Gary Numan (born Gary Anthony James Webb on 8 March 1958) is an English singer, composer, and musician. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of commercial electronic music and has been described as the "King of synthpop". Numan is widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" (with Tubeway Army) and "Cars". Numan's more recent output, however, from 1994's Sacrifice to 2006's Jagged, has been much darker and industrial in nature, incorporating haunting soundscapes with a lyrical tendency towards Atheism and a general anger towards organized religion.
Nine Inch Nails covered Numan's song "Metal" on the remix album Things Falling Apart (2000). So far, Gary Numan has been a surprise guest during the last leg of the Wave Goodbye Tour, making appearances at the O2 Arena, the Hollywood Palladium, the Echoplex, the Henry Fonda Theater and the Wiltern Theater, performing guest vocals on "Down In The Park" from Tubeway Army's Replicas (1979), "Metal," "Cars," both from The Pleasure Principle (1979), and "I Die: You Die," from Telekon (1980).
Given the similarities between Numan's recent output and Nine Inch Nails' body of work, it has long been the hope of NIN and Numan fans alike that the pair will one day collaborate, be it in the studio or supporting each other on tour.
In a recent interview with the Quietus, Numan says that he and Reznor plan to make music together.
Discography
Numan's complete discography can be found here.
Studio Albums
- Tubeway Army (1978) (with Tubeway Army)
- Replicas (1979) (with Tubeway Army)
- The Pleasure Principle (1979) (Numan's first album under his own name)
- Telekon (1980)
- Dance (1981)
- I, Assassin (1982)
- Warriors (1983)
- Berserker (1984)
- The Fury (1985)
- Strange Charm (1986)
- Metal Rhythm (1988) (New Anger in the United States)
- Outland (1991)
- Machine + Soul (1992)
- Sacrifice (1994) (Dawn in the United States)
- Exile (1997)
- Pure (2000)
- Jagged (2006)
- Dead Son Rising (due for release in 2009)
- Splinter (due for release in 2010)