Gary Numan is the London-born synth-pop pioneer whose Tubeway Army hit Are 'Friends' Electric? and solo smash Cars both topped the UK charts in 1979. The Pleasure Principle (1979) is the classic; the darker Savage (2017) proves the industrial-era revival is the real thing. Browse Gary Numan vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Gary Anthony James Webb was born in Hammersmith, London on March 8, 1958. He launched his recording career in 1976 with the punk band Mean Street, transitioning to Tubeway Army by 1978. The Tubeway Army single Are 'Friends' Electric? (1979) became a UK number one single, and Numan's first solo single Cars (1979, from The Pleasure Principle) became a global hit reaching number one in the UK and number nine in the US. After commercial decline through the 1980s, his career underwent a creative and commercial revival from the 1990s onward, with darker industrial-influenced material widely cited as influential on Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, and others. His 2017 album Savage earned him his highest UK chart position in three decades.
Gary Numan's sound combines new wave, synth-pop, electronic rock, industrial rock, and post-punk with his distinctive cold, alienated vocal delivery and extensive synthesizer arrangements. His foundational late-1970s synth-pop work is widely cited as influential on multiple subsequent electronic and industrial music traditions.
Original Beggars Banquet pressings of the late-1970s and early-1980s Gary Numan catalog are widely collected. Multiple anniversary editions, including the 40th anniversary editions of Replicas and The Pleasure Principle, have been released.
Listeners new to Gary Numan typically start with The Pleasure Principle (1979) or Savage (2017).
