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Music, Autobiography: arts & entertainment
The music autobiography of autumn 2020 - godfather of electropop Gary Numan's remarkable story
A Daily Mail 'best TV and showbiz memoir' for 2020
From humble beginnings in Middlesex, where money was scarce but dreams were encouraged, to the award-winning godfather of electronica, Gary Numan has seen it all. His incredible story can be charted in two distinct parts . . .
The first: a stratospheric rise to success quickly followed by a painful decline into near obscurity. At school, Gary fell through the cracks of the system and was expelled. An unlikely but determined popstar, he earned his first record deal aged nineteen and, two years later, had released four bestselling albums and had twice toured the world. But, aged just twenty-five, it felt like it was all over. Gary's early success began to hold him back and he battled to reconcile the transient nature of fame with his Asperger's syndrome.
The second: a twenty-plus year renaissance catalysed by a date with a super-fan. Gary catalogues his fifteen-year struggle with crippling debts, his slow, obstacle-laden journey back to the top (and the insecurity that comes with that) and why Savage reaching #2 in 2017 meant more than the heady heights of 1979. Gary also candidly discusses the importance of his fans; why having Asperger's is a gift at times; the inspiration behind the lyrics; flying around the world in 1981; IVF struggles and the joy of fatherhood and his battle with depression and anxiety.
(R)evolution is the rollercoaster rise and fall (and rise) of one man, several dozen synthesisers, multiple issues and two desperately different lives. By turns hilarious and deeply moving, this is Gary Numan in his own words - a brutally honest reflection on the man behind the music.
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is one of Britain's most important and respected musical artists. He has been lauded by everyone from Prince ('His album Replicas never left my turntable . . . There are people still trying to work out what a genius he was') through the Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails to Lady Gaga ('[He] proves music has always been really inventive for the masses'). Born in Hammersmith in 1958, Gary was the frontman of Tubeway Army before embarking on a successful solo career. His #1 singles 'Are "Friends" Electric?' and 'Cars', both released in 1979, are cult classics and his 2017 album Savage entered the UK charts at #2. Gary is considered a pioneer of electronic music and, in 2017, he received the Ivor Novello Inspiration Award for song writing. He lives in California with his wife and three daughters.
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