Donovan Webb, better known as John Webb. Born in Staines, Middlesex.

Adopted brother of Gary Numan, proficient multi-instrumentalist and member of the Gary Numan backing band.

In 1977, he performed as 'Johnny Silver' as a punk act. Recorded under the name 'Donavan Silver'.

Gary's post - 17th November 2025

The last two days have been the hardest of my life. There have been some mentions recently about me breaking down on stage in Birmingham and Bristol. This is why.

My brother John died suddenly in the early hours of Saturday morning in Leeds, he was just 60 years old. He had spent the evening with me at my Telekon show, catching up, swapping stories, telling me about his newly found love of reading. We talked about authors, music, the loves of our lives, children, our Dad, steam trains, aeroplanes, accidents, friends, enemies, just as much as we could squeeze in in the time we had. We were just enjoying being together again as we see each other so rarely these days. We talked for hours before and after the show but, eventually, I had to leave as we had another show in Birmingham later that night. I hugged him at the door of our tour bus, I think it was about 12:20am, asked him how far he had to walk to get to his car (I always worried about him walking the streets at night), it was not far apparently, we said goodbye and I watched him walk away. Sadly he never made it to his car, betrayed by his own heart.

I had no idea something had happened to him, and that it had happened so close to where we were, until later that morning when my Dad called with the terrible news. It will haunt me forever that we may have driven off not knowing he was lying in a rainy street just yards away. Luckily a kind person saw him and called an ambulance, but it was too late.

This is not a tribute to John, I can barely think straight enough to find the words for this let alone a fitting and deserving tribute to someone I loved more than the world, those words will come in time. This is simply to explain why I've been struggling on stage.

We are continuing with the tour because my Dad thinks I should, because John's lovely wife said John would want me to. I have no capacity at the moment to make decisions of any kind. I'm drifting, broken, shell shocked, just watching one foot fall in front of the other. The emotion overwhelms and then backs away, it screams and then whispers. This is the worst moment of my life and I have no idea what to do, other than to continue doing the only thing I know how to do, the thing John was always so proud of. He loved Telekon. He was only 15 when I made it. So this tour is no longer a celebration of an album, it's a tribute to John, my brother, the best brother a man could ever have.