Adam and the Ants
ADAM ANT
Discography:
Dirk Wears White Sox, Do It, 1979.
Adam Ant, born Stuart Leslie Goddard, formed Adam and the Ants with guitarist Lester Square, bassist Andy Warren, and drummer Paul Flanagan in London in 1977. During this time, the group's lineup was fairly unstable, with Square being replaced by Mark Gaumont. The band released their debut, ‘Dirk Wears White Sox’, on the independent label Do It in 1979.
At the time of its release, Dirk Wears White Sox wasn't a critical or commercial success, and the band felt the need to rework their image. Ant hired Malcolm McLaren, the manager of the Sex Pistols, to help redefine their image. McLaren dressed the band in pirate outfits and suggested a more accessible and pop-oriented style of music. The band followed his advice, preparing material for a new album. However, McLaren persuaded all of the Ants to leave Adam, using them as the core members of Bow Wow Wow. Adam Ant immediately formed a new version of the Ants, adding guitarist Marco Pirroni, bassist Kevin Mooney, and drummers Terry Lee Miall and Merrick.
The new band's first album, 1980's ‘Kings of the Wild Frontier’, became an enormous hit in the UK, launching three Top Ten hit singles. ‘Prince Charming’, released the following year, retained the same formula, spawning two number one singles, ‘Stand and Deliver’ and ‘Prince Charming.'
After ‘Prince Charming’, Adam Ant ditched the Ants for a solo career, retaining Marco Pirroni as a songwriting collaborator and a supporting musician. Adam's first solo album, ‘Friend or Foe’, was released in 1982, and although his next album, 1983's Strip, had some highlights and hit singles, it marked the end of his reign as one of Britain's top pop stars.
Released in 1985, Vive le Rock had some fun moments but the record didn't earn any hit singles, so Adam Ant pursued a surprisingly successful career in acting. In 1990, Ant made a comeback with the catchy hit single ‘Room at the Top’ from the Manners & Physique record, but the album failed to produce another hit single. For the next five years, Ant concentrated on acting.
By the time Adam Ant returned to recording in 1995, echoes of his music could be heard in the spiky singles of Elastica, the neo-goth industrial rock of Nine Inch Nails, and the pseudo-glam of Suede. Instead of capitalizing on the new wave revival, Adam Ant's 1995 comeback Wonderful had little to do with the stylish, intensely rhythmic music he made in the early '80s. Instead, the album repositioned him as a more mature pop-rocker, with crafted songs that featured acoustic guitars as prominently as electrics.
For The Record
Born Stuart Leslie Goddard, November 3, 1954, in London, England. Education: Attended Hornsey School of Art, London.
Formed group the B-sides with Andy Warren, 1976; formed Adam and the Ants, 1977; performed radio debut on The John Peel Session, BBC Radio 1, 1978; signed with Decca Records, 1978; recorded debut album, Dirk Wears White Sox, 1979; embarked on solo career and released first album, Friend or Foe, 1982; performed at Live Aid concert, 1985; appeared as the first celebrity V.J. on MTV; developed and appeared in Honda Scooter television ad ; appeared in films Nomads, Slam Dance, and Trust Me, and various TV shows, including The Equalizer and Tales From the Crypt.
Addresses: Home—Los Angeles, CA.
Source: Charlie Katagiri
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
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Bow Wow Wow
Former Adam and the Ants’ Dave Barbarossa (drums), Matthew Ashman (guitar), and Leigh Gorman (bass) along with the stunning, “plucked from obscurity” Annabella Lwin (vocals) made up the 1980s pop group, Bow Wow Wow. The band was the brainchild of Malcolm McLaren, former manager of the Sex Pistols and New York Dolls, to help promote his partner, Vivenne Westwood’s fashion lines.
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The group released the world’s first cassette single on record label EMI but didn’t start to achieve real mainstream attention until its switch to RCA in 1981. That same year, Bow Wow Wow released its first album called See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah! City All Over, Go Ape Crazy. The album attracted controversial attention due to Lwin, then only 15, shown naked on the cover but also produced the group’s first UK top ten hit in the form of Go Wild in the Country.
In 1982, Bow Wow Wow had limited success with its second album Last of the Mohicans which included its cover of The Strangeloves’ I Want Candy. Bow Wow Wow’s version of this song is still considered a New Wave classic and features on various movie soundtracks, TV advertisements and 80s compilations.
Bow Wow Wow stepped away from its catchy pop tunes with a distinctive African beat to produce When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going but the sound didn’t strike a chord with original fans and harkened the end for the band.
Citing exhaustion and illness, Bow Wow Wow went their separate ways in 1983. Ashman and Barbarossa went on to form Chiefs of Relief and Lwin enjoyed a humble solo career.
Shortly after Ashman’s death in 1995, Lwin and Gorman did get back together for a North American tour in 1997 and then again in 2003 for KROQ’s Inland Invasion concert series. Operating at of Los Angeles, these two original members front the new lineup of Bow Wow Wow and continue to perform sporadically at smaller venues.
Juanita Appleby
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
