Bryan Adams
(Read all about Bryan Adams after the video)
Bryan Guy Adams, OC OBC (born 5 November 1959)[1] is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, guitarist, photographer, philanthropist and activist.
Adams rose to fame in North America with his 1983 album Cuts Like a Knife and turned into a global star with his 1984 album Reckless which produced some of his best known songs including "Run to You" and "Summer of '69".[2] In 1991, he released "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" from the album Waking Up the Neighbours
and the song became a world-wide hit which went to number 1 in many
countries, including 16 consecutive weeks in the United Kingdom, a new
record. Adams also had the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Heaven", "All for Love" and "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?"[3]
For his contributions to music, Adams has garnered many awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations, 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television in 1992. He has also won MTV, ASCAP, American Music awards, three Ivor Novello Awards for song composition and has been nominated five times for Golden Globe Awards and three times for Academy Awards for his songwriting for films.
Adams was awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia
for contributions to popular music and philanthropic work via his own
foundation, which helps improve education for people around the world.[4][5]
Adams was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2011 and Canada's Walk of Fame, Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in 1998,[6][7] and in April 2006 he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at Canada's Juno Awards.[8] Adams has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In 2008, Adams was ranked 38th on the list of All-Time top artists in the Billboard Hot 100 50th Anniversary Charts.[9] On 13 January 2010, he received the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award for his part in numerous charitable concerts and campaigns during his career,[10] and on 1 May 2010 was given the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for his 30 years of contributions to the arts.[11]
Life and career
Early life
Bryan Guy Adams was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada,[12] to British parents, Elizabeth Jane (née Watson) and Captain Conrad J. Adams, who immigrated to Canada from Plymouth, England, in the 1950s.[13] Adams' father, a Sandhurst officer in the British Army, joined the Canadian Army and later spent time as a United Nations peacekeeping observer for Canada, which led to him becoming a Canadian foreign service diplomat.[13] Adams travelled with his parents to diplomatic postings in Portugal (where he attended the American International School of Lisbon[14]) and Vienna, Austria, during the 1960s, and to Israel during the early 1970s. Adams has a brother, Bruce.
Early career
By 17, Adams had started working in the Vancouver studio scene, working as a background vocalist for the CBC and backing local artists and with Motown keyboardist Robbie King,
who Adams attributes as having given him his first salaried session.
Before that at age 15–16 he fronted various pub bands like Sweeney Todd that released "If Wishes Were Horses"
and was often seen sitting in with other cover bands. He and his
guitarist Keith Scott met during those club years and still work
together today.
In 1978, at 18, Adams met Jim Vallance
through a mutual friend in a Vancouver music store. Vallance was the
former drummer and principal songwriter for Vancouver-based rock band Prism
and had recently quit that band to focus on a career as a studio
musician and songwriter. They agreed to meet at Vallance's home studio a
few days later, which proved to be the beginning of a partnership which
still exists in 2017??? Later in 1978, Adams signed to A&M records
for one dollar.[15] Some of the first demos written in 1978 have surfaced over the years, most notably "I'm Ready" (recorded for both the album Cuts Like a Knife and later his release for MTV Unplugged)
and "Remember", which was recorded on his first album. Both songs were
covered by other artists even before his first album was released. Also
recorded during this time was the disco song "Let Me Take You Dancing" featuring Adams's vocal sped up to meet the 122BPM dance tempo. The song made the Canadian RPM chart in March 1979 along with its B-Side "Don't Turn Me Away". "Straight From The Heart"
was also written during this period. The song was later recorded for
Adams's third album "Cuts Like A Knife" in 1983 and released as a
single, becoming Adams's first top 10 record in the U.S. in 1983.
1980s
Adams's self-titled debut album
was released in February 1980, and marked the beginning of what was to
become a long songwriting partnership between Adams and co-writer Jim
Vallance. With the exception of "Remember" and "Wastin' Time", most of
the album was recorded from 29 October up until 29 November 1979 at
Manta Studios and co-produced by Adams and Vallance. The album was
certified gold in Canada in 1986.[16]
Adams's second album, You Want It You Got It, was recorded in two weeks and it marked Adams's first album co-produced by Bob Clearmountain.[citation needed]
It was released in 1981 and contained the FM radio hit "Lonely Nights",
(as well as Seattle-area favorite "Fits Ya Good") but it was not until
his third album that he achieved international recognition, popularity.
Adams also co-wrote songs for other artists during this time
including Billboard charted songs like "No Way to Treat a Lady" for Bonnie Raitt and "Don't Let Him Know" for Prism.[citation needed]
Cuts Like a Knife, which was released in January 1983, was Adams's breakout album due mainly to the lead singles. "Straight from the Heart" was the most successful song, reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.[17] Another single, "Cuts Like a Knife" charted at number 15. "This Time" also placed on the Hot 100.
Music videos were released for four of the singles from the album.
"Cuts Like a Knife" arguably became Adams's most recognizable and
popular song from the album. Its music video received heavy airplay on
music television channels. The album peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 album chart and achieved three times platinum status in Canada, platinum in the United States and gold in Australia.[16][17][18]
Adams's album, Reckless, produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain, peaked at number one on the Billboard 200. The album was released in November 1984 and featured the singles, "Run to You", "Summer of '69", "Heaven", "One Night Love Affair", "Somebody", and "It's Only Love", a duet with Tina Turner.
All the singles had accompanying music videos and all charted on the
Billboard Hot 100 but only "Run to You", "Summer of '69", and "Heaven"
peaked in the top ten. "Heaven" became the most successful single from Reckless
at the time of its release on the pop charts, reaching number one on
the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the mainstream rock chart.[17] "It's Only Love" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. In 1986, the song won an MTV award for Best Stage Performance.[19] After the release of the album, Adams was nominated for Best Male Rock Performance.[19] The album is Adams's best-selling album in the United States and was certified five times platinum.[20]
In December 1984, Adams embarked on a two-year world tour to launch
the album starting in Canada and United States, then into Japan,
Australia, back to the UK and again to Canada. After winning four Juno
Awards, he headed south towards the American West Coast, culminating with two dates at the Paladium in Los Angeles.[21]
After the tour in the United States, Adams took part of a grand ensemble of Canadian artists named Northern Lights, who recorded "Tears Are Not Enough" for the African famine-relief effort. Adams later headed back to Europe for a 50-city concert tour with rock singer Tina Turner, culminating in April with his return to London to headline three sold-out shows at the Hammersmith Odeon.[21] Adams began the first leg of his tour entitled "World Wide in '85" which started in Oklahoma and ended in October 1985.[21] Adams later visited Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and afterward returned to the American East Coast to play two sold-out concerts in .[21]
In 1985, Adams worked on Roger Daltrey's sixth solo album Under a Raging Moon, which was a tribute album to The Who's former drummer Keith Moon who died in 1978. Adams co wrote two tracks for the album those being: "Let Me Down Easy" and "Rebel". The track "Let Me Down Easy" was a Top 15 Hit on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and featured Adams playing guitar and singing backing vocals aside Roger Daltrey with Robbie McIntosh playing guitar in the music video. Nearly 30 years later, Adams would release his own version of Let Me Down Easy on a 30-year anniversary version of Reckless.[22]
The follow-up album to Reckless was Into the Fire
which was released in 1987. The album was recorded at Cliffhanger
Studios in Vancouver and mixed at AIR Studios in London and Warehouse
Studio in Vancouver. This album contained the hit songs "Heat of the
Night" and "Hearts on Fire" and hit the Top 10 on both sides of the
Atlantic.[citation needed]
1990s
On 24 September 1991, Adams released the album Waking Up the Neighbours. Co-produced by Adams and Mutt Lange, it topped the charts around the world including number 1 in both the UK and Germany and number 6 on the Billboard 200.[17] The album featured four singles including "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", that also featured in the motion picture Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and spent 16 consecutive weeks at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. That was followed by "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" which peaked at number 2 in the USA, "Do I Have to Say the Words?" reached number 11, and in the UK, "Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven" was the second most successful single reaching the Top 10. The album won many awards including a Grammy Award in 1991 for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television.[17] [23]
6 July 1991 was the start off of the "Waking Up the World" tour which
went on until 1993. The first concert was at Milton Keynes festival
with ZZ Top. Adams played a whirlwind tour which brought him to places
many Western artists had never played, India, Egypt, Portugal, Vietnam, Reykjavík, Iceland to name a few. On 13 January 1992, the Canadian leg of the tour kicked off in Sydney, Nova Scotia and wrapped up with a standing room only concert in Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada, on 31 January. In February 1992, Adams toured New Zealand and
Australia for seven dates—kicking off with a press conference in Sydney.
On the 21 February, the tour headed to Japan for approximately a dozen
shows in six cities. The tour continued through several European
countries in June 1992, including Italy, Germany, Holland and
Scandinavia, and in July 1992, Adams performed for the first time in
Hungary and Turkey (where he filmed his video for "Do I Have to Say The
Words?"). The USA tour continued from September through December 1992.
February 1993 was the Asian leg of the tour including Thailand,
Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong and then straight back to the US to tour
from March to May 1993 [21]
In 1993 he collaborated with Rod Stewart and Sting for the single "All for Love" co-written by Adams for the Motion Picture Soundtrack of the movie Three Musketeers. The single topped the charts worldwide. In November 1993, Adams released a compilation album entitled So Far So Good,
that again topped the charts in numerous countries such as the UK,
Germany and Australia. It included a brand new song called "Please Forgive Me",
that became another number 1 single in Australia as well as reaching
the Top 3 in the US, the UK and Germany. It was followed in 1995 by, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" (song released from the Motion Picture Soundtrack of the movie Don Juan DeMarco). It was number 1 in the US and Australia as well as a Top 5 hit in the UK and Germany.
In June 1996 the album 18 til I Die
was released. It contained the three singles including two UK Top 10
singles "The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me" and "Lets Make a Night to
Remember" and "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?". The album peaked at number thirty-one on the Billboard 200 in the United States and held that position for three weeks.[17] It was far more successful in Europe and Australia reaching the top spot on the UK charts for Adams's third number 1 in a row.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] The album has been certified platinum in the United States by the RIAA.[20] 18 til I Die was certified three times platinum in Canada and Australia and two times platinum in the UK.[16][18][34]
On 27 July 1996, Adams performed his second sold-out Wembley Stadium in London in front of a crowd of approximately 70,000.
In 1996, Adams joined Don Henley on stage with a Duet at Live at Honors, Everybody Knows.[citation needed]
In December 1997, Adams released MTV Unplugged with three new tracks: "Back to You",
"A Little Love" and "When You Love Someone". "Back to You" was the
first single, followed by "I'm Ready", an acoustic version of the Cut's Like A Knife track. The album was a top 10 success in Germany while both singles reached the top 20 in the UK.
On a Day Like Today was released in 1998 and the release coincided with his contract being sold to Interscope Records. Despite Interscope's involvement or lack of, On a Day Like Today
enjoyed tremendous success internationally, entering the Top 5 in
Germany and was certified platinum in the UK. It generated two British
Top 10 singles: "Cloud Number Nine" and "When You're Gone", which
featured Melanie C of The Spice Girls.
In 1990, Adams voiced the evil rat henchman Hoodwink in the Canadian children's animated television special The Real Story of the Three Little Kittens which was created and produced for The Real Story of... (a.k.a. Favorite Songs) anthology series. It was first broadcast on CTV Television Network in Canada and later on HBO in USA.
To commemorate the millennium, Adams released The Best of Me,
his most comprehensive collection of songs at that time, which also
included two new songs, the title track "The Best of Me" and the UK
number 1 track "Don't Give Up".
The album reached the Top 10 in Germany and was certified three times
platinum in Canada and Platinum in the UK. The single from the album,
"The Best of Me" was a successful hit with the exception of the US,
where neither the single or the album were released by Interscope Records.
2000s
In 2000, Adams co-wrote and sang on the number one song for Chicane's album Behind the Sun[35] called "Don't Give Up".
In 2002, Adams co-wrote and performed the songs for the DreamWorks animated film, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. The songs were included on the film's soundtrack. The most successful single from the soundtrack was "Here I Am", a British Top 5 and German Top 20 hit. The song also gave him his fourth Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Song from a Motion Picture.
In 2004, ARC Weekly released its chart of top pop artists since the
last 25 years and Adams came up at number 13 in the chart with four
number-one singles, ten top five hits and 17 top ten hits. Six years
after the release of On a Day Like Today, Room Service
was released in September 2004. It topped the charts in Germany and
Switzerland and peaked at number four in the UK, selling 440,000 copies
in its first week in Europe and thus debuted at number one on Billboard's European album chart. The single, "Open Road",
was the most successful single from the album and peaked at number one
in Canada and number twenty-one in the UK. In May 2008, the album was
also released in the US but charted only at number 134 on the Billboard 200.
In 2005, Anthology, the first 2-disc compilation was released, containing two new tracks. The US release features a new version of "When You're Gone", a duet with Pamela Anderson. Also in 2005, Adams re-recorded the theme song for the second season of Pamela's Fox sitcom Stacked.
In 2006, Adams co-wrote and performed the theme song "Never Let Go" which was featured in the closing credits of the film The Guardian starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher. Adams also co-wrote the song "Never Gonna Break My Faith" for the film Bobby. The song was performed by the R&B singers Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige and earned him a Golden Globe Nomination in 2007.[36]
In 2007, he co-wrote two songs "A Place for Us" and "Another Layer" for the Disney film Bridge to Terabithia.
Adams released his eleventh album internationally on 17 March 2008. It was appropriately called 11. The album was released in the US exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club retail stores on 13 May 2008.[37] The first single released from the album was "I Thought I'd Seen Everything". Adams did an 11-day, 11-country European acoustic promotional tour to kick off the release of the album.[38] The album debuted at number one in Canada (making it his first album to reach that position since Waking Up the Neighbours in 1991) as well as reaching number two in Germany. In the United States, the album charted at number 80.[17]
Adams was one of the four musicians who were pictured on the second
series of the Canadian Recording Artist Series to be issued by Canada Post stamps on 2 July 2009.[39] The total estimated number of Adams stamps that were printed is one and one-half million.[40]
In December 2009, he co-wrote, produced and performed the song "You've Been a Friend to Me" for the Disney film Old Dogs.[41]
2010s
In February 2010, Adams released "One World, One Flame". On 12 February 2010, Adams performed a duet with Nelly Furtado. The song was called "Bang the Drum" and was co-written with Jim Vallance for the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. The ceremony was held indoors at BC Place Stadium.[citation needed]
Adams performed at Wayne Gretzky's final game in 1999 at Madison Square Garden, when Gretzky then played for the New York Rangers. Adams then sang the Canadian national anthem and ad-libbed a line to acknowledge Gretzky's departure, singing, "We're gonna miss you Wayne Gretzky."[citation needed]
Adams was one of several well-known Canadian musicians to visit Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
at his official residence. Originally the visit was meant to be Adams's
plea to the Prime Minister to change the archaic copyright laws,[42] instead Harper turned it into a photo opportunity for himself and an informal "jam session".[43]
In November 2010, Adams released the acoustic album Bare Bones.
It was recorded live at various locations on his "Bare Bones Tour"
earlier in the year. It was certified gold in India a year later.[44]
On 19 February 2011, Adams and his band played in Kathmandu, which was organized by ODC Network and made him the first ever international artist to perform in Nepal.[45] He performed at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup on 17 February 2011 in Dhaka, Bangladesh[46] and also performed in a solo concert in the next day.[47]
On 19 November 2011, Adams co-wrote and recorded the dance music
single/video for the Loverush UK! single "Tonight in Babylon" in
Southwark, London.[citation needed]. This song was also recorded/released on his Bare Bones Sydney Opera House video.[citation needed] On 20 November 2011, Adams performed "When You're Gone" on the TV show The X Factor in the UK with the remaining acts in the competition.[citation needed]
In July 2012, Adams was featured as the voice of the lead character of a dog called Jock, in the animated South African film Jock of the Bushveld.
He also co-wrote and sang two of the main songs: "Way Oh" and "By Your
Side". The American released of the film was retitled "Jock the Hero
dog".[citation needed] In 2013, he wrote and sang on "After All" with Michael Bublé from his album To Be Loved.
In an interview on 18 March 2014, Adams revealed that he has signed a contract with Verve Records in the US. With one album celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Reckless, a new album of covers. On 30 September 2014, Adams released a new album titled Tracks of My Years.
The album reached number 1 on the Canadian album chart. The album
contains cover songs and one original song co-written with Jim Vallance.[citation needed]
On 13 July 2014, Adams presented a live concert on the Plains of
Abraham in Quebec City, Canada. Adams was moved by the crowd and
mentioned: "Quebec City is the Capital of music and artists."[48] In July 2014, Adams filmed Bryan Adams in Concert for the American program Great Performances on PBS. It was recorded at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto and first shown on American Public Television on 2 March 2015.[49]
Adams released his first album of all new material in seven years on 16 October 2015. The album, titled Get Up, was co-written with longtime collaborator Jim Vallance and produced by Jeff Lynne. On 7 September 2015, it was announced that Adams would be performing at the 2015 AFL Grand Final, along with English singer Ellie Goulding and American musician Chris Isaak.[50]
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