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Everyone must remember Adam and the Ants if only for the fact that lead singer Adam Ant (real name Stuart Leslie Goddard) always seemed to have a white line drawn directly across his face, under his eyes and over the bridge of his nose. They were a punk band around during the early 1980s who dressed in a very flamboyant manner, looking like pirates who had been caught in an explosion in a paint factory, but otherwise kick-starting the New Romantic movement.
They are best known for their 1981 number 1 UK hits Stand and Deliver and Prince Charming which were both accompanied by memorable music videos. Stand and Deliver saw Adam Ant dressed as the “dandy highwayman you’re to scared to mention”, robbing stage coaches whilst on horseback, just like in Dick Turpin, a popular show in the late 1970’s starring Richard O’Sullivan as the infamous highwayman from British history. Prince Charming’s video was like some massive fairytale style dance, with Adam wooing the lovely young ladies present.
The band had a troubled start, with the original group put together by Adam Ant being disbanded by well known music icon Malcolm McLaren to form the less well known band Bow Wow Wow. Ironically McLaren had been hired by the band to try and bring the struggling band more recognition. Unperturbed Adam set about building a new team, the most influential new member being Marco Pirroni, a guitarist who co-wrote many of the bands songs with Adam Ant. Indeed, when Adam decided to disband the group little more than a year later to begin a solo career Marco stayed with him as his co-writer.
As a solo artist, Adam’s best known song is Goody Two Shoes, another UK number 1, although he also had some success with Puss ‘N Boots. Towards the latter half of the 1980’s Adam turned his hand to acting, both on stage and screen, including a guest role on Edward Woodward show The Equalizer. Adam has also had romantic linkings with both Jamie Lee Curtis and Heather Graham.
Less positively, Adam acquired a stalker which affected his mental health. He famously made the headlines for threatening people with an imitiation gun in a pub, but was diagnosed as being a manic depressive. Things look to be on the up for him again now though, as his autobiography (also called Stand and Deliver) was released in September 2006, and has just been released in paperback in September 2007. He has also just played a very successful live show at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre, reading extracts from the book and singing some of his hits, and has a new album planned for next year.
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