(R)evolution

The Autobiography

By: Gary Numan

Narrated by: Gary Numan

This audiobook opens and ends with music from Gary Numan's 2021 album Intruder

A Daily Mail 'best TV and showbiz memoir' for 2020

From humble beginnings in Middlesex, where money was scarce but dreams were encouraged, to the award-winning godfather of electronica, Gary Numan has seen it all. His incredible story can be charted in two distinct parts . . .

The first: a stratospheric rise to success quickly followed by a painful decline into near obscurity. At school, Gary fell through the cracks of the system and was expelled. An unlikely but determined popstar, he earned his first record deal aged nineteen and, two years later, had released four bestselling albums and had twice toured the world. But, aged just twenty-five, it felt like it was all over. Gary's early success began to hold him back and he battled to reconcile the transient nature of fame with his Asperger's syndrome.

The second: a twenty-plus year renaissance catalysed by a date with a super-fan. Gary catalogues his fifteen-year struggle with crippling debts, his slow, obstacle-laden journey back to the top (and the insecurity that comes with that) and why Savage reaching #2 in 2017 meant more than the heady heights of 1979. Gary also candidly discusses the importance of his fans; why having Asperger's is a gift at times; the inspiration behind the lyrics; flying around the world in 1981; IVF struggles and the joy of fatherhood and his battle with depression and anxiety.

(R)evolution is the rollercoaster rise and fall (and rise) of one man, several dozen synthesisers, multiple issues and two desperately different lives. By turns hilarious and deeply moving, this is Gary Numan in his own words - a brutally honest reflection on the man behind the music.©2020 James Hogg

Critic reviews

A fascinating story, told with pathos, humility and wit (Dan Cairns)

Gary Numan's life story is exhaustive, entertaining, often poignant - and refreshingly uncool (Jude Rogers)

Absolutely fascinating . . . a great read, I read it cover to cover . . . couldn't put it down, candid, enlightening story, so honest, a real rollercoaster (Chris Evans)

Really Great Story

I’ve been a fan since I was maybe 10 or so. Pleasure Principle was the first record I ever bought. He has continued to be an artist that is completely individual. I love that his life is as it has been. Fantastic story and I love his direct and detailed descriptions of everything. Hurrah, I say!

An amazing life

I've Loved Gary Numan since the early 1980's when I was a little kid. I didn't know exactly what I was listening to, but I really liked it. When I had kids of my own they would hear his music as well, even though they didn't really know what they were listening to. Sometimes my young daughter would walk around humming "Cars."
(R)evolution is the book you want to read if your like of amazing music has been influenced by Gary, and you really want to know the guy and his family and how he became so talented and what an incredible life he's led.
You can be a new fan or an old one - you're going to love the book, and you're going to love Gary even more.

No one is more resilient!

Not only is he a fantastic musician, but also and incredible writer, with humor, sensitivity and kindness. He gets beaten down but rises like the phoenix to create heartbreaking yearning in his music! He’s like Johnny Cash, David Bowie, and Morrissey…no one else sounds like that! Anyway this is a very well written, charming and triumphant read!!!

I love the honesty

I have always loved Gary Numan since hearing him on MTV as a kid. But it seems everything else got in the way of following his career. I saw this book in Fortean Times and knew I had to give a listen. His speaking voice is so calming and the fact that he's honest about his autism and the way it's made him make mistakes over time was so self deprecating, one can't help but love him more. I can honestly say I'll probably listen to it again. I saw him live only recently, before I started the book and I was floored. All that love I had since a kid was not for nothing Gary Numan is the real deal.

Gary Numan-incredible Life Journey

What an amazing story of the career and personal life of Gary Numan. Was absolutely captivated by every chapter. Laughed, Cried, was so moved with emotions. So well told by the author himself and a roller coaster of a career. Such creativity, such perseverance through 40+’years of the music business and such a love of family. What a humble man snd a force of nature in talent. Love that it was told in his own words and his own voice. Highly recommended.