80's Music Junkies: Adam Ant

Adam Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard) is an English pop star, lead singer of 1980s New Wave/post-punk group Adam & the Ants and later a solo artist. He is also a film actor, having appeared in two dozen films or television episodes between 1985 and 1999. Goddard, born in Marylebone, London on November 3, 1954, was an only child. His first school was Robinsfield Primary where he created a considerable stir by heaving a brick through one of the windows. Matters were presumably settled to everyone's satisfaction for he continued to attend Robinsfield. One of the themes he used in his later work - suppressed minorities - came to him at birth; he is of gypsy stock. His grandfather, Walter Albany Smith, was a full-blooded Romany. Home was two rooms in Dewalden buildings, St Johns Wood. Adam Ant recalls "There was no luxury, but there was always food on the table." His father worked as a chauffeur and his mother was a cleaner, briefly working for Paul McCartney. Although Adam didn't actually meet Paul until many years later his mother was able to get him an autograph by one of The Beatles.

Adam and the Ants

In early 1980 Adam Ant recruited old friend Marco Pirroni to reform the line-up, sound and image of the band, now featuring two drummers and pirate dress. This new look was used to market the album Kings of the Wild Frontier, and several singles charted. The band's popularity grew, and the follow-up album Prince Charming was highly successful, with three United Kingdom top-ten singles (two reaching #1). At the same time he and actress Jamie Lee Curtis had a brief relationship. The Ants split up in early 1982. Newspaper articles of the time offered various explanations for the motivations behind the split. Initially Adam was quoted as saying that the split was amicable but later he was to say that "the interest just wasn't there anymore. It might have been Adam and the Ants on the billboards but not on stage." In addition, it is said that Marco Pirroni quit as he was tired of touring.

After the split, Ant went solo, taking his song writing partner Pirroni with him. His greatest chart success was 1982's Friend or Foe album, which included the hit single "Goody Two Shoes" which made it to #1 in the UK and Australia, and #12 in the US. Other hits from that album included "Desperate But Not Serious" and its title track.

Prince Charming is a New Wave album by Adam & the Ants, released in 1981 (see 1981 in music). Unlike Kings of the Wild Frontier, Prince Charming showed the Ants moving away from their earlier Burundi drum style of Kings of the Wild Frontier. It is also noticeable that this album is the first without Kevin Mooney, the bassist from Kings of the Wild Frontier. The album spawned three hits; "Stand and Deliver", "Prince Charming", and "Ant Rap". The album was remastered and reissued in 2004 with several demo tracks.

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