Bryan Guy Adams (05-11-1959) was born to British parents who emigrated to Canada in the 1950s. As a child, he travelled with his parents through Europe and the Middle East. Bryan Adams lived for a few years in Portugal, where his father was an ambassador. His house was in Birre, near Cascais. He attended the Carlucci American International School of Lisbon, where he learned a bit of Portuguese. At the age of ten, he got his first guitar; two years later, he bought his first electric guitar. At 14, he moved to Vancouver. A year later, he left school and toured Canada performing. At 18, he was offered his first record contract.
Bryan Adams gained his first musical experience in the group Sweeney Todd, with whom he made two records in the late 1970s. In 1980, Adams released his first solo album, but his career really took off with the release of the album Reckless (1984), which sold no less than 7 million copies worldwide. 'Run To You' and 'Summer Of 69' come from this album.
In addition, he also writes songs for artists such as Kiss, Joe Cocker and Tina Turner. In 1985, he was the opening act for her European tour. His biggest success so far was in 1991 with the soundtrack for the film Robin Hood, Prince Of Thieves. 'I Do It For You' reached number one in fourteen countries. In the Netherlands, it stayed at number one for no less than eleven weeks.
Besides soundtracks, duets are generally successful as well. In 1985, he sang 'It's Only Love' with Tina Turner, in 1994 the soundtrack 'All for Love' with Sting and Rod Stewart for Three Musketeers, and Barbra Streisand released 'I Finally Found Someone' with him. The soundtrack single for the 1995 film Don Juan DeMarco, 'Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?', is also popular. Together with ex-Spice Girl Mel C, also known as Sporty Spice, he released the song 'When You're Gone' in 1998.
His fourteenth studio album, titled Shine a Light, was released in 2019. During the tour for this album, Ahoy Rotterdam was visited again.
Do
The singer Do from Brabant recorded a trance cover of Bryan's 'Heaven' from 1985 with German DJ Sammy in 2001, scoring a worldwide hit in early 2002. Her 'sober' version of 'Heaven' was also a success.
Top 2000
In the 24th edition of the Top 2000, Bryan is listed as follows:
Sunday Morning Classic
On 19 February 2023, it was finally Bryan Adams' turn to take the stage on our Sunday Morning Classic podium. He did so with his most successful 4th studio album Reckless from 1984. Bryan was 25 when he recorded this album.
Reckless remains a delightful album. Good solid rock songs and a somewhat sweet ballad. Pure youthful nostalgia, and whenever I hear a hit from this album in the pub or on the radio, it always cheers me up. Depth is not always necessary to enjoy music, and Adams understood this perfectly.
It became Adams’ most successful album, selling 5 million copies in the United States. It was the first Canadian music album to sell more than a million copies in its own country. Recording for the album started in March 1984, shortly after the promotional tour for the album Cuts Like a Knife, but Adams was dissatisfied with the progress of the recordings and took a month off. In August, he returned to the studio with Tina Turner, with whom he recorded the track It's Only Love. He also brought new songs and began re-recording the other tracks. The song Heaven had already been recorded in June 1983 for the soundtrack of the film A Night in Heaven. Originally, this song was not intended for the new album, but Adams changed his mind at the last moment.
Six singles were released from this album: Run to You, It's Only Love, Heaven, Summer of '69, One Night Love Affair, and Somebody. All singles reached the top 15 of the American Billboard Hot 100. The first three singles entered the Dutch and Belgian charts in 1985, while the fourth single did so only in 1990.
I could not name a single song from this (timeless) album that I do not like.
Source: NPO, Wikipedia and various website quotes Photo: Marco Maas and Raph_PH
