Adam Ant
| Adam Ant | |
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Adam Ant at the 100 Club, January 2011
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Stuart Leslie Goddard |
| Born |
3 November 1954 Marylebone, London, England |
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| Years active | 1976–present |
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| Website | www |
Adam Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard; 3 November 1954) is an English singer and musician. He gained popularity as the lead singer of post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK top ten hits from 1980 to 1983, including three UK No. 1 singles. He has also worked as an actor, appearing in over two dozen films and television episodes from 1985 to 2003.
Since 2010, Ant has undertaken an intensive reactivation of his musical career, performing live regularly in his hometown of London and beyond, recording and releasing a new album and completing three full-length UK national tours, two US national tours, and an Australian tour.
Stuart Goddard was born an only child, in Marylebone, London. Concern for oppressed minorities—one of the themes he used in his later work—was part of his heritage; he is of partial Romani descent. His maternal grandfather, Walter Albany Smith, was Romanichal. Home was two rooms in De Walden buildings, St John's Wood. He recalls: "There was no luxury, but there was always food on the table." His father, Leslie Goddard, had served in the Royal Air Force and worked as a chauffeur and his mother, Betty Kathleen Smith, was an embroiderer for Norman Hartnell.
His parents divorced when Goddard was seven years old and his mother supported him by working as a domestic cleaner, briefly working for Paul McCartney. Goddard's first school was Robinsfield Infants School, where he created a considerable stir by throwing a brick through the head-teacher's office window on two consecutive days. In the aftermath of this incident, Goddard was placed under the supervision of teacher Joanna Saloman, who encouraged him to develop his abilities in art and whom he would later credit as the first person to show him he could be creative artistically.
Goddard then attended Barrow Hill Junior School where he boxed, was a member of the cricket team and passed the eleven plus exam to gain a place at St Marylebone Grammar School which was an all boys school where he enjoyed history lessons, played rugby and later became a school prefect. After taking and passing six O levels and three A levels in English, History and Art, Goddard then attended Hornsey College of Art to study graphic design and for a time was a student of Peter Webb. He later dropped out of Hornsey, short of completing his BA, to focus on a career in music.
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