Adam Ant

Born Stuart Leslie Goddard in Marylebone, London, Adam Ant first made his mark on the British punk and post-punk scene in the late 1970s after a stint with Bazooka Joe, before forming Adam and the Ants in 1977. With that band he developed a style located between new wave, taut guitars, pronounced drum rhythms and theatrical pop imagery, first on Dirk Wears White Sox (1979), then on Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980) and Prince Charming (1981). After the group's split in 1982, Adam Ant launched a solo career while keeping Marco Pirroni as his primary writing partner, which extended a more direct formula—between glam pop, dance-rock and edgy rock—on Friend or Foe (1982), Strip (1983) and Vive Le Rock (1985). In the 1990s he shifted toward a smoother, more dance-oriented production on Manners & Physique (1990) and later to a more melodic pop-rock on Wonderful (1995), while also pursuing an acting career in film, television and on stage. Returning to live performance on a sustained basis from around 2010, he released Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter in 2013 and has regularly toured since, with shows drawing on both his solo material and the Adam and the Ants catalogue.