Electro-pop pioneer Gary Numan abandoned music after falling into a deep mid-life depression.

The Cars hitmaker suffered a series of public breakdowns and had to be medicated after becoming depressed shortly after turning 50, but the drugs to cure his illness also killed his creativity.

He tells British newspaper The Guardian, "I cried in the street once and thought: 'F**k me, that's not normal. Something's not quite right with you'. I went to the doctors and (he) put me on tablets - they made me worse. (He) changed them and they helped, so I was on them for a few years. I'd become so blanded out I didn't give a f**k about anything. I had no drive, I wasn't writing anything."