Stuart Leslie Goddard better known as Adam Ant is an English singer and musician….who gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants….and later as a solo artist Adam Ant …. while scoring 10 UK top ten hits from 1980 to 1983….which included three UK # 1 singles. He has also worked as an actor….while appearing in over two dozen films and television episodes from 1985 to 2003.
Ant began his musical career playing bass in the band Bazooka Joe….then from 1977 to 1982, he performed as Adam and the Ants….when their debut album Dirk Wears White Sox reached # 1 on the UK Independent Albums Chart in 1979. Prior to recording his second album as Adam and the Ants….as he asked producer Malcolm McLaren to manage his band….who instead took his backup band to form Bow Wow Wow…..so, Ant regrouped with new members, including Marco Pirroni to release his second album Kings of the Wild Frontier in 1980…..which also reached # 1 in the UK Album Chart….as it spawned three hit singles….and the album was the UK # 1 selling album in 1981…as well as being the 48th best seller in 1980….while winning the Best British Album at the 1982 Brit Awards. He released his third and final album with the group, Prince Charming in 1981….which spawned two UK # 1 singles with “Stand and Deliver” and “Prince Charming”.
In 1982, Ant disbanded his group for a solo career retaining only Marco Pirroni as a band member and co-songwriter for later solo albums…..with his first solo album being Friend or Foe in 1982….which the debut single “Goody Two-Shoes” reached # 1 in the UK and Australia in 1982….and became his first top 20 hit in the United States…..as the album reached # 5 on the UK Albums Chart and # 16 on the US Billboard Album Chart….thus becoming his most successful solo album. His next two solo albums Strip (1983) and Vive Le Rock (1985) were less commercially successful in the UK and US….and were a noted stylistic departure of his earlier rock albums being more grounded in pop and dance. During this time, Ant also began to focus on an acting career performing on stage and in television and movie roles throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s. He released his fourth solo album Manners & Physique in 1990….which was produced by André Cymone and featured a Minneapolis sound. Despite the US Top 20 success of the single “Room At The Top” from that album, Ant was dropped from MCA Records….and the fully recorded Persuasion album in 1991 was shelved and never officially released. He then signed with Capitol Records to release Wonderful in 1995….which featured more acoustic songs than his previous albums. The single “Wonderful” became Ant’s third US Top 40 hit single. After a long break from music, Ant returned with his album Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter in 2013….which was released on his own label Blueblack Hussar Records. Despite the independent self-release, the album reached # 25 on the UK Albums Chart….only one spot lower than Wonderful….which was released 18 years earlier.
