Gary Numan is one of the most influential musicians from the new wave era who inspired major stars from later years.
Numan came to prominence in 1979 with Tubeway Army who recorded hits including Cars and Are Friends Electric.
He pioneered using new ways to create a mix of synth and rock sounds by playing keyboards through guitar effects pedals which generated metallic sounds.
The album The Pleasure Principle, which spawned another hit single – Closer, gave Numan huge success on both sides of the Atlantic.
Over subsequent years he continued to experiment with different styles, moving away from electropop to other genres and was pushed out of the public eye by New Romantic’s rising stars like Adam Ant and Duran Duran.
Numan continued to write and record and the harder, darker sound of the album Sacrifice, released in 1994, brought a resurgence in his popularity on the back of the industrial sound of major bands like Nine Inch Nails.
To mark four decades since Numan broke through and found mainstream success he is setting out on a major British tour in the Autumn which will include a gig at Birmingham’s O2 Institute on Saturday October 19.