be seen in the 1979 single "Whip In My Valise". It was on a foundation course that Adam Ant met Danny Kleinman who was to design the Ant logo (and later to appear in some of Adam's videos as well as direct). Danny had been in a band since he was fifteen. It was a crazy band called Bazooka Joe-- named after the comic strip character and bubble gum. This band was made up of a "bunch of nutters" who had renamed themselves Danny Angel, Robin Banks, Mark Time, and the most lunatic of them all, Billy Wurlitzer (also known as Upright Willie, because of his preference for a certain type of piano), and Dan Barson. Adam however, was still using his name, Stuart Goddard. "Thinking of the two of them," said one of the teachers from Hornsey, "One would have expected Danny more than Stuart to have ended up as Adam Ant." Pat Collier, the bassist, began to get more interested in recording than playing and was working as a tape operator in a studio. Danny thought immediately of Stuart as a replacement on bass. "It was more like a friends band," says Danny. "Just have a good laugh, get drunk and fall over, go wild. Adam and I were good friends, so I asked him." He went along to the rehearsal and picked up the songs straight away. Bazooka Joe had quite a following which rose to its peak when Adam was with them. To be continued....
Adam Ant - The early daysThe first band he joined was Bazooka Joe, in which he played bass. It was at a Bazooka Joe gig that Adam Ant was saw the Sex Pistols first ever public concert, as Bazooka Joe's support act. After seeing the stage presence the Pistols possessed, he realised his own act was lacking in energy and style. This and pressures in his life lead him to attempt suicide. When he was realesed from hospital he had left Stuart Goddard behind - Stuart didn't survivr the suicide attenpt - It was Adam who left the hospital. From that moment on he became Adam Ant, on and off stage. Adam Ant acted in Derek Jarman's 1977 "punk" film Jubilee. His debut as a recording artist was the song "Deutscher Girls", which featured on the film's soundtrack LP, and which was re-released as a single in 1982, after Adam and the Ants had achieved mainstream chart success. Adam Ant formed the original Adam and the Ants with guitarist Lester Square, bassist Andy Warren, and drummer Paul Flanagan in London in 1977. The group's approach was more theatrical than most punk groups, incorporating sadomasochistic imagery into their concerts. During this time, the group's lineup was fairly unstable, with Square being replaced by Mark Gaumont.
Adam Ant Dirk Wears White Sox - The Early YearsThe band released their debut, Dirk Wears White Sox, on the independent label Do It in 1979. Dirk was an ambitious and somewhat dark album, filled with jerky rhythms, angular guitar riffs, and elements of glam rock crept into Adam's vocals; Adam reacquired the rights to the record in 1983, reissuing it in a resequenced and remixed form, with the tracks "Catholic Day" and "Day I Met God" replaced by "Zerox" and "Kick," as well as including a new version of "Cartrouble." At the time of its release, Dirk Wears White Sox wasn't a critical or commercial success, and the band felt the need to rework their image. Adam Ant hired Malcolm McLaren, the manager of the Sex Pistols, to help redefine their image. McLaren dressed the band in pirate outfits and suggested a more accessible and pop-oriented, rhythmic variation on punk. Adam and the Ants followed his advice, preparing material for a new album. However, McLaren persuaded all of the Ants to leave Adam, using them as the core members of Bow Wow Wow. Adam Ant immediately formed Adam and the Ants, adding guitarist Marco Pirroni, bassist Kevin Mooney, and drummers Terry Lee Miall and Merrick (born Chris Hughes). Pirroni, in particular, became very important in the band's musical direction, co-writing the majority of the songs with Adam, beginning a partnership between the duo that would continue into the '90s.
|
|
|
|
After the split, Ant Ant went solo, taking his
songwriting partner Pirroni with him. His greatest chart success was
with the 1982
album, Friend
or Foe, which included the hit single Goody Two Shoes, as well as
Friend or Foe. Goody Two Shoes made it to #1 in the UK and Australia, and #12
in the US. Other hits from that album included "Desperate But Not
Serious" and its title track.
Adam Ant Strip
In 1983 Adam Ant worked withPhil Collins and Richard James Burgess on the Strip album. Adam Ant's Strip album was recorded at Polar Studios in Stockholm. Adam Ant took a look at where he was in life and the audience that has growup with him. They were nolonger teenagers. He , yet again, changed his image to the more Don Juan romantic dtyle we see in Puss in Boots and the banned Strip videos. The single "Puss 'N Boots" reached #5 on the UK charts.
The BBC banned both the video and the airing of the Adam Ant song Strip which was the second release from the Strip album. The Adam Ant single, Strip, peaked at #41.
Adam Ant Vive Le Rock
In 1985, Adam Ant worked with veteran producer Tony Visconti on his third solo album, Vive Le Rock. He secured a spot at the Live Aid concert, but was asked to cut his set to one song. He chose his new single, Vive le Rock. Unfortunately, due to a record mispressing error, the Vive Le Rock album and single resulted in disappointing reviews and sales, and Adam Ant decided to end his career in music and focus on his acting.
Adam Ant the Actor
As the 80s wore on, Adam Ant's attention turned to acting. He spent three months in England on stage starring in Joe Orton 's Entertaining Mr. Sloane . He also appeared on American television shows, notably The Equalizer , Sledgehammer! and Northern Exposure . He began taking roles in films such as Nomads and Slamdance. He moved to Hollywood and appeared in a range of productions.
Adam Ant releases Manners and Physique
|
|
Adam Ant returned to Los Angeles where he had a
relationship with actress Heather Graham . He also acquired a
stalker, which placed him under great stress. Adam Ant's illness
began taking a larger toll on him, and he and Graham decided to end
their relationship.
Adam Ant Wonderful - But in reality... Was it?
By the time Adam Ant returned to recording in 1995, echoes of his music could be heard in the spiky singles of Elastica, the neo-goth industrial rock of Nine Inch Nails, and the pseudo-glam of Suede. Instead of capitalizing on the burgeoning new wave revival, Adam Ant's 1995 comeback Wonderful had little to do with the stylish, intensely rhythmic music he made in the early '80s. Instead, the album repositioned him as a more mature pop-rocker, with crafted songs that featured acoustic guitars as prominently as electrics.
The title track, Wonderful, was a successful single, as was a tour of the U.S. in support of the album. While Adam Ant and his group (which retained longtime guitarist Pirroni) played in smaller venues than they had played in the 1980s, the houses were often packed with enthusiastic fans. The tour was curtailed, however, when Adam Ant and Pirroni both contracted a respiratory illness. Adam Ant also played three shows at Shepherds Bush Empire in London and did a mini tour of Virgin Record Shops playing selected tunes from the album "Wonderful" and signing records.Adam & the band also played shows in Dublin, Glasgow, Middlesbrough & Stoke.
A new generation of Ant-influenced artists covered Adam and the Ants' hits during the 90s, including Elastica, Sugar Ray , Nine Inch Nails , Superchunk and Robbie Williams . Antbox, a retrospective box set spanning Adam Ant's career from the late 1970s through the 1990s, was released in late 2000. The box set included 66 tracks on three CDs, and quickly sold the initial 10,000 units. The boxset was re-released in a different form (with the same tracks) and sold more copies in 2003.
Adam Ant - The Madness of Prince
Charming (bipolar disorder)
Adam Ant was poised to join the 80s-focused Here & Now tour in early 2002, but was unable to do so after he was charged with threatening members of the public with an imitation firearm in a London pub. The court also ordered that he undertake rehabilitation, although he was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder (manic depression). Since the 2002 incident, Adam Ant has occasionally been featured in news stories surrounding potential projects and his medical condition. A television special entitled The Madness of Prince Charming was aired in the UK in 2003 documenting his career and his struggle with mental illness.
In 2004 and 2005, six "remastered" compact discs were released, spanning the years 1979 (Dirk wears white sox) through 1985 (Vive Le Rock). The CDs feature previously unavailable songs, including demos and material culled from the "Ant vault." The project was greatly overseen by Marco Pirroni, and includes a written message from Adam Ant himself, circa 2005. A limited edition boxset, 'Adam Ant Remasters', was made to hold all 6 of the albums and 'Redux'. This product was re-released with all 7 albums in 2006. (It was stated on his website that he was writing new music for a new album titled "Fist In The Skull".)
The Unreleased Adam Ant Album - Persuasion
This Adam Ant album, Persuasion, was due for release is 1992, but due to various factors beyond Adam's control, Persuasion was never released. The latest news on Adam Ant Pesuasion is that Sony now have the rights to the recordings, although nothing has been said yet with regards to releasing it. For more info click here
In September 2006, he launched his autobiography: Stand and Deliver. The book recounts his career to date, relationships, as well as the more personal aspects of how his bipolar disorder has affected his life.