Adam Ant Biography

After art school, Stuart Goddard got keen on rock music and changed his name to Adam Ant. By 1977 the band was popular in punk-torn England, and Ant’s self-named “antmusic” — distinctive theatrics and a tribal drum sound — made him a local idol. His fancy dress and distinctive white stripe of face paint became his signature. He took his act to America and benefited from a new TV channel called MTV. He is remembered for such hits as “Dirk Wears White Sox,” “Stand and Deliver” and, later, “Goody Two Shoes”. When his popularity on the charts dwindled, Ant took to acting in movies and TV shows, but without much success. He was arrested in a London pub in 2002 for assault and possession of a firearm (witnesses said he threatened a crowd with a starter’s pistol) and sectioned under Britain’s Mental Health Act. As it turns out, Goddard/Ant had a long history of mental illness, including a diagnosis of bipolar disorder when he was young. He managed to get his act together, literally, by 2010, and performed in local clubs before getting a record deal in 2011.