Gary Numan to start a new week – recorded at Primavera Sound on May 29, 2010.

A lot of people, especially those who were around in the late 1970s remember Gary Numan as the frontman of Tubeway Army – they were one of the bands at the forefront of New Wave Electronica that carried over into the early 80s,

Numan is regarded as a pioneer of electronic music. He developed a signature sound consisting of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals, and is also known for his distinctive voice and androgynous “android” persona. He received an Ivor Novello Award, the Inspiration Award, from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors in 2017. In June 2025 Numan made his debut at the Glastonbury Festival.

In 1991, Numan ventured into film-scoring by co-composing the music for the American science fiction horror film The Unborn with Michael R. Smith (the score was later released as the 1995 album Human). After Outland (1991), another critical and commercial disappointment and his second and last studio album with I.R.S., Numan reactivated Numa Records, under which he would release his next two studio albums. His first Numa Records release, Machine + Soul (1992), is considered by many, including Numan himself, to be a career low point, released primarily to pay off debt. After the poor reception of the album, Numan considered leaving the music industry entirely. In 1993, he released a single “Cars (’93 Sprint)”, a techno remix of “Cars”. That same year, he supported OMD (who had opened for him in 1979) on their concert tour.

Numan was set to perform a small number of American live dates in April 2010, including a Coachella festival appearance in Indio, California, but had to cancel because air travel in Europe was halted by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud. As a result, the tour was not only postponed but expanded, and his Pleasure Principle 30th Anniversary Tour’s American and Mexican dates began on 17 October 2010, at Firestone Live in Orlando, Florida.

Numan toured Australia in May 2011 performing his studio album The Pleasure Principle in its entirety to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. Joining him on tour was Australian electronic band Severed Heads, coming out of retirement especially for the shows.

Within the UK’s burgeoning synth-pop scene, Numan was the first artist to achieve mainstream notoriety. His music and live performances met with censure from critics; he also faced condemnation from the Musicians’ Union (MU), who said he was putting “proper” musicians out of work. Andy McCluskey of OMD observed “nasty, vitriolic journalism” directed at Numan, who was dismissed as “pretentious” and “pseudo-intellectual”. He nevertheless generated an army of fans calling themselves “Numanoids”, providing him with a fanbase which maintained their support through the latter half of the 1980s, when his fortunes began to fall. He maintains a cult following and has sold over 10 million records.

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