Bryan Adams Biography
Summary
"Bryan Adams" OC, OBC, (born "Bryan Guy Adams" on November 5, 1959) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter and photographer. He has been nominated for several Grammy Awards; Adams was first nominated at the 28th Grammy Awards for "Reckless" and 'It's Only Love'. Adams won two awards at the 34th Grammy Awards, including 'Best Pop Instrumental Performance' and 'Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media' for his work on the "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" soundtrack. Adams has been awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia for his contribution to popular music and his philanthropic work. He has sold somewhere in the region of 65 million records and was also inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998, in 2006 he was inducted into the Music Hall of Fame at Canada's Juno Awards in April. He was recently nominated for his fifth Golden Globe in 2007 for songwriting on the film "Bobby".and has been nominated three times for Academy Awards for his music in film.
Musical career
Early years: 1959 - 1979
Adams was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, to English parents. Adams also has Maltese ancestry as his grandmother was from Malta. Adams' father was a diplomat and he travelled around the world with his parents. Adams grew up in Europe, part of the time in Birre, Portugal, 25 km from Lisbon (he lived there during the Summer of '69, theme of one of his tunes - he confirmed this fact in an interview at Herman José TV Show). In 1973, Adams' family returned to Canada and settled down in North Vancouver, BC. His musical goals began during his teenage years, and as he explained to Carlo D'Agostino from "Rolling Stone" magazine, 'In high school, I was too far into my music to even pay attention to girls.' He washed dishes, sold pet food, and worked in record stores, and at the age of 15, Adams quit school to play in nightclubs with bands like Shock and Sweeney Todd, which released an album called "If Wishes Were Horses" with the 15 year old Adams as lead singer.
A serendipitous meeting with drummer Jim Vallance in a Vancouver music store led to a song-writing partnership that continues to this day. Adams and Vallance were both fed up with the club scene and both worked in Vancouver studios doing sessions. As O'Hara from "Maclean's" magazine phrased it, 'Vallance was looking for a singer, Adams was looking for a route to musical respectability, and the two hit it off immediately.'
In 1978, at the age of 18, Adams sent a few demo recordings to A&M Records in Toronto, and was signed to them not long afterwards for the sum of one dollar. He has released 16 albums since then. 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 went on his first album. Both songs were covered by other artists before his first album was even released. Also recorded during this time was a demo of the song 'Let Me Take You Dancing'.
1980 - 1983
The self-titled debut album was released in February of 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 October 29 - November 29, 1979 at Manta Studios in Toronto, and co-produced by Adams and Vallance. The album was certified gold in Canada in 1986.
Adams' second album, "You Want It You Got It" was recorded in New York City in two weeks and it marked Adams' first album co-produced by Bob Clearmountain. It was released in 1981 and contained the FM radio hit 'Lonely Nights', but it was not until his third album, "Cuts Like a Knife" (January 1983), that he broke through.
"Cuts Like a Knife" was Adams' breakout album. Thanks to the lead single 'Straight from the Heart' and 'Cuts Like a Knife'. Released in January 1983, "Cuts Like a Knife" peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The album granted Adams international recognition. "Cuts Like a Knife" achieved three times Platinum status in Canada, platinum in the United States and gold in Australia.
"Cuts Like a Knife" included the hits 'Straight from the Heart', 'Cuts Like a Knife' and 'This Time', 'I'm Ready', 'The Only One', and 'Take Me Back'; the first four had accompanying music videos, and the first three placed on the "Billboard" Hot 100. 'Straight from the Heart' was the most successful song from "Cuts Like A Knife" on the pop charts, reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. 'Cuts Like a Knife' arguably became Adams' most recognizable and popular song from the album. Its music video received heavy airplay on music television.
1984 - 1987
Adams best-selling album, "Reckless" co-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', and 'Summer of '69'. The hit single '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. After the release of the album Adams was nominated for , Best Male Rock Performance. The album is Adams best-selling album in the United States and was certified five times platinum.
"Reckless" included the hit singles 'Run to You', 'Heaven', 'Summer of '69', 'One Night Love Affair', and 'It's Only Love'. All the singles had accompanying music videos. All the singles charted on the Billboard Hot 100, while only 'Run to You', 'Summer of '69', and 'Heaven' peaked at the top ten. 'Heaven' would become the most successful single from "Reckless" at the times of its release on the pop charts, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the mainstream rock chart.
In December 1984, Adams and his touring band which consists of Keith Scott, Dave Taylor, Pat Steward and Johnny Blitz played concerts in Chicago, Detroit, New York and Philadelphia. In early 1985, Adams' started a tour throughout the United States, then later Japan, Australia, Europe and at last Canada. After winning four Juno Awards Adams started a Canada tour through major cities across Canada. Later he headed south towards the American West Coast, culminating with two dates at the studded Paladium in Los Angeles.
After the tour in the United States Adams traveled to Ethiopia to aid famine relief in the country. Adams later headed back to Europe for a fifty-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 in London. Adams began the first leg of his tour entitled 'World Wide in 85' which started in Oklahoma. The tour ended in October, 1985. Adams would later visit Vancouver, Canada, and afterwards returned to the American East Coast to play two sold-out concerts in New York.
The follow up album to "Reckless" was "Into the Fire" which was released in 1987 (see 1987 in music). The album was recorded at Cliffhanger Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia and mixed at AIR Studios in London and Warehouse Studio in Vancouver.
1991 - 1992
Adams second best-selling album selling over 10 million copies worldwide, "Waking up the Neighbours" co-produced by Adams and Mutt Lange and peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. The album was released in September 1991 and featured the single '(Everything I Do) I Do It for You', which was also used in the film "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", starring Kevin Costner and Alan Rickman. The album and single topped the charts in many countries with '(Everything I Do) I Do It For You' spending record-breaking 16 weeks at number one on UK Singles Chart and topped the charts in 17 countries. It also made record-breaking sales of 4 million copies in the US. Canadian content regulations were revised in 1991 to allow radio stations to credit airplay of this album towards their legal requirements to play Canadian music. Adams won a Grammy Award in 1991 for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television.
Adams further supported the album with his tour Waking Up the World, which started in October 1991 and ran through May 1993. On October 4, 1991, the World Tour started in Belfast, Ireland. On December 18, 1991, Adams played his 2 first-ever shows in Reykjavik, Iceland. Adams went to the U.S. where he performed at the Ritz Theatre on the 10th of January. It was a sell-out in less than 20 minutes. In attendance were music legends Ben E. King and Nona Hendrix. The Canadian leg of the 'Waking Up The World' Tour kicked off in Sydney, Nova Scotia January 13, 1992, and wrapped up with a standing room only concert in Vancouver, Canada, on the 31st. In February 1992, he started touring in New Zealand & Australia for 7 dates - kicking off with a press conference in Sydney. On February 21 the tour headed to Japan for close to a dozen shows in 6 cities. Bryan taped an interview with Much Music's Terry Dave Mulligan in Calgary, Alberta and the air date was scheduled for mid-March. The tour continued through several European countries in June of 1992, including Italy, Germany, Holland and Scandinavia, and in July 1992, Bryan performed for the first time in Hungary and Turkey. September through December of 1993 saw the tour in the U.S. The Asian tour headed to Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong in February, 1993, before returning to the U.S. during March through May.
1993 - 1999
Although "18 til I Die" was officially released in June 1996, in the United States the album peaked at 31 on the "Billboard" 200 and held that position for three weeks. While in Canada "18 til I Die" would reach number 4. The album was released in Australia, Europe and New Zealand in late June 1996. "18 til I Die" reached the UK top five and peaked at number on 1 which would be Adams' second in a row. 18 til I Die continued the trend of lower-charting albums when it was released. Adams' previous album had charted most strongly around the world. Although 18 til I Die reached the top ten in the Netherlands, Belgia, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Germany and Australia, it was a moderate top twenty success in France and Ireland.
The album has been certified platinum in the United States and is Adams last studio effort which has been certified by the RIAA. 18 til I Die was certified three times platinum in Canada and Australia and two times platinum in the UK.
In december 1997, Adams released 'MTV Unplugged' with 3 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 acustic version of the 'Cut's Like A Knife',s track.
"On a Day Like Today" was released in 1998 and was the first studio album since "Cuts Like a Knife" which wasn't certified by the RIAA.. However it was certified platinum in the UK and generetad two top-ten singles: 'Cloud Number Nine' and 'When You're Gone', a duet with Melanie C, from Spice Girls, that was a smash-hit in the UK (douple platium) and all in Europe.
After the release of "On A Day Like Today" Adams' released "The Best of Me" is Adams end of the decade greatest hits collection that includes two new songs, the title track 'The Best of Me' and the dance track 'Don't Give Up'. The album was certified three times platinum in Canada and Platinum in the UK. It was released on single from the album called 'The Best of Me' which became a huge hit exception in the US where it wasn't released as a single.
Later years: 2000 - present
Six years after the release of "On a Day Like Today", "Room Service" was released on September 2004 and peaked at number 4 in the UK, sending 440,000 copies in its first week in Europe. The album featured the single 'Open Road, that was the most successful single from the album and peaked at #1 in Canada and #21 in the UK. In may 2008 the album was also realeased in the USA and peaked at #134 on the Billboard 200.
In 2005, it was came ou the first ever 2-discs compilation, called 'Anthology' with 2 new tracks. The Us version contains a new version of 'When You're Gone' in duet with Pamela Anderson, big Bryan's friend.
In 2006, Adams was working on the soundtrack for the film "The Guardian" starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, Adams wrote and performed the theme song 'Never Let Go' which was featured in the closing credits. Adams also co-wrote the song 'Never Gonna Break My Faith' for the film "Bobby", while the song was performed by the R&B singers Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige. The song earned him a Golden Globe Nomination in 2007.
Adams released his eleventh effort "11" internationally on March 17, 2008. The album was released in the US exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club retail stores on May 13, 2008. The first single released from the album was 'I Thought I'd Seen Everything'. Adams is planning an 11-day, 11-country promotional tour for the support of the album in Europe. The album debuted at #1 in Canada (making it his first album to reach that position since "Waking Up the Neighbours" in 1991), in the United States the album peaked at #80.
Social activist
Since the 1980s, Bryan Adams has been a noted social activist, to this day participating in concerts and other activities to help raise money and/or awareness for a variety of different causes. His first high profile charity appearance came in 1985 when he opened the US transmission of Live Aid from Philadelphia. In June of the next year, Adams participated in the two-week Amnesty International 'A Conspiracy of Hope' tour alongside Sting, U2 and Peter Gabriel. His next appearance for Amnesty was in February 1987 on Rock For Amnesty with Paul McCartney, Sting and Dire Straits, among others.
Playing in the U.S. section of Live Aid, Adams did not get the chance to play at Wembley Stadium; however, another chance came in June 1987 when Adams played there at the 5th Annual Prince's Trust Rock Gala along Elton John, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and others. Adams was to return to Wembley Stadium the following year when he played at the Nelson Mandela birthday party concert.
Adams helped commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall when, in 1990, he joined many other guests (including his songwriting partner Michael Kamen) for Roger Waters' massive performance of "The Wall" in Berlin, Germany.
On January 29, 2005, Adams joined the CBC benefit concert in Toronto for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Twenty years after performing at Live Aid in the USA, Adams played at Canada's Live 8 show in Barrie, Ontario. Later that year, he played in Qatar and raised an astonishing £1.5M ($2,617,000) from the performance and the auction of a guitar he purposely had signed by many of the world's most prominent guitarists. The money went to Qatar's 'Reach Out to Asia' campaign to help the underprivileged across the continent. Money raised also went to some of his own projects like rebuilding a school in Thailand and building a new sports center in Sri Lanka, both of which had been devastated by the aforementioned Indian Ocean tsunami.
On January 29, 2006, Adams became the first Western artist to perform in Karachi, Pakistan, in conjunction with a benefit concert to raise money for underprivileged children to go to school. Some of the proceeds of that concert also went to victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.
On October 18, 2007, Adams was billed to perform in Tel Aviv and Jericho as part of the OneVoice Movement concerts, aiming to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The peace concert for supporters of a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel was called off because of security concerns.
In the mid 1990s, Adams successfully campaigned for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary with Greenpeace Chairman David McTaggart (the two distributed over 500,000 postcards at concerts around the world encouraging politicians to vote "yes" for the creation of the sanctuary).
Adams wrote a letter on behalf of the animal rights group PETA to protest KFC's treatment of chickens. He wrote to KFC Canadian CEO in November 2007 asking them become leaders to use more modern and more humane methods of killing. Adams has been a vegan for 17 years and was also featured as a nominee for PETA's Sexiest Vegetarians of the Year.
On May 25, 2005, Adams raised £1.3M with cousin Johnny Armitage, from a concert and auction entitled Rock by the River for the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. On May 15 of the next year, Adams returned to London to attend the Hope Foundation's event (hosted by designer Bella Freud), helping to raise a portion of the £250,000 to support the Palestinian refugee children. The following June, he offered individuals from the public the chance to bid to sing with him live in concert at three different charity auctions in London. Over £50,000 was raised with money going to the NSPCC, Children in Need, and the University College Hospital. On February 28, 2008 he appeared in One Night Live at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada with Josh Groban, Sarah McLachlan, Jann Arden and RyanDan in aid of the Sunnybrook Hospital Women and Babies Program.
To support the peace in Georgia, Adams played a special outdoor concert in Tbilisi, on September 19, 2008.
As a photographer
Adams has had his photographs published in British Vogue, L'uomo Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, Interview magazine and i-D, among others. His other photographic efforts include publishing Zoo Magazine, the fashion/art magazine based in Berlin, Germany. On June 1, 2005, he published his first book of photos in the United States with Calvin Klein called "American Women"; proceeds from this book go to breast cancer research for programs at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He released a similar book of photos called "Made In Canada" in December 1999 followed by Haven in 2000. All of his books were dedicated to his friend Donna, who died of the disease.
As a photographer, Adams has worked with many of his musical peers, including Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant, Joss Stone, Placido Domingo, Celine Dion, Billy Idol, Moby, Amy Winehouse, t.A.T.u., Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, Lenny Kravitz and Morrissey to name a few. On November 27, 2000 Bryan played onstage with The Who at the Royal Albert Hall. A DVD of the concert was issued. Bryan photographed the band and his photos appear in the DVD booklet.
In 2002, Adams was invited, along with other photographers from the Commonwealth, to photograph Queen Elizabeth II during her Golden Jubilee; one of the photographs from this session was used as a Canadian postage stamp in 2004 and again in 2005 (see Queen Elizabeth II definitive stamp (Canada)), another portrait of both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Bryan Adams supports the "Hear the World" initiative as official photographer in its aim to raise global awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss. Adams has been shooting the covers for their magazine, a quarterly culture and lifestyle publication dedicated to the topic of hearing.
Photographic exhibitions include:
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto 1999
McCord Museum, Montreal 2000
Saatchi Gallery, London 2000
Photokina, Köln (Cologne), Germany 2001
ICA, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 2004
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto 2004
Calvin Klein, NYC, Dallas, Paris 2005
Canada House, Trafalgar Square, London 2005/2006
Il Tempio Di Adriano, Rome, Italy, July, 2006
Photokina, Köln (Cologne), Germany, September, 2006
Leica Gallery, Vienna, Austria, November, 2006
Galerija Fotografija, Ljubljana, Slovenia, November, 2006
H.Stern exhibition, São Paulo, Brazil, March, 2007
PhotoEspana, Madrid, Spain, Fotografos Insospechados (Unsuspected Photographers) Mickey Rourke photographs, May to July 2007
Nunnington Hall, North Yorkshire, England, May to June, 2007
401 Projects, NYC, NY September to November, 2007
The Hospital, Covent Garden, London, England. November 2007 (Modern Muses)
The National Portrait Gallery, London, England. Feb - May 2008 (Modern Muses)
Haus Der Kunst, Munich, Germany. May 2008 (Photos of the German National Football Team)
14th Street Gallery, NYC, NY. May 2008. (Hear The World)
Books
Sorelle Saidman "Bryan Adams Everything He Does", Random House, Toronto, 1993 ISBN 0-394-22300-X
Bryan Adams, " Bryan Adams" (pictorial collection), Firefly Books, Willowdale Canada, 1995, ISBN 1-895565-83-9
External links
(Bryan Adams official website)
(Interview with Fender guitars, May 2007)
(The official website of Zoo Magazine (published by Adams))
(The Warehouse Studio, music recording facility (owned by Adams))
(Complete Sweeney Todd page online via www.bryanadams.nu (articles/pictures))
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Bryan Adams.
