Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams (born November 5, 1959, Kingston, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, photographer, and social activist whose hit albums Cuts Like a Knife (1983) and Reckless (1984) made him one of the most popular and successful recording artists of the 1980s.

Early life and career

Adams was musically talented at an early age and taught himself how to play guitar. His father served in the Canadian army, was a United Nations peacekeeping observer, and served as a diplomat, necessitating many relocations for the family. When his parents divorced, he lived with his mother just north of Vancouver, British Columbia. At age 16, he dropped out of high school, ready to pursue a full-time career as a musician, having already performed as lead vocalist for Canadian glam-rock band Sweeney Todd. Adams spent time working in a recording studio, performing on tours, and recording music for Sweeney Todd’s album If Wishes Were Horses (1977).

Shortly after the recording’s release, Adams was introduced to Jim Vallance, a Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer. Vallance recognized Adams’s ability but also saw the need for further vocal training. With Vallance’s help, it was not long before Adams established a powerful, distinct sound, one compared to that of Rod Stewart, Paul Rodgers, and Steve Marriott.

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Cuts Like a Knife and Reckless

In 1980 Adams released his self-titled first album and went on a four-month Canadian tour. Following his next release, You Want It, You Got It (1981), he went on a six-month American tour. His third album, Cuts Like a Knife (1983), reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200. With its hit singles “Straight from the Heart,” “Cuts Like a Knife,” and “This Time,” the album launched him into stardom. In 1983 Adams also became one of the opening acts for the American rock band Journey during its tour of the United States.

His fourth album, Reckless (1984), was his most successful, reaching the top of the charts, spawning his first number one single (the power ballad “Heaven”), and garnering two Grammy Award nominations.

Later releases

Adams’s later recordings included Into the Fire (1987), Waking up the Neighbours (1991), So Far So Good (1993), 11 (2008), Bare Bones (2010), Tracks of My Years (2014), Get Up (2015), and Shine a Light (2019). In addition, Adams and Vallance wrote the score for Pretty Woman: The Musical, a stage version of the 1990 film, which premiered in Chicago in March 2018 and moved to Broadway later that year; it opened in London’s West End in 2020.

In 2022 he released So Happy It Hurts, the title track for which received a Grammy nomination for best rock performance. After splitting with his longtime manager, Bruce Allen, in 2023, Adams founded his own label, Bad Records. “Lake Ontario,” a protest song and the lead single from How’s It Goin’, appeared in 2026.

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Soundtrack work and photography

Adams’s songs were included in more than 100 film and television soundtracks. He won a Grammy Award, an MTV Video Music Award, and an American Music Award for his 1991 hit “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” from the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He is also an accomplished photographer whose work ranges from fashion shots to advertising campaigns for clothing and automobile lines. His photographic collection Wounded, which he published with journalist Caroline Froggatt, appeared in 2013, and a collection of abstract images, Untitled, was published in 2016.

Honors

Adams was named an Officer of the Order of Canada (1998) and a Member of the Order of British Columbia (1990). In 2010 he received a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement.