Gary Numan has revealed that David Bowie once had him removed from a television studio during their brief rivalry in the early 1980s. The 68-year-old singer shared the story on the podcast I'm ADHD! No You're Not, hosted by comedian Paul Whitehouse and his wife Dr Mine Conkbayir.
Numan said he had been a massive fan of Bowie, who died in 2016 aged 69. He recalled being invited to watch Bowie film a segment for the Kenny Everett Christmas special. However, Bowie allegedly spotted him and demanded he leave. 'He got me taken off of a show once. And he threw me out of a room once – it was horrible actually because I such a massive fan,' Numan said.
The singer believes Bowie saw him as a copyist after Numan adopted a more electronic industrial sound. He cited lyrics from Bowie's 1980 song Teenage Wildlife, such as 'Same old thing in brand new drag', as a dig at new wave artists like himself. Numan added that he was later removed from the programme entirely.
Reflecting on the incident, Numan said: 'I think there was a level of sort of insecurity in him as his career wasn't of course, quite what it had been. He was probably panicking about that. I've come along and I was the talk of the town for a moment and I think he just reacted in that moment.'
In other news, Numan's wife Gemma recently revealed she has been left paralysed in one arm following spinal surgery to treat a herniated disc. The 57-year-old shared the update on Instagram, noting that the paralysis occurred immediately after the operation on her cervical spine last December. Physiotherapy has helped her regain some movement in her lower arm and biceps, but she has 'nothing' in her shoulder.
