Singer Gary Numan ‘breaks down on stage mid-song’ as wife comforts him

Gary Numan broke down on stage after receiving the “worst news”.

The music legend, 67, was on stage at the O2 Academy Birmingham on Saturday evening, November 15, when he reportedly “broke down” on stage, worrying fans and his wife Gemma O’Neil, who comforted him mid-performance.

Midway through his song Please Push No More, The Mirror reports Gary got upset and explained he had been given the “worst news ever” that morning.

The Cars hitmaker explained he would share the news with fans in the coming days once he had given himself some time to process.

Gary, who has Asperger’s syndrome, is currently in his Telekon tour, which celebrates the album of the same name’s 45th anniversary after it reached UK number one in 1980.

This comes after Gary celebrated 1,000 gigs over his four decades in the business, which he wouldn’t have realised unless one keen American fan had collected all his data over the years and emailed him about the milestone.

“Playing 1,000 shows is quite something, and yet if someone had said it was 5,000 the number would still have felt low, given the extraordinary effort, sacrifice, commitment(and stress) that’s been poured into those shows over the years,” Gary said of the moment.

Through his many tours, Gemma has been by Gary’s side since they met in 1992 – a year he previously revealed was his lowest point, having suffered with depression throughout his life.

Gary has previously credited Gemma, who was a member of a fan club dedicated to her future husband before they became an item, for giving him the confidence in himself that led to his ultimate success.

“I was in a bad place. I had no record deal at the time. I wasn’t seeing any realistic chance that I was going to get another one. I was finished,” he recalled in an interview with Metro in 2022.

“I was firmly convinced that I was the weak link in my records. I thought my singing and my playing weren’t good enough. My songwriting had gone downhill.”

He recalled: “Gemma said, ‘You might not be the best singer in the world but you sing in a certain way and you have a certain sound. That’s what people liked. They liked the quirkiness and the unusual qualities of your voice.’

“It was all down to Gemma making me realise what my strengths were. I’d seen them as weaknesses. She also got my dressing sorted out.”

The pair have been married since 1997 and have three daughters together, named Raven, Echo and Persia.