Home » Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today – Cgy.Org? Trust The Answer

Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today – Cgy.Org? Trust The Answer

Are you looking for an answer to the topic “Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today – CGY.org“? We answer all your questions at the website Abettes-culinary.com in category: Top 4620 tips from Abettes-culinary update new. You will find the answer right below.

Keep Reading

Von Scales is the husband of American singer Tina Braxton. He was born on February 15, 1968 in St. Louis, Missouri.

After graduating from high school in 1986, he attended the University of Missouri-St Louis. He used to play basketball there, eventually graduating from Scales in 1990.

Scales began his career at various companies such as Compuware Corp, Maxim Investment Group and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. However, after gaining experience in all these places, he deced to do something of his own.

Von Scales Age

How old is von Scales? Von Scales was born on February 15, 1965

Von Scales Ex-Wife

There is no information about Scales’ ex-wife

First Wife

Trina Braxton is the wife of Von Scales. She is an American singer and reality TV personality. She is the younger sister of R&B singing icon Toni Braxton.

Von Scales Net Worth

How much is Von Scales worth? Von Scales has an estimated net worth of $10 million. Her main source of income is her job as a clerk.

Live Today

There is no information on whether Von Scales was live today or not.


Congrats! Trina Braxton And Von Scales Are Married, See Inside The Wedding Ceremony!

Congrats! Trina Braxton And Von Scales Are Married, See Inside The Wedding Ceremony!
Congrats! Trina Braxton And Von Scales Are Married, See Inside The Wedding Ceremony!

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3yBVOIs8yA”]

Images related to the topicCongrats! Trina Braxton And Von Scales Are Married, See Inside The Wedding Ceremony!

Congrats! Trina Braxton And Von Scales Are Married, See Inside The Wedding Ceremony!
Congrats! Trina Braxton And Von Scales Are Married, See Inside The Wedding Ceremony!

See some more details on the topic Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today – CGY.org here:

Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages … – CGY.org

Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today. Von Scales is the husband of American singer, Tina Braxton.

+ View More Here

Source: www.cgy.org

Date Published: 7/23/2021

View: 7933

Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net …

Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today … Von Scales is the husband of American singer, Tina Braxton.

+ Read More Here

Source: abtc.ng

Date Published: 10/2/2022

View: 418

Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife … – 650.org

Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today. Von Scales is the husband of American singer, Tina Braxton.

+ Read More

Source: www.650.org

Date Published: 3/27/2022

View: 8149

John Cleese – Wikipedia

John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambrge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved …

+ View Here

Source: en.wikipedia.org

Date Published: 1/2/2021

View: 910

John Cleese

English comedian and actor (born 1939)

John Marwood Cleese (KLEEZ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer. Emerging from Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he found success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a writer and actor on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he co-founded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Along with his Python co-stars Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman, Cleese starred in Monty Python films including Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983).

In the mid-1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote the sitcom Fawlty Towers, in which he starred as Basil Fawlty, for which he won a 1980 BAFTA for Best Entertainment. In 2000, the show topped the British Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest British television programmes; and in a 2001 Channel 4 poll, Basil was ranked second on its list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.

Cleese co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and former Python colleague Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and Fierce Creatures (1997), both of which he also wrote. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for A Fish Called Wanda. He has also starred in Time Bandits (1981) and Rat Race (2001) and has appeared in many other films including Silverado (1985), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), two James Bond films (as R and Q), two Harry Potter films (as Nearly Headless Nick) and the last three Shrek films.

Cleese specializes in satire, black comedy, sketch comedy, and surreal humor.[1] He co-founded Video Arts with Yes Minister writer Antony Jay, a production company that produces entertaining educational films. In 1976, Cleese co-founded the benefit show The Secret Policeman’s Ball to raise funds for the human rights organization Amnesty International. Despite being a staunch Liberal Democrat supporter, in 1999 he turned down a party offer to nominate him for a lifetime peerage.

Early life

Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, the only child of Reginald Francis Cleese (1893–1972), an insurance salesman, and his wife Muriel Evelyn (née Cross, 1899–2000), an auctioneer’s daughter. 2] His family’s last name was originally Cheese, but his father found it embarrassing and used the name Cleese when he enlisted in the army during World War I. he officially changed it in 1923 by document poll.[3][4] As a child, Cleese supported Bristol City and Somerset County Cricket Club. Cleese attended St. Peter’s Preparatory School[7] (paid for by money inherited from his mother[8]) where he received an English prize and excelled in cricket and boxing. When he was 13 he received an exhibition at Clifton College, an English public school in Bristol. At this point he was already over 1.83 m tall.[9]

“The biggest influence was The Goon Show. children were devoted to her. It was written by Spike Milligan. It also had Peter Sellers in it, who of course is the greatest speaker of all time. In the morning it would be us at school and we would discuss the whole thing and rehash the jokes and talk about it. We were obsessed with it.” – Cleese on his greatest comedic influence in his youth, 1950s BBC radio comedy, The Goon Show.[10]

Cleese allegedly defaced the school grounds by painting footprints to indicate that Field Marshal Earl Haig’s statue had come off its pedestal and gone to the bathroom.[11] Cleese played cricket in the First XI and did well academically, passing eight O levels and three A levels in math, physics and chemistry. In his autobiography So, Whatever, he says that discovering at age 17 that he had not been appointed house prefect by his caretaker influenced his attitude: “It wasn’t fair and therefore not worthy of my respect… I believe that.” that moment changed my view of the world.”[14]

Cleese could not go directly to Cambridge as the end of National Service meant there were twice as many applicants as usual, so he returned to his preparatory school[15] for two years to study Science, English, Geography, History etc teach Latin[16] (he later used his experience as a Latin teacher for a scene in Life of Brian correcting Brian’s poorly written Latin graffiti).[17] He then accepted a place at Downing College, Cambridge, which he had won to study law. He also joined the Cambridge Footlights. He recalled going into the Cambridge Guildhall, where each university society had a stand, and going up to the Footlights stand, where he was asked if he could sing or dance. He replied “no” as he wasn’t allowed to sing at his school because he was so bad and if there was anything worse than his singing it was his dancing. Then he was asked, “Well, what are you doing?” to which he replied, “I make people laugh.”[15]

At the Footlights theater club, Cleese spent a lot of time with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie and met his future writing partner Graham Chapman. Cleese wrote additional material for the Footlights Revue I Thought I Saw It Move in 1961 and was registrar for the Footlights Club in 1962. He was also in the cast of the 1962 Footlights revue Double Take![15] Cleese graduated from Cambridge in 1963 with a top second. Despite his success on The Frost Report, his father sent him clippings from The Daily Telegraph offering managerial jobs at stores like Marks & Spencer.[19]

Career

pre-python

Cleese was both screenwriter and cast member for the 1963 Footlights revue A Clump of Plinths.[15] The revue was so successful at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed Cambridge Circus and taken to the West End in London and then touring New Zealand and Broadway, with the cast also appearing in some sketches of the revue at The Ed Sullivan Exhibition at October 1964.[15]

After Cambridge Circus, Cleese stayed briefly in America, performing on and off Broadway. While performing in the musical Half a Sixpence, Cleese met future python Terry Gilliam and American actress Connie Booth, whom he married on February 20, 1968. At their wedding at a Unitarian church in Manhattan, the couple tried to ensure that no theistic language was spoken. “The only moment of disappointment,” Cleese recalled, “came at the very end of the service when I discovered I had neglected to edit out a specific mention of the word ‘God.'”[20] Booth later became a writer Partner. He was soon offered a writing position at BBC Radio, where he worked on several programmes, most notably as a sketchwriter for The Dick Emery Show. The success of Footlights Revue led to the inclusion of a short series of half-hour radio programs entitled I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again, which were so popular that the BBC commissioned a regular series of the same title which ran from 1965 to 1974. Cleese returned to the UK and joined the cast. In many episodes, he is referred to as “John Otto Cleese” (according to Jem Roberts, this may be due to embarrassment of his actual middle name, Marwood).[21]

Also in 1965, Cleese and Chapman began writing The Frost Report. The writing team selected for The Frost Report consisted of a number of writers and actors who made their mark in comedy.[22] These included co-performers from I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again and future Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor, as well as Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh and Future Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.[22][23][24] While working on The Frost Report, the future Pythons developed the writing styles that would make their collaboration meaningful. Cleese and Chapman’s sketches often included authority figures, some performed by Cleese, while Jones and Palin were both infatuated with filmed scenes that began with idyllic landscape panoramas. Idle was one of those hired to write David Frost’s monologue. During this time, Cleese met and befriended influential British comedian Peter Cook, eventually collaborating with Cook on several projects and forming a close friendship that lasted until Cook’s death in 1995.

As a cast member on The Frost Report, Cleese’s breakthrough comedy actor came on British television when he starred in the classic “Class” sketch (aired on the 7 line-up, starring the smaller middle-class Ronnie Barker and the even smaller Ronnie Corbett from The British Film Institute commented, “The marriage of size and social position, combined with a minimal script, created a classic TV moment.”[26] This series was so popular that Cleese and Chapman were invited in 1966 when Writers and cast members working with Brooke-Taylor and Feldman on At Last the 1948 Show,[15] during this time the Four Yorkshiremen sketch was written by all four writers/cast members (the Four Yorkshiremen sketch is better known today as a Monty -Python sketch).[27]

Cleese and Chapman also wrote episodes for the first series of Doctor in the House (and later Cleese wrote six episodes of Doctor at Large in 1971). These series were successful and in 1969 Cleese and Chapman were offered their own series. However, due to Chapman’s alcoholism, Cleese was facing an increasing workload in the partnership and was therefore not enthusiastic about doing a series with just the two of them. He had found working with Palin on The Frost Report a pleasant experience and invited him to be part of the series. Palin had previously worked with Idle and Jones on Do Not Adjust Your Set, with Terry Gilliam creating the animation. The four had been offered a series for Thames Television following the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set, which they were waiting to start when Cleese’s offer arrived. Palin agreed to work with Cleese and Chapman in the meantime, bringing Gilliam, Jones and Idle with him.

Monty Python

Monty Python’s Flying Circus ran for four series on BBC television from October 1969 to December 1974, although Cleese quit the show after the third. Cleese’s two primary characterizations were as sophisticated and as a weirdo. The former he portrayed as a series of announcers, television show hosts and government officials (e.g. “The Ministry of Silly Walks”). The latter is perhaps best represented in The Cheese Shop and by Cleese’s Mr Praline character, the man with a dead Norwegian blue parrot and a menagerie of other animals, all named Eric. He was also known for his character as a working-class “sergeant major” who worked as a police sergeant, Roman centurion, etc. Quite pompously, he announced the formal and determined “Now for something completely different,” which later became the title of the first Monty -Python film.[29]

Partnership with Graham Chapman

“He was the best sounding board I’ve ever had. If Graham found something funny, it almost certainly was funny. You cannot believe how invaluable this is.” – Cleese on Chapman in The Pythons Autobiography of The Pythons (2003).[30]

Along with Gilliam’s animation, Cleese’s work with Graham Chapman produced Python’s darkest and fiercest moments, and many of his characters display the seething, suppressed anger that would later characterize his portrayal of Basil Fawlty.

Unlike Palin and Jones, Cleese and Chapman wrote together in the same room; Cleese claims that on their writing partnership, he did most of the work, while Chapman sat back and didn’t speak for a long time before suddenly coming out with an idea that often took the sketch to a new level. A classic example of this is Cleese’s “Dead Parrot Sketch”, conceived as a satire on poor customer service, which was originally intended to have involved a broken toaster and later a broken car (this version was actually previewed and aired). Python special How to irritate people). It was Chapman’s suggestion to turn the erroneous item into a dead parrot, and he also suggested that the parrot specifically be a “Norwegian Blue”, giving the sketch a surreal vibe that made it far more memorable.

Her humor often involved ordinary people in ordinary situations behaving absurdly for no apparent reason. Like Chapman, Cleese’s poker face, clipped middle-class accent, and intimidating height allowed him to convincingly portray a variety of authority figures, such as police officers, detectives, Nazi officers, or government officials, whom he then undermined. For example, in the sketch “Ministry of Silly Walks” (written by Palin and Jones), Cleese exploits his stature as a crane-legged civil servant performing a grotesquely elaborate walk to his office. Of Silly Walks’ sketch, Ben Beaumont-Thomas writes in The Guardian: “Cleese is utterly expressionless as he takes the stereotypical bowler-hatted political drone and ruthlessly impales him, erecting himself in a balletic extension of his slender leg.”[32]

Chapman and Cleese also specialized in sketches in which two characters engage in highly articulate arguments about entirely random subjects, as in “The Cheese Shop,” the “Dead Parrot” sketch, and “Argument Clinic,” where Cleese plays a stone-headed bureaucrat on the payroll sitting behind a desk and engaging people in pointless, trivial bickering.[33] All of these roles faced Palin (whom Cleese often claims is his favorite python to work with) — the comical contrast between the towering Cleese’s mad aggression and the smaller Palin’s shambling harmlessness is a common trait of the series. Occasionally, the typical Cleese-Palin dynamic is reversed, as in “Fish License” where Palin plays the bureaucrat Cleese tries to work with.

Although Flying Circus lasted four series, by the beginning of the third series, Cleese was tired of dealing with Chapman’s alcoholism. He also felt that the quality of the show’s scripts had declined. For these reasons, he became restless and decided to move on. Although he stayed for the third series, he officially left the group before the fourth season. Cleese received credit for three episodes of series four that used material from those sessions, although he was not officially affiliated with series four. He remained friends with the group, and all six began writing Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Much of his Holy Grail work is widely cited, including the Black Knight scene.[35] Cleese returned to the troupe to co-write and co-star in two more Monty Python films, Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. His attack on Roman rule in The Life of Brian – when he asks “What have the Romans ever done for us? a 2002 survey.[36] Since the last Python film (1983’s Meaning of Life), Cleese has participated in various live performances with the group over the years.[34]

1970s

From 1970 to 1973 Cleese was rector of the University of St Andrews.[37] His election was a milestone for the university and revolutionized and modernized the office. Thus, traditionally, the rector had the right to appoint an “assessor”, a deputy to sit in his place at important meetings in his absence. Cleese changed this to a position for a student elected campus-wide by the student body, resulting in direct entry and representation for the student body.[38]

Around this time, Cleese was working with comedian Les Dawson on his sketch/stand-up show Sez Les. The differences between the two physically (tall, lean Cleese and short, burly Dawson) and socially (public school and Cambridge-educated Cleese vs. working-class, self-taught Mancun-born Dawson) were stark, but both worked well together from Series 8 through the end of Series 1976. [39] [40]

He appeared on a single, “Superspike”, with Bill Oddie and a group of British athletes billed to the “Superspike Squad” to fund their participation in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

Cleese starred in the low-budget spoof of the Sherlock Holmes detective series The Curious Case of the End of Civilization As We Know It (1977) as the grandson of the world’s greatest consulting detective. In December 1977, Cleese guest-starred on The Muppet Show.[42] Ranked as one of the show’s top guest stars, Cleese was a fan of The Muppet Show and co-wrote much of the episode. In it, he is “kidnapped” before the show begins, complains about the number of pigs, and is tricked into doing a closing number with Kermit the Frog, Sweetums, pigs, chickens, and monsters.[43] Cleese also had a cameo in her 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper and won the TV Times Award for Funniest Man on TV – 1978-79. In 1979 he starred in a TV special, To Norway, Home of Giants, produced by Johnny Bergh.

During the 1970s, Cleese also produced and starred in a number of successful business training films, including Meetings, Bloody Meetings, and More Bloody Meetings. These were produced by his company Video Arts.[46]

FawltyTowers

Cleese gained greater notoriety in the UK as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with his wife Connie Booth. The series won three BAFTA Awards during its production and topped the British Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest British television programs in 2000. In a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4, Basil Fawlty (behind Homer Simpson) was ranked second on the list of the 100 greatest TV characters. The series also starred Prunella Scales as Basil’s bitter wife Sybil, Andrew Sachs as the often abused Spanish waiter Manuel, and Booth as waitress Polly, the series’ voice of reason. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real person, Donald Sinclair, whom he met in 1970 when the Monty Python team stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay while filming assignments for their television series. Cleese was reportedly inspired by Sinclair’s mantra: “I could run this hotel just fine if it weren’t for the guests.” He later described Sinclair as “the most wonderfully rude man I’ve ever met,” though Sinclair’s widow said her husband was completely misrepresented in the series. During the Pythons’ stay, Sinclair allegedly threw Idle’s briefcase out of the hotel “if it contained a bomb”, complained about Gilliam’s “American” table manners, and threw a bus schedule at another guest after daring to ask the time next bus into town.[49][50]

The first series was shown on BBC 2 from 19 September 1975, initially to poor reviews but gaining momentum when it was repeated on BBC 1 the following year. Despite this, a second series was not aired until 1979, when Cleese’s marriage to Booth was over, but they revived their collaboration for the second series. Fawlty Towers consisted of two seasons of only six episodes each; Cleese and Booth both claim that this shouldn’t affect the quality of the series. Fawlty Towers’ popularity continues, and in addition to being ranked high in polls of the biggest television shows, it is often re-aired. A 2002 poll ranked Basil’s “don’t mention the war” comment (said to waitress Polly about the German guests) as the second funniest line on TV.[36]

1980s and 1990s

During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on film, although he did work with Peter Cook in his one-off TV special Peter Cook and Co. in 1980. The same year Cleese starred in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. In 1981 he appeared as Robin Hood in Time Bandits directed by Terry Gilliam. He also took part in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (filmed 1980, released 1982) and starred in The Secret Policeman’s Ball for Amnesty International. In 1985, Cleese had a small dramatic role as the sheriff in the American western Silverado, which had an all-star cast including Kevin Kline, with whom he starred three years later in A Fish Called Wanda. In 1986 he starred in the British comedy Clockwise as an uptight headmaster who is obsessed with punctuality and constantly gets into trouble while on his way to speak at the headmasters’ conference. Written by Michael Frayn, the film was successful in Britain but not in the United States. He earned Cleese the Peter Sellers Award For Comedy at the 1987 Evening Standard British Film Awards.

In 1988, Cleese wrote and starred in A Fish Called Wanda, Archie Leach, along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. Wanda was a commercial and critical success, becoming one of the top ten films of the year at the US box office, and Cleese was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay. Kline won the Oscar for his portrayal of the bumbling, violent, narcissistic ex-CIA agent Otto West in the film.

In 1989 Graham Chapman was diagnosed with throat cancer; Cleese, Michael Palin, Peter Cook, and Chapman’s partner David Sherlock witnessed Chapman’s death. Chapman’s death came a day before the 20th anniversary of Flying Circus’s original airing, with Jones commenting that it was “the worst case of party poop in history.” Cleese delivered a eulogy at Chapman’s funeral service.[53]

Cleese later had a supporting role in Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), alongside Branagh himself and Robert De Niro. Along with Robin Skynner, the English psychiatrist, Cleese wrote two books on relationships: Families and How to Survive Them and Life and How to Survive It. The books are presented as dialogue between Skynner and Cleese.

The follow-up to A Fish Called Wanda, Fierce Creatures – which again starred Cleese alongside Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Palin – was released in 1997 but was met with mixed reactions from critics and audiences alike. Cleese has since stated many times that doing the second film was a mistake. When asked by his friend, director and food critic Michael Winner, what he would do differently if he could live his life again, Cleese replied, “I would not have married Alyce Faye Eichelberger and I would not have done Fierce Creatures.” [54]

In 1999, Cleese appeared in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough as Q’s assistant, referred to as “R” by Bond. When Cleese reprized his role in Die Another Day in 2002, the character was promoted, making Cleese MI6’s new Quartermaster (Q). In 2004, Cleese was introduced as Q in the video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing with his likeness and voice. Cleese did not appear in the subsequent Bond films Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall; in the latter film, Ben Whishaw was cast for the role of Q.[56]

21st century

Cleese is Provost’s Visiting Professor at Cornell University, having been the Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large from 1999 to 2006. He occasionally performs on the Cornell campus, which draws a lot of attention. In 2001, Cleese was cast in the comedy Rat Race as the eccentric hotel owner Donald P. Sinclair, the name of the Torquay hotel owner on whom he based the character of Basil Fawlty. That year he appeared as Nearly Headless Nick in the first Harry Potter film: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), a role he would reprise in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).[57 ] In 2002, Cleese had a cameo in the film The Adventures of Pluto Nash, playing “James”, a computer-controlled chauffeur of a hover car stolen by the title character (played by Eddie Murphy). The vehicle is subsequently destroyed in a chase and the chauffeur is stranded in a remote location on the moon. In 2003, Cleese appeared as Lyle Finster on the US sitcom Will & Grace. His character’s daughter, Lorraine, was played by Minnie Driver. In the series, Lyle Finster briefly marries Karen Walker (Megan Mullally). In 2004, Cleese was credited as a DC Comics graphic novel co-writer titled Superman: True Brit. Part of DC’s “Elseworlds” series of imaginary stories, True Brit, written primarily by Kim Howard Johnson, proposes what might have happened if Superman’s rocket ship had landed on a farm in Britain, not America.[58]

Kleese in 2008

From 10 November to 9 December 2005, Cleese toured New Zealand with his stage show John Cleese – His Life, Times and Current Medical Problems. Cleese described it as “a multi-person, one-man show that pushes the line of acceptable behavior in new and disgusting ways”. Developed in New York City with William Goldman, the show features Cleese’s daughter Camilla as writer and actress (the shows were directed by Australian Bille Brown). His longtime assistant, Garry Scott-Irvine, also made an appearance and was credited as co-producing. The show was then played at universities in California and Arizona from January 10 to March 25, 2006 entitled “Seven Ways to Skin an Ocelot”.[59] His voice can be downloaded as a downloadable option on some TomTom company GPS personal navigators for turn-by-turn guidance purposes.

In a 2005 poll of comedians and comedy insiders, The Comedians’ Comedian, Cleese was voted second to Peter Cook. In 2006, Cleese hosted a television special on football’s greatest kicks, goals, saves, mishaps, plays and penalties and football’s impact on culture (including the Monty Python sketch “Philosophy Football”), featuring interviews with pop culture icons Dave Stewart, Dennis Hopper and Henry Kissinger, as well as notable footballers including Pelé, Mia Hamm and Thierry Henry. The Art of Soccer starring John Cleese was released on DVD in January 2009 by BFS Entertainment & Multimedia in North America. Also in 2006, Cleese released the song “Don’t Mention the World Cup”.

Cleese lent his voice to the BioWare video game Jade Empire. His role was that of a “stranger” named Sir Roderick Ponce from Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard, stranded in the Imperial City of the Jade Empire. His character is essentially a stereotype of the British colonialist who describes the people of the Jade Empire as “savages in need of enlightenment”. His armor has the design of a fork stuck in a piece of cheese. In 2007, Cleese appeared in advertisements for Titleist as a golf course designer named “Ian MacCallister” representing Golf Designers Against Distance. Also in 2007, he helped film the sequel to The Pink Panther titled The Pink Panther 2, starring Steve Martin and Aishwarya Rai.

Cleese collaborated with Los Angeles Guitar Quartet member William Kanengiser on the lyrics for the 2008 performance piece “The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha”. Cleese as narrator and the LAGQ premiered the work in Santa Barbara. 2008 also saw reports of Cleese working on a musical version of A Fish Called Wanda with his daughter Camilla.

At the end of March 2009, Cleese published his first article as “Contributing Editor” for The Spectator: “The real reason I had to join The Spectator”.[65] Cleese has hosted comedy galas at Montreal’s Just for Laughs comedy festival in 2006 and again in 2009. Towards the end of 2009 and into 2010, Cleese appeared in a series of television advertisements for Norwegian consumer electronics chain Elkjøp In March 2010, it was announced that Cleese would play Jasper in the video game Fable III.

Cleese (right) with the rest of Monty Python on stage at the O2 Arena in London in July 2014

In 2009 and 2010 Cleese toured Scandinavia and the USA with his Alimony Tour Year One and Year Two. In May 2010 it was announced that this tour, scheduled for May 2011, would be to the UK (his first tour there). The show will be named “Alimony Tour” in reference to the financial impact of Cleese’s divorce. Die UK-Tour begann am 3. Mai in Cambridge und besuchte Birmingham, Nottingham, Salford, York, Liverpool, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oxford, Bristol und Bath (die Alimony Tour-DVD wurde am 2. Juli aufgenommen, dem letzten Bath-Datum). 68] Später im Jahr 2011 unternahm John seine Alimony Tour nach Südafrika. Er spielte am 21. und 22. Oktober in Kapstadt, bevor er nach Johannesburg wechselte, wo er vom 25. bis 30. Oktober spielte. Im Januar 2012 brachte er seine Ein-Mann-Show nach Australien, begann am 22. Januar in Perth und besuchte in den nächsten vier Monaten Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, New South Wales, Melbourne, Sydney und endete im April in Canberra .

Im Oktober 2010 wurde Cleese beim Start einer Werbekampagne der Automobile Association für ein neues Produkt für die Notfallversorgung zu Hause vorgestellt.[69] Er erschien als ein Mann, der glaubte, die AA könne ihm bei einer Reihe von Katastrophen nicht helfen, einschließlich Wasser, das durch seine Decke strömte, mit der Zeile “Die AA? Für fehlerhafte Duschen?” Im Jahr 2010 erschien Cleese in einer Reihe von Radiowerbung für die kanadische Versicherungsgesellschaft Pacific Blue Cross, in der er eine Figur namens “Dr. Nigel Bilkington, Chefarzt des American General Hospital” spielt.

2012 wurde Cleese in Hunting Elephants, einer Überfallkomödie des israelischen Filmemachers Reshef Levi, gecastet. Cleese musste kurz vor den Dreharbeiten wegen Herzproblemen aufhören und wurde durch Patrick Stewart ersetzt. Zwischen September und Oktober 2013 begab sich Cleese auf seine allererste Comedy-Tour quer durch Kanada. Unter dem Titel “John Cleese: Last Time to See Me Before I Die Tour” besuchte er Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Victoria und endete in Vancouver, wo er vor meist ausverkauften Veranstaltungsorten auftrat. Cleese kehrte im November 2013 auf die Bühne in Dubai zurück, wo er vor einem ausverkauften Theater auftrat.[76]

Cleese wurde interviewt und tritt als er selbst in dem Dokumentarfilm The Last Impresario der Filmemacherin Gracie Otto aus dem Jahr 2013 über Cleeses langjährigen Freund und Kollegen Michael White auf. White produzierte Monty Python und der Heilige Gral und Cleeses Pre-Python-Comedy-Produktion Cambridge Circus. Auf einer Comic-Pressekonferenz im November 2013 kündigten Cleese und andere überlebende Mitglieder der Monty Python-Comedy-Gruppe eine Wiedervereinigungsaufführung an, die im Juli 2014 stattfinden soll.

Cleese begleitete Eric Idle 2015 und 2016 für eine Tournee durch Nordamerika, Kanada und die ANZUS-Staaten, „John Cleese & Eric Idle: Together Again At Last . . . For The Very First Time“, bei der er kleine Theater spielte und mit ihnen interagierte Publikum sowie Skizzen und Erinnerungen.[79] In a Reddit Ask Me Anything interview, Cleese expressed regret that he had turned down the role played by Robin Williams in The Birdcage, the butler played by Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day, and the clergyman played by Peter Cook in The Princess Bride.[80]

In 2017, he wrote Bang Bang! a new adaptation of Georges Feydeau’s French play Monsieur Chasse! for the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, before making its American premiere at the Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, New York in 2018 followed by touring the UK in spring 2020.[81]

In 2021, Cleese cancelled an appearance at Cambridge University after learning that art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon had been blacklisted by the student union for impersonating Adolf Hitler. His visit to the university was intended to be part of a documentary on wokeism. Cleese said he was “blacklisting myself before someone else does”.[82] In April 2022, he was cast in Roman Polanski’s upcoming drama film The Palace.[83]

Style of humour

In his Alimony Tour Cleese explained the origin of his fondness for black humour, the only thing that he inherited from his mother. Examples of it are the Dead Parrot sketch, “The Kipper and the Corpse” episode of Fawlty Towers, his clip for the 1992 BBC2 mockumentary “A Question of Taste”, the Undertakers sketch, and his eulogy at Graham Chapman’s memorial service which included the line, “Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard! I hope he fries.”[84] On his attitude to life he states, “I can take almost nothing seriously”.[9] Cleese has criticised political correctness, saying it has become “a sort of indulgence of the most over-sensitive people in your culture, the people who are most easily upset […] if you have to keep thinking which words you can use and which you can’t, then that will stifle creativity.” According to Cleese, “The main thing is to realise that words depend on their context […] PC people simply don’t understand this business about context because they tend to be very literal-minded.”[85]

In 2020, following a controversy over the content of the Fawlty Towers episode “The Germans”, Cleese criticised the BBC, saying “The BBC is now run by a mixture of marketing people and petty bureaucrats. It used to have a large sprinkling of people who’d actually made programmes. Not any more. So BBC decisions are made by persons whose main concern is not losing their jobs… That’s why they’re so cowardly and gutless and contemptible.” He likened the style of humour in Fawlty Towers to the representation of Alf Garnett from another BBC sitcom, Till Death Us Do Part, saying “We laughed at Alf’s reactionary views. Thus we discredited them, by laughing at him. Of course, there were people—very stupid people—who said ‘Thank God someone is saying these things at last’. We laughed at these people too. Now they’re taking decisions about BBC comedy.”[86]

Activism and politics

“Amnesty first started doing these fund-raising shows in 1976. The instigation came from John Cleese who wanted to help out. And he did it in the only way he knew how. Which was to put on a show with what he described as ‘a few friends’. Who of course transpired to be his colleagues in Monty Python and other luminaries of British comedy.” — Martin Lewis, co-founder of The Secret Policeman’s Ball, on Cleese instigating the benefit show.[87]

Cleese (and the other members of Python) have contributed their services to charitable endeavours and causes—sometimes as an ensemble, at other times as individuals. The cause that has been the most frequent and consistent beneficiary has been the human rights work of Amnesty International via the Secret Policeman’s Ball benefit shows. The idea of the Ball was conceived by Cleese, with Huffington Post stating “in 1976 he “friended” the then-struggling Amnesty International (according to Martin Lewis, the very notion of Human Rights was then not the domain of hipsters and students, but just of foreign-policy wonks) first with a cheque signed “J. Cleese” — and then by rounding up “a few friends” to put on a show.”[87] Many musicians have publicly attributed their activism—and the organisation of their own benefit events—to the inspiration of the work in this field of Cleese and the rest of Python, such as Bob Geldof (organiser of Live Aid), U2, Pete Townshend, and Sting.[88] On the impact of the Ball on Geldof, Sting states, “he took the ‘Ball’ and ran with it.”[87]

Cleese is a long-standing supporter of the Liberal Democrats.[89] Prior to that, he was a supporter of the SDP after their formation in 1981, and during the 1987 general election he recorded a party political broadcast for the SDP–Liberal Alliance, in which he advocated for the introduction of proportional representation.[90] Cleese subsequently appeared in broadcasts for the Liberal Democrats in the 1997 general election and narrated a radio election broadcast for the party during the 2001 general election.[91]

In 2008, Cleese expressed support for Barack Obama and his presidential candidacy, offering his services as a speech writer.[92] He was an outspoken critic of Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, saying that “Michael Palin is no longer the funniest Palin”.[93] The same year, he wrote a satirical poem about Fox News commentator Sean Hannity for Countdown with Keith Olbermann.[94]

In 2011, Cleese declared his appreciation for Britain’s coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, saying: “I think what’s happening at the moment is rather interesting. The Coalition has made everything a little more courteous and a little more flexible. I think it was quite good that the Liberal Democrats had to compromise a bit with the Tories.” He also criticised the previous Labour government, commenting: “Although my inclinations are slightly left-of-centre, I was terribly disappointed with the last Labour government. Gordon Brown lacked emotional intelligence and was never a leader.” Cleese also reiterated his support for proportional representation.[95]

In April 2011, Cleese said that he had declined a life peerage for political services in 1999. Outgoing leader of the Liberal Democrats Paddy Ashdown had put forward the suggestion shortly before stepping down, with the idea that Cleese would take the party whip and sit as a working peer, but the actor quipped that he “realised this involved being in England in the winter and I thought that was too much of a price to pay.” Cleese also declined a CBE title in 1996 as he thought, “they were silly.”[96]

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph in 2014, Cleese expressed political interest about the UK Independence Party, saying that although he was in doubt as to whether he was prepared to vote for it, he was attracted to its challenge to the established political order and the radicalism of its policies on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union. He expressed support for immigration, but also concern about the integration of immigrants into British culture.[97]

Talking to Der Spiegel in 2015, Cleese expressed a critical view on what he saw as a plutocracy that was unhealthily developing control of the governance of the First World’s societies, stating that he had reached a point when he “saw that our existence here is absolutely hopeless. I see the rich have got a stranglehold on us. If somebody had said that to me when I was 20, I would have regarded him as a left-wing loony.”[98]

In 2016, Cleese publicly supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union.[99] He tweeted: “If I thought there was any chance of major reform in the EU, I’d vote to stay in. But there isn’t. Sad.” Cleese said that “EU bureaucrats” had taken away “any trace of democratic accountability” and suggested they should “give up the euro, introduce accountability.”[100]

During then-Republican nominee Donald Trump’s run for the US Presidency in 2016, Cleese described Trump as “a narcissist, with no attention span, who doesn’t have clear ideas about anything and makes it all up as he goes along”.[101] He had previously described the leadership of the Republican Party as “the most cynical, most disgracefully immoral people I’ve ever come across in a Western civilisation”.[97]

In 2017, Cleese stated that he would not vote in that year’s general election because “I live in Chelsea and Kensington, so under our present system my vote is utterly worthless.”[102] In July 2018, Cleese said that he was leaving the UK to relocate to the Caribbean island of Nevis, partly over frustration around the standard of the Brexit debate, including “dreadful lies” by “the right” and a lack of reform regarding the press and the voting system.[103] He relocated to Nevis on 1 November 2018.[104]

In May 2019, Cleese repeated his previous statement that London was no longer an English city, saying “virtually all my friends from abroad have confirmed my observation. So there must be some truth in it… I note also that London was the UK city that voted most strongly to remain in the EU.” London Mayor Sadiq Khan responded, “These comments make John Cleese sound like he’s in character as Basil Fawlty. Londoners know that our diversity is our greatest strength. We are proudly the English capital, a European city and a global hub.” Cleese added, “I suspect I should apologise for my affection for the Englishness of my upbringing, but in some ways I found it calmer, more polite, more humorous, less tabloid, and less money-oriented than the one that is replacing it.”[105]

In 2020, Cleese opposed the BBC’s removal of the Fawlty Towers episode “The Germans” from the UKTV streaming service after protests following the murder of George Floyd, stating that the program was mocking prejudice with its use of a character who uttered racial slurs. “If they can’t see that, if people are too stupid to see that, what can one say,” said Cleese.[106] UKTV later restored the episode with a disclaimer about its content.[107]

In November 2021, Cleese protested against cancel culture by blacklisting himself over a Hitler impersonation controversy at the Cambridge Union.[108]

Anti-smoking campaign

In 1992, the UK Health Education Authority (subsequently the Health Development Agency, now merged into the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) recruited Cleese—an ex-smoker—to star in a series of anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs) on British television, which took the form of sketches rife with morbid humour about smoking and were designed to encourage adult smokers to quit.[109] In a controlled study of regions of central and northern England (one region received no intervention) the PSAs were broadcast in two regions, and one region received both the PSAs, plus locally organised anti-tobacco campaigning.[109] The study found that smokers in regions, where the PSAs were broadcast, were about half as likely to have quit at the 18-month follow-up point as those who did not see them, irrespective of the local anti-tobacco campaign.[109]

Personal life

Cleese met Connie Booth in the US and they married in 1968.[51] In 1971, Booth gave birth to their only child, Cynthia Cleese, who went on to appear with her father in his films A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures. With Booth, Cleese wrote the scripts for and co-starred in both series of Fawlty Towers, although the two were actually divorced before the second series was finished and aired. Cleese and Booth are said to have remained close friends since. Cleese has two grandchildren, Evan and Olivia, through Cynthia’s marriage to writer/director Ed Solomon. Cleese married American actress Barbara Trentham in 1981. Their daughter Camilla, Cleese’s second child, was born in 1984. He and Trentham divorced in 1990. During this time, Cleese emigrated to Los Angeles.

In 1992, he married American psychotherapist Alyce Faye Eichelberger. They divorced in 2008; the divorce settlement left Eichelberger with £12 million in finance and assets, including £600,000 a year for seven years. Cleese said, “What I find so unfair is that if we both died today, her children would get much more than mine … I got off lightly. Think what I’d have had to pay Alyce if she had contributed anything to the relationship—such as children, or a conversation”.[110]

Less than a year later, he returned to the UK, where he has property in London and a home on the Royal Crescent in Bath, Somerset.[111][112] In August 2012, Cleese married English jewellery designer and former model Jennifer Wade in a ceremony on the Caribbean island of Mustique.[113]

In an interview in 2014, Cleese blamed his mother, who lived to the age of 101, for his problems in relationships with women, saying: “My ingrained habit of walking on eggshells when dealing with my mother dominated my romantic liaisons for many years.” Cleese said that he had spent “a large part of my life in some form of therapy” over his relationships with women.[114]

In March 2015, in an interview with Der Spiegel, he was asked if he was religious. Cleese stated that he did not think much of organised religion and said he was not committed to “anything except the vague feeling that there is something more going on than the materialist reductionist people think”.[98]

Cleese has a passion for lemurs.[115][116] Following the 1997 comedy film Fierce Creatures, in which the ring-tailed lemur played a key role, he hosted the 1998 BBC documentary In the Wild: Operation Lemur with John Cleese, which tracked the progress of a reintroduction of black-and-white ruffed lemurs back into the Betampona Reserve in Madagascar. The project had been partly funded by Cleese’s donation of the proceeds from the London premier of Fierce Creatures.[116][117] Cleese said “I adore lemurs. They’re extremely gentle, well-mannered, pretty and yet great fun … I should have married one”.[115]

The Bemaraha woolly lemur (Avahi cleesei), also known as Cleese’s woolly lemur, is native to western Madagascar. The scientist who discovered the species named it after Cleese, mainly because of Cleese’s fondness for lemurs and his efforts at protecting and preserving them. The species was first discovered in 1990 by a team of scientists from Zurich University led by Urs Thalmann but was not formally described as a species until 11 November 2005.[118]

filmography

Honours and tributes

Scholastic

University Degrees

Location Date School Degree 1963 Downing College, Cambridge Law Degree

Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector, and fellowships

Location Date School Position 1970 – 1973 University of St Andrews Rector

Honorary Degrees

bibliography

Dialogues

See also

Remarks

references

Published works

Bryan Adams

Canadian musician

This article is about the singer. For other uses, see Bryan Adams (disambiguation)

Not to be confused with Ryan Adams

Bryan Guy Adams FRPS (born November 5, 1959) is a Canadian guitarist, singer, songwriter, composer and photographer. According to sources, Adams has sold either more than 75 million[2] or more than 100 million records and singles worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.[3][4][5] Adams was the most-played artist on Canadian radio in the 2010s[6] and had 25 top 15 singles in Canada and a dozen or more in the US, UK and Australia.

Adams joined his first band at the age of 15 and at the age of 20 his eponymous debut album was released. He rose to fame in North America with the 1983 top ten album Cuts Like a Knife, which contained the title track and ballad “Straight From the Heart,” his first US top ten hit. His 1984 Canadian and US number one album Reckless (which was certified as the first album by a Canadian in Canada to be certified diamond) made him hit with tracks like “Run to You” and “Summer of ’69”, both top, ten hits in the US and Canada and the power ballad “Heaven”, a US number one hit.[7] His 1987 album Into the Fire, featuring its US and Canadian top ten song “Heat of the Night”, climbed to number two in Canada and into the top ten in the US and several other countries.

In 1991 Adams released (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, which went to number one in at least 19 countries, including for 16 and 18 consecutive weeks in the UK and Europe combined, both records. It is one of the best-selling singles of all time, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide.[9] The song was included on Adams’ Waking Up the Neighbors (1991), a worldwide number one album that sold 16 million copies and was certified Diamond in Canada. Another big hit from the album was the Canadian number one and US number two hit “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started”, which also reached the top ten in several other countries. As of 1993, Adams’ hits were mostly ballads, including the worldwide number one or two hits “Please Forgive Me” (1993); “All for love” (1993); and “Have you ever really loved a woman?” (1995), the latter two topping the US Billboard Hot 100.[11] Adam’s 1993 greatest hits compilation album, So Far So Good, topped the charts in numerous countries and sold 13 million copies worldwide, including going 6x platinum in the US and 11x platinum in Australia excellent.

In 1996, Adams’ 18 til I Die was a Top 5 album in many countries but peaked at No. 31 only in the US. He performed duets with Barbra Streisand (“I Final Found Someone” (1996), his last US Top Ten hit) and Melanie C (“When You’re Gone” (1998), an international Top Five hit). For 32 weeks in the 1990s, Adams had six European radio airplay number one songs, fourth and third most, respectively; and three number one songs on the European sales chart for a total of 29 weeks, the most weeks by any artist.[12] Since 1999, Adams has released eight albums, three of which have reached number one in Canada and the last three have reached the top 3 in the UK, Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

In 2008, Adams was ranked number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 list of the top artists of all time. Among 15 Grammy nominations, Adams has won 20 Juno Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and three Academy Awards for his songwriting for films. Adams has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Canada’s Walk of Fame, the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame,[15][16] the Canadian Music Hall of Fame[17] and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame[4]. On May 1, 2010, Adams received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for his 30-year contributions to the arts.

Life and career[edit]

Early life[edit]

Bryan Adams was born on November 5, 1959 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada to Elizabeth Jane (née Watson) and Captain Conrad J. Adams,[19] who had emigrated to Canada from Plymouth, England in the 1950s.[ 21] Adams’ father, a Sandhurst officer in the British Army, joined the Canadian Army and later worked as a United Nations peacekeeping observer and Canadian field diplomat.[21] Adams traveled with his parents to diplomatic posts in Lisbon, Portugal (where he attended the American International School of Lisbon)[22] and Vienna, Austria (where he attended the American International School of Vienna) in the 1960s and to Tel Aviv , Israel in the early 1970s.[23][24]

Adams grew up in Ottawa and attended Colonel By Secondary School in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of East Ottawa. In 1974 Adams, his mother and younger brother Bruce moved to North Vancouver while his father was stationed overseas. There he attended Argyle Secondary School and Sutherland Secondary School.

Early career[edit]

Adams bought his first electric guitar at the age of 12 from Reading, an Italian brand from Gherson, based on a Fender Stratocaster.[28] In an interview with the music magazine Guitar World, Adams said:

“I bought a Les Paul imitation at a Five and Dime store in Ottawa, Canada, in 1971,” Adams recalls. “Before that I had a fake Strat that I bought in Reading, England in 1970.” Back then it felt real to own a Les Paul, although I’m a huge Ritchie Blackmore fan – still. I was very interested in Humble Pie’s Rockin’ the Fillmore album at the time, and both Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott were on Les Pauls. It’s rock guitar heaven, this album.”[29]

He dropped out of school to play in a group called “Shock” and used the funds his parents had saved for his college education to buy an Estey grand piano to tinker with.[30] He once sold pet food and worked as a dishwasher at a restaurant that paid the rent.[31][32] He joined various bands such as CCR and Deep Purple and attended concerts by Led Zeppelin, T. Rex, Elton John and Tina Turner. He began working in the Vancouver music scene with bands and as a studio session singer. At the age of 15 he became the lead singer in a pub band, Sweeney Todd.[33]

“I met Bryan Adams by chance in January 1978 at Long & McQuade, a music store in Vancouver. I was there with a musician friend of mine, Ali Monroe. She knew Bryan and she introduced us. We exchanged phone numbers, met a few days later and over the next eleven years he wrote dozens of songs for Bryan and a long list of recordings for other artists.” – Jim Vallance, recounts how they met Adams and how theirs collaboration began.[34]

Adams recorded “Roxy Roller” which debuted at #99 on the US charts.[35] This new incarnation of the band also released an album If Wishes Were Horses (1977) with Adams billed as “Bryan Guy Adams” on vocals. Adams left the band at the age of 16.[33] In 1978, at the age of 18, Adams met Jim Vallance through a mutual friend at a Vancouver Long and McQuade musical instrument shop. Vallance was the former drummer and primary songwriter for Vancouver-based rock band Prism and had recently left that band to pursue a recording and songwriting career. They agreed to meet at Vallance’s home studio a few days later. This proved to be the start of a partnership that was productive and continuous into the 1980s, together they wrote for Adams and a long list of recordings for other artists including Kiss, Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Johnny Hallyday, Bonnie Raitt, Rod Stewart, Bonnie Tyler, Loverboy, Carly Simon and Neil Diamond to name a few,[38] and although discontinuous, as of 2017, still exists.[39][40]

Later in 1978, Adams signed with A&M Records for a dollar. A&M remixed one of Adams’ demos as a disco song “Let Me Take You Dancing” with Adams’ vocals sped up to match the 122 BPM dance tempo. The song made the Canadian RPM Charts in March 1979 along with its B-side “Don’t Turn Me Away”.[42] In 1979 he struck an agreement with Canadian manager Bruce Allen, who was also working for Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Loverboy at the time, and remains his manager to this day.[43][44]

1980s[edit]

Adams’ self-titled debut album, largely co-written with Jim Vallance, was released in February 1980. With the exception of “Remember” and “Wastin’ Time”, most of the album was recorded at Manta Studios in October and November 1979 and co-produced by Adams and Vallance.[34] The album was certified Gold in Canada in 1986.[45] Singles released from it included “Give Me Your Love”, “Remember” and “Hidin’ from Love”, the latter having the greatest success, peaking at number 64 on Canada’s RPM Current Hit Radio chart; none reached the US Billboard Hot 100.

Adam’s second album, You Want It You Got It, was released in 1981 and featured the FM album-oriented rock radio hit “Lonely Nights”, which reached number three on the US Album Rock Tracks chart.[46] The same song was reinterpreted by Uriah Heep for the album Head First released in 1983. The album’s most successful song in Canada was “Fits Ya Good”, which reached the Top 30 on the RPM Top 40 Chart; it also peaked at number 15 on the US Albums Rock Tracks chart. From January to May 1982, Adams traveled for months on his “You Want It You Got It Tour”; Within months the album had been picked up in the United States and Adams was soon touring, giving club and lunchtime gigs for radio stations and supporting acts like The Kinks and Foreigner.

Cuts Like a Knife, released in January 1983, was Adams’ breakout album.[50] “Straight from the Heart” was the first single released from the album; it peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 20 on the Canadian RPM Top 40 chart, and number one on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart. In September 1983, Bonnie Tyler released her version for the studio album Faster Than the Speed ​​of Night.[54] The second single “Cuts Like a Knife” peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, #6 on the US Album Rock Tracks chart[55] and #12 on the Canadian RPM Top 40 chart. The third single “This Time” was also a Top 30 hit in the US and Canada. Overseas, the latter two singles were both top 20 hits in New Zealand, but there was little success elsewhere, apart from “Straight From the Heart” and “This Time” reaching the top 50 in the UK. Three other tracks, “Take Me Back”, “I’m Ready” and “The Only One” also received airplay on North American rock radio stations and each made the US Albums Rock Tracks chart. The album peaked at number eight on both the Billboard 200 albums chart[56] and in Canada, and achieved three-time platinum status in Canada, platinum status in the United States, and gold status in Australia.[45][51][57] In August, Adams began recording his third album at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver.

In October, Adams performed with Jim Vallance at the Yamaha Music Festival in Japan. In December 1982, Captain Annan, Bryan Adams and Loverboy played at the Los Angeles Forum in California.[49] Music Express, the national opinion poll, voted him Canada’s top male singer in 1982. In March 1983, Adams traveled to America, opening for Journey and performing over 100 dates in five months. Adams was on “American Bandstand”.[49] In April 1983, a breather in the program is used to shoot a video for the third single “This Time” at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The video was directed by Steve Barron with photographs by László Kovács.[49] In May 1983, he briefly paused touring with Journey to headline The Bottom Line club in New York City.[49] In the audience were Mick Jagger, Nils Lofgren, Rick Nielson (Cheap Trick), Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and John McEnroe.[49] He was joined on stage by Paul Dean of Loverboy, John Waite and Rick Derringer.[49] On July 30, 1983, he appeared on Day on the Green, sharing the stage with Journey, Triumph, Eddie Money and Night Ranger.

In August 1983 Adams’ tour with Journey ended and in September 1983 Adams performed with Supertramp in front of over 30,000 Vancouver fans at BC Place. In the months that followed, he performed in eleven countries on a six-week solo tour of Europe. In Germany he records the popular rock TV show “Rockpalast”.[49] In November 1983 Adams is on tour in Japan and has performed 283 concerts by the end of the year. A&M released the film soundtrack of the album “A Night in Heaven” with the power ballad “Heaven”[49] on it. “Heaven” peaked at number 9 on the US AOR Rock Tracks chart and became the title of a “SOR” tour of western Canada.[49] As of December 1983, his numerous music industry awards for the year include: Best Selling New Artist (The National Association of Record Merchandisers), number two for AOR Male Artist (The Album Network), and number three Most Played Albums AOR (Radio & Records), as and the Juno Awards for Best Male Vocalist.[49] In January 1984 Adams and Vallance began writing for the next album, while in February 1984 Adams toured Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii with The Police.

The album Reckless was released in late 1984 and peaked at number one on both the Billboard 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart, while peaking at number two in Australia and number seven in the UK. The album contained six singles: “Run to You”, “Somebody”, “Heaven”, “Summer of ’69”, “One Night Love Affair” and “It’s Only Love”, a duet with the female star and “Queen” . of rock ‘n’ roll” Tina Turner.[61][62] All six singles peaked in the top 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100, only the third album to do so,[62] featuring rockers “Run to You” (number six) and “Summer of ’69” (number five) made the top ten and the ballad “Heaven” reached number one. “Run To You” was the most successful single on album-oriented rock channels in the US since it hit four weeks at the top of the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart; “Somebody” peaked at number one on that chart for a single week; while “It’s Only Love” and “One Light Love Affair” each rose to number 7. “Summer of ’69” had received a small amount of airplay upon the album’s initial release, making it out of the question for re-charting on the mainstream rock track chart when it was released as a single in the summer of 1985.

“Heaven” (1985) Reckless by Adams in 1984. It was released as Reckless’ third single and reached number one in the US. Recorded in 1983, written by Adams and Jim Vallance, it was later included on Adams’ 1984 album and was released as the third single and peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 in June 1985. Problems playing this file? See media help.

“Run To You” was Reckless’ biggest hit in Canada, peaking at number four, with “Summer of ’69” and “Heaven” both peaking at #11, “Somebody” peaking at #13, “It’s Only Love” peaking at #14, and “One Night Love Affair” peaked at number 19. “Summer of 69” also reached the top ten in New Zealand and Norway, and the top 20 in Sweden, Australia and Austria, but only peaked at number 42 in the UK and number 62 in West Germany. Adams has stated that “Summer of ’69” was not a success when it was originally released in the UK because British radio stations did not add it to their playlists like “Run To You”. However, it gained popularity over time, going platinum (600,000) in UK sales in 2019, and its Spotify streams totaled 280 million in 2019, double that of “(Everything I Do) I Do.” For you”. 63] In the Netherlands, it reached its maximum popularity in 1990 when it peaked at number 4 on the Dutch Singles Chart in 17 weeks[64] and peaked at number 8 on the Belgian chart.[65]

“It’s Only Love” was nominated for a 1986 Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. In 1986, the song won an MTV award for Best Stage Performance. Reckless also earned Adams a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Performance. In December 1984, Adams embarked on a two-year world tour to release the album, beginning in Canada and the United States, then to Japan, Australia, back to the UK where he supported Tina Turner for her Private Dancer Tour and once again to Canada. After winning four Juno Awards, he made his way south towards America’s West Coast, culminating with two dates at the Paladium in Los Angeles do so while achieving 5× and 3× platinum in the US and UK . Reckless has sold over 12 million copies worldwide and won the Juno Award for Album of the Year.[69]

1985 was an intense and demanding year. On February 10th he recorded the Northern Lights single “Tears Are Not Enough”, an impromptu supergroup featuring Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and other Canadian artists. Adams was the author of the lyrics and the album, the mission was to raise funds to help the Ethiopian famine of 1983-85.[70] The song was released as a single by Columbia Records in March of that year and quickly reached number one on the Canadian Top 40 chart. It also charted at number one on the Canadian year-end chart in 1985. The song’s video also aired extensively on MuchMusic. The turnout was incredible: the single immediately went triple platinum,[72] although recorded independently by the USA for Africa project, it was included on the full We Are the World album. On July 13, Adams attended the Live Aid concert from Philadelphia. He took the stage at JFK Stadium to a crowd of over 100,000 and the band played “Kids Wanna Rock”, “Summer Of ’69” and “Cuts Like A Knife” before concluding with “Tears Are Not Enough”.[74] Bryan Adams sang a small passage of this song on Live 8 in Barrie during All For Love.

In September 1985, Adams was working on Roger Daltrey’s sixth solo album, Under a Raging Moon. The album was a tribute to Keith Moon, drummer for The Who who died in 1978.[76] Adams co-wrote two tracks for the album: “Let Me Down Easy” and “Rebel”. The track “Let Me Down Easy” was a Top 15 hit on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks. Almost 30 years later, Adams released his own version of “Let Me Down Easy” on a 30th anniversary release of Reckless.

In January 1986, Adams provided closing backing vocals for Canadian rock band Glass Tiger’s song “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)” for their debut album The Thin Red Line. It reached number one in Canada and number two in the United States.[80]

His follow-up album to Reckless was Into the Fire (1987). This album included the hits “Heat of the Night,” which topped the top ten in both Canada and the US, and “Hearts on Fire.”[81] In December 1987, Adams contributed the song “Run Rudolph Run” to the album A Very Special Christmas benefiting Special Olympics. The album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping four million copies in the United States. [83] It is the 19th best-selling Christmas/holiday album in the US during the SoundScan era. 2,520,000 copies were sold. [84] In May 1988, Tommy Mandel joined the Adams band as the new keyboard player. A last minute hometown performance was scheduled for 86 Street Music Hall on the 24th and tickets sold out within 7 minutes of going on sale. Jon Bon Jovi and David Bryan took the stage and performed “Born to Be Wild” together. Adams donated all proceeds to leukemia research at a presentation at British Columbia Children’s Hospital.[49] In June 1989 he collaborated with famed producer/composer Robert John “Mutt” Lange at London’s Olympic Studios to write more material for the forthcoming LP. Bryan attended a press conference on June 8 to launch the North American release of Rainbow Warriors and also joined artists to re-record the classic Deep Purple hit “Smoke On The Water” for Armenian earthquake victims. [49] In July 1989, Adams returned to Vancouver’s Little Mountain Sound Studios to record more songs for the LP with Bob Clearmountain. Adams and Keith Scott attended the banquet at David Foster’s famous softball tournament in Victoria, BC. – an annual fundraiser for kidney research.[49] In August 1989, he recorded backup vocals for the song “Whatever It Takes” by Belinda Carlisle from the Runaway Horses album. During this time, Adams also contributed to Mötley Crüe’s work on the album Dr. Feelgood by covering backing vocals on “Sticky Sweet” and Charlie Sexton backing vocals on “Don’t Look Back” from Charlie Sexton’s album ][86] In October 1989, Adams performed two clubs on October 18th and 19th -Benefit concerts at 86 Street Music Hall in Vancouver. “A Night for the Environment” raised $40,000.00 for four local environmental groups. Bryan is nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Performance (Music) for the CBS television special “Live In Belgium.”[49] In November 1989, Adams flew to London, England on the 18th to conduct press interviews for the upcoming New Year’s Eve shows in Japan. He resumes writing material for the album with Mutt Lange and attends Tina Turner’s 50th birthday party at London’s prestigious Reform Club.

In December 1989 the long-awaited first live LP was released. Entitled Live! Live! Live! was recorded live at the Rock Werchter Festival on July 3, 1988 in Werchter, Belgium. Adams returned to Little Mountain Sound Studios mid-month to record more material for the next album. The release date is tentatively set for April 1990.

1990s[edit]

Adams in 1990

Adams, along with Don Henley, Huey Lewis, Michael Monroe, and Loudness, kicked off the ’90s with two New Year’s Eve shows on December 31 and January 1 at Japan’s 70,000-seat Tokyo Dome.[49] He promptly returns to the London studios for continued album production and is optimistic about a very busy new decade. In February 1990, Adams and his guitarist and Keith Scott fly to Los Angeles on February 21st to attend Grammy Week Live – a collection of 15 radio stations broadcast live from the Roosevelt Hotel. On the 23rd, Bryan performed a special show on the A&M Charlie Chapman stage for executives at the Radio Pollack Media Convention.[49]

In the spring of 1990, Adams presented Alannah Myles with “Album of the Year” at Canada’s Juno Awards on the 18th in Toronto. He returned to London and joined Eric Carmen in the studio to record backing vocals for “Feels Like Forever”, a song written by Adams for Eric’s then forthcoming LP. Production on the Adams project continued at Mutt Lange in England for the next two months. In June 1990, at a ceremony in Victoria on June 21, he received the prestigious Order Of British Columbia Award.[49] On June 28 he performed at two European festivals in Midfyns and Rosskilde, Denmark.[87]

Other top performers included fellow Canadian Jeff Healey, Little Feat and Bob Dylan.[49] Adams added vocal tracks to David Foster’s “River Of Love” tune in his home studio in Vancouver. On August 17, 1990, Adams headlined “Live At The Park,” an outdoor festival in Calgary, Alberta. Also on the bill were The Pursuit of Happiness and Vancouver’s Paul Laine. Over 27,000 fans attended the festival.[49] Tour photographer Andrew Catlin was in town for photo sessions with Bryan and the band for the upcoming album and Much Music is interviewing him for a special artist of the decade. Internationally, the 1985 LP “Reckless” and the single “Summer of ’69” climbed to number 10 and number 4 in the Dutch charts, respectively.[49]

In September 1990, Adams sang the national anthem to officially start the first Molson Indy Vancouver of Vancouver race, which took place on September 2nd.[49] He received the Humanitarian Award of the Year from the Local Maple Ridge Hospital Foundation, but was unable to attend the 29th awards gala as Adams and the band were en route to South America for a three-day celebration of freedom.[49] They perform in Chile on September 28 at the huge 55,000-seat Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos in Santiago, then headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina the next day to perform at the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti alongside David Bowie and Mick Taylor local press celebrated its performance as a classic, hard-hitting rock ‘n’ roll show. It has conquered a relatively unknown market.[49] In December 1990, recording in England continued for most of the month. Adams returned home for vacation with family and friends. Live! Live! Live! was certified Gold in Japan, commemorating sales of over 50,000 units.[49]

In early 1991, Adams returned to London on the sixth to mix with Mutt Lange. The release date for Waking Up The Neighbors was scheduled for late April. European festival dates were announced with ZZ Top in June.[49] Recording and mixing continued in London through February and March 1991. The Law recorded “Nature Of The Beast” – a tune written by Adams and Vallance. Adams joins them in the studio to borrow vocals and guitar tracks. In April 1991, Adams and Mutt Lange wrote and recorded “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” for the Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves soundtrack.[49] In May 1991, directed by Julien Temple, the video for the song was filmed on May 17th and 18th in Sheffield, England. Rehearsals for the next European tour began with ZZ Top. In June 1991, a video for the first single album Can’t Stop This Thing We Started was filmed at Pinewood Studios in London, directed by Kevin Godley. On the 8th Adams started the headlining tour at the “Jubeck Festival” in Germany.[49] On the 17th he performed a private show for a personal service recently returned from the Gulf War at the Canadian Forces base in Baden Baden, Germany.

On September 24, 1991, the album Waking Up the Neighbors was released. Co-produced by Adams and Robert John “Mutt” Lange, it topped the charts around the world including the UK, Canada, Australia and Germany and peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. It was Adams’ second album to be charted in Canada was certified Diamond in sales while being certified 5× Platinum in the US. It sold 16 million copies worldwide.[10] Waking up the Neighbors was the first album by a Canadian since Neil Young’s 1972 Harvest to top the UK Albums Chart. Ironically, however, the album was released in Canada amid a storm of controversy. The album is also known to have caused controversy in Canada due to the Canadian content system. This indicated that a certain percentage of Canadian music must be broadcast on Canadian radio and television broadcasts. Because Waking Up the Neighbors was largely recorded in England and co-produced by Robert John “Mutt” Lange (originally from Zambia), the album and its songs were not thoughtful purely Canadian productions by the rules in place up to 1991] The album reached the peak of the Canadian charts.[90] Following Adams’ complaints, the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced in September of that year that Canada’s content rules would be expanded. The old arrangement of co-writing between Canadians and non-Canadians, where the lyricist and music composer worked separately. In September 1991, the rule was tweaked to recognize unions in which two (or more) contributors each contributed to both lyrics and music, as was the case with Adams and Lange. In protest, Adams briefly threatened to boycott Canada’s annual Juno Awards, where his album ended up being almost completely ignored by the awards committee. He ended up winning the Juno International Achievement Award, Canadian Entertainer of the Year (audience vote), and Producer of the Year Awards.[91]

The album’s first single was the number one song worldwide, the six-and-a-half-minute “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” which was featured in the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. [92] Everything I Do was released internationally on June 12, days after the film’s premiere, with the initial shipment of 385,000 copies being the largest single shipment in A&M Records history. Während der Film das achtbeste Debütwochenende der Filmgeschichte verzeichnete, debütierte die Single auf Platz eins in allen Radioformaten, von Rock bis zu zeitgenössischen Hits.[49] Diese Rockballade verbrachte rekordverdächtige 16 aufeinanderfolgende Wochen auf Platz eins der britischen Single-Charts, zehn Wochen an der Spitze der australischen Single-Charts, neun Wochen an der Spitze der kanadischen Single-Charts und sieben Wochen auf dem Gipfel der Billboard-Single-Charts, seinem zweite Nummer eins in dieser Tabelle. Das Lied brachte ihm auch seine erste Nominierung für den Golden Globe Award als bester Filmsong ein.[93] Nachfolgende Singles waren das mittelschnelle “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started”, das in den USA auf Platz zwei kulminierte, die Ballade “Do I Have to Say the Words?” die in den USA Platz 11 erreichte, und in Großbritannien war “Thought I’d Died and Gone to Heaven” die zweiterfolgreichste Single, da sie ihren Höhepunkt auf Platz 8 erreichte. In Kanada erreichten die ersten drei dieser Singles jeweils die Nummer eins in der Canadian Singles Chart, während letzteres und der Rocker „There Will Never Be Another Tonight“ auf Platz 2 landeten. Das Album gewann viele Auszeichnungen, darunter 1991 einen Grammy Award für den besten Song, der speziell für einen Film oder für das Fernsehen geschrieben wurde. 51][94] Im Juli 1992 trat Adams im Wembley-Stadion vor 80.000 Fans auf, dem größten Publikum auf seiner Tour, wobei Little Angels und Extreme als Vorband fungierten. Adams trat zum ersten Mal überhaupt in Ungarn und der Türkei auf. Ein Teil des Videos zu „Do I Have To Say The Words“ unter der Regie von Anton Corbijn wurde im İnönü-Stadion gedreht, wo das erste Konzert in der Geschichte des Stadions mit über 40.000 Zuschauern in der Stadt stattfand Istanbul und in Island.[49]

1993 arbeitete Adams mit Rod Stewart und Sting für die Single “All for Love” zusammen, die von Adams für den Soundtrack des Films The Three Musketeers mitgeschrieben wurde. Die Single führte die Charts weltweit an.[96][97] Am 15. Juni 1993 betrat Adams zusammen mit einigen Rock- und Blueslegenden wie Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Ray Charles und Ella Fitzgerald die Bühne des Apollo Theatre in Harlem, um dem großen Soul-Meister Sam Cooke Tribut zu zollen. Während der Gala wurde er von Smokey Robinson für ein Duett von Bring It On Home to Me auf der Bühne begleitet. Im November 1993 veröffentlichte Adams ein Kompilationsalbum mit dem Titel So Far So Good, das in zahlreichen Ländern wie Großbritannien, Kanada, Deutschland und Australien erneut die Charts anführte. Es wurde in den USA, Großbritannien, Kanada und Australien mit 6×, 3×, 6× bzw. 11× Platin ausgezeichnet.[99] Es enthielt einen neuen Song namens “Please Forgive Me”, der in Australien, Kanada und Großbritannien zu einer weiteren Nummer-1-Single wurde und in den USA Platz sieben erreichte (obwohl er Platz eins in der Adult Contemporary Chart erreichte).

1994 unternahm Adams eine lange Tournee, die ihn nach Südostasien führte, während der er der erste westliche Künstler war, der in Vietnam auftrat, seit James Brown dort 1971 am Ende des Krieges spielte.[100] Adams was also invited to participate in another important musical event: the Elvis Aaron Presley – The Tribute concert, held in Memphis in homage to the king of rock ‘n’ roll Elvis Presley. During the evening, which included dozens of exponents of the most varied musical genres, including Jeff Beck, Jerry Lee Lewis, Michael Bolton, Paul Rodgers, Melissa Etheridge, he sang one of his favorite songs: “Hound Dog”.[101] In September 1994, he was invited by Luciano Pavarotti to participate in the benefit concert Pavarotti & Friends. The concert took place in Modena at the “Parco di Piazza D’Armi Novi Sad”. They performed with Andreas Vollenweider, Nancy Gustafson, Giorgia and Andrea Bocelli. A compilation album and DVD were released under London Records (now Decca Records) and have sold around 1 million copies worldwide.[102] Adams on that occasion sang songs from his repertoire “Please Forgive Me”, “All for Love” featuring Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Nancy Gustafson, and Giorgia Todrani. Michael Kamen, who co-wrote the song with Adams, conducted the orchestra, engaging in a duet with “Maestro Pavarotti”, singing in Neapolitan “‘O sole mio”,[103] to conclude the concert with “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” with all the artists and singers present at the evening.[104]

It was followed in 1995 by “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?”. It was a number one in the US, Canada and Australia, as well as a top five hit in the UK and Germany.[105] The single was nominated for the Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.[106][107][108]

In June 1996, the album 18 til I Die was released. It contained three singles (including two UK top ten singles): “The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You”,[109] “Let’s Make a Night to Remember” (both reached number one in Canada),[110] and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?”.[111] The album features the single “Star”. The song is included in the soundtrack of the film Jack; directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with Robin Williams.[112] The film co-stars Diane Lane, Jennifer Lopez, Fran Drescher, Bill Cosby and Brian Kerwin.[113] The album reached the top spot on the UK charts for Adams’s third UK number one album[114] in a row while also reaching the top ten in several other countries, such as No. 2 in Australia and No. 4 in Canada.[115] The album was less successful in the US only reaching No. 31 on the Billboard 200, but was certified platinum in the United States by the RIAA.[116] 18 til I Die was certified three times platinum in Canada and Australia and two times platinum in the UK.[45][57][117] In November 1996, “I Finally Found Someone” was released is a song recorded by Bryan Adams and the American singer Barbra Streisand. The song was part of the soundtrack of Streisand’s self-directed film The Mirror Has Two Faces and was nominated for an Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.[118]

In November 1997, he participated in writing the song Let’s Talk About Love by Celine Dion, which became one of the best-selling albums in history.[119] The song is by the French singer-songwriter and record producer of 1987’s Jean-Jacques Goldman “Puisque tu pars”, the song was recorded with English lyrics by Adams and Eliot Kennedy as “Let’s Talk About Love”.[120] In 1999, a demo version of Adams’ translation appeared on the single CD “Cloud Number Nine” in 1999. 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 song from the album Cuts Like A Knife. The album was a top ten success in Germany while both singles reached the top 20 in the UK.[121]

On a Day Like Today was released in 1998 and the release coincided with his contract being sold to Interscope Records. On a Day Like Today enjoyed success internationally, entering the top five in Germany and Canada and was certified platinum in the UK. It generated two British top ten singles: “Cloud Number Nine” and “When You’re Gone”, which featured Melanie C of the Spice Girls and peaked at No. 3.[122] The song has sold 830,000 combined equivalent-sales in the UK as of May 2019.[123]

To commemorate the millennium, Adams released The Best of Me, his most comprehensive collection of songs at that time, which included two new songs, the title track “The Best of Me” and the UK number one track “Don’t Give Up”.[124] The album reached the top ten 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, the single peaked at 10 on the Canadian Singles Chart on January 24, 2000.[125] On November 26, 1999, he participated as a guest in the celebration of Tina Turner’s 60th birthday. It was recorded in London and after 14 years, Tina once again performed with Adams the songs “It’s Only Love” and the new song “Without You” on Tina’s album Twenty Four Seven, Adams guests on both the title track and “Without You”. A DVD Celebrate! Of the evening was released November 21, 2000 Celebrate! – 60th Birthday Special.[126] On the night between December 31, 1999, and January 1, 2000, at Bell Center in Montreal in front of 20,000 people, Adams participated in Celine Dion’s “Millennium Concert”, to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium. In the evening, at the entrance to the stage he sang “Summer of ’69”, then he duet with Celine Dion in the songs “It’s Only Love”, “When You’re Gone” and concluded with” (Everything I Do) I Do It for You “.[127]

2000s [edit]

In October 2000, Adams participated at Madison Square Garden in the concert of Elton John from which the CD and DVD Elton John One Night Only – The Greatest Hits is released. The CD, the result of two evenings (in spite of the title, which means One Night Only), contains the most popular songs by Elton John performed live, chosen from those performed during the two concerts (therefore it does not contain the full track-list). Many of these are actually duets between the rock star and other famous names in the world music scene: Adams duets with Elton John on the track Sad Songs.[128] On August 26, 2000, he performed at the Slane Festival in front of over 70,000 people, with special appearances by Melanie C, Chicane and Davy Spillane. The concert was also released on CD/DVD.[129] On November 27 of the same year, Adams took part in the benefit concert Live at the Royal Albert Hall organized by The Who (but also open to several other artists), singing a song by the English band, Behind Blue Eyes and See Me, Feel Me with Eddie Vedder. The concert was also released on CD as Live at the Royal Albert Hall.[130] Adams co-wrote and performed the songs for the DreamWorks animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron in 2002. The songs were included on the film’s soundtrack. The most successful single from the soundtrack was “Here I Am”, a British top five and German Top 20 hit. The song also gave him his fourth Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Song from a Motion Picture.[131]

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-10 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.[132] While touring in North America to promote the album, Adams shared the stage for about 25 concert tours with Def Leppard, giving meaning to the phrase “Take me out to the ball game” completely new as co-headliner of the “Rock ‘N Roll Double-Header Tour”. He joined for the first time and performed at 26 minor league baseball parks.[133]

“Tonight’s inductee into the Hall of Fame is fantastic and I love him very much and he just hugged me backstage, which was, to be honest, arousing. He has played in over 72 countries [wow] and played for over 8 people. Oh 88 million people with sales of so many albums, you couldn’t fit them in Canada. He is a Grammy, Juno, American Music Award, People Magazine, Oscar winner, Golden Globe Nominee, an officer of Canadian Customs [oh no!] The Order of Canada. He’s pretty amazing, that’s the point of this Wait, wait, wait… Any great thing, like Live8 or Live Aid, he’s always there. He’s a crucial part of it and that’s kind of all I’ve got to say about him. He’s fantastic. He’s a National Treasure for you and for the whole world, really and whenever there’s a Canadian flag waving, he’s proud to say he’s part of that community. He’s Bryan Adams and that’s all there is to know about him… The newest addition to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame is Bryan Adams.” —Chris Martin, introducing Adams to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, April 2006.[134]

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. In April 2006, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Also in 2006, Adams co-wrote the Grammy Award-winning gospel song “Never Gonna Break My Faith”[135] for Aretha Franklin. It was featured in the film Bobby as a duet by Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige with the Boys Choir of Harlem and earned him a Golden Globe Nomination in 2007.[136] On July 31 of the same year, together with Billy Joel, he performed in a free concert with an estimated crowd of over 500,000 people in Rome at Via dei Fori Imperiali, with the Colosseum as a background.[137] To open the concert, Adams with “So Far So Good”, then after about an hour it was Joel’s turn to take the stage. At the end the two artists gave the audience three encores, performing together for the first time: “You May Be Right”, “Cuts Like a Knife” and “Piano Man”.[138]

In May 2007, on the occasion of his 25th concert at the Wembley Arena, he received the “Wembley Square Of Fame” at the plaque in the Square of Fame. A bronze plaque engraved with the name and handprints. The place to celebrate the most famous and beloved artists who have made their mark on stage here over the years is located at Wembley Park in London.[139] Adams has performed on several occasions at Wembley Park, 4 times at Wembley Stadium in 1988 (Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute), 1992 (Waking Up the World Tour), 1996 (18 til I Die Tour), and 1999 (NetAid). At Wembley Arena he performed 28 times, first on March 14, 1985, in support of Tina Turner. To date, 32 dates have taken place between “Wembley Stadium” and” Wembley Arena”.[140]

In 2007, he co-wrote two songs “A Place for Us” and “Another Layer” for the Disney film Bridge to Terabithia.[141]

Adams released his eleventh album internationally on March 17, 2008. It is called 11. The album was released in the US at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club retail stores on May 13, 2008.[142] 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.[143] 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.[51] Following the release of the album, the full-band tour starts during the summer: on some dates in the United States he shares the stage with the rock band Foreigner and in others with his friend Rod Stewart.[144]

Adams was one of four musicians who were pictured on the second series of the Canadian Recording Artist Series to be issued by Canada Post stamps on July 2, 2009.[145] The total estimated number of Adams stamps that were printed is one and one-half million.[146]

On June 26, 2009, he performed on an episode of CMT Crossroads with Jason Aldean, among the song repertoire of the two singers: “Heaven”, “Summer of ’69”, “Johnny Cash”, “She’s Country”, “Hicktown”, “Run to You” to name a few.[147] One of the many highlights from the concert was “Heaven.” Aldean pours his heart out singing lead on the song and Adams supports on harmonies during the chorus.[148]

In December 2009, he co-wrote, produced, and performed the song “You’ve Been a Friend to Me” for the film Old Dogs.[149]

2010s[edit]

In February 2010, Adams released “One World, One Flame”. On February 12, 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 Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. The ceremony was held indoors at BC Place Stadium.[150]

Adams was one of several 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 copyright laws;[151] instead, Harper turned it into an informal “jam session”.[152]

In November 2010, Adams released the acoustic album Bare Bones. It is a live project consisting of twenty songs, to celebrate thirty years of career. The album is the result of two and a half years of acoustic concerts all sold out, offered mainly in many US city theaters in 2010. The booklet shows the recordings made on the dates of Concord, Providence, Binghamton, Orono and Williamsport. To accompany the singer-songwriter on the piano, appears the member of his band Gary Breit. Following the acoustic album, a long tour entitled “The Bare Bones Tour” is organized; has continuity with the previous 11 Tour/Acoustic Show took place in territories around the world, which began in February 2010 and ended in October 2014 for a total of 326 dates. It was certified gold in India a year later.[153]

On February 19, 2011, Adams and his band played in Kathmandu, which was organized by ODC Network and made him the first international artist to perform in Nepal.[154] He performed at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup on February 17, 2011, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.[155] and also performed in a solo concert in the next day.[156] In August 2013, Live at Sydney Opera House was released; it was recorded during one of the 3 nights at Sydney Opera House, in August 2011, during “The Bare Bones Tour”.[157] It is available as a CD / DVD set or separately as a CD, DVD or Blu-ray.[158] In April 2013, To Be Loved, the new album by Michael Bublé, is released. The tracklist includes “After All”, one of four original tracks, written by Bryan Adams, Alan Chang, Steven Sater and Jim Vallance, which sees the crooner duet with Adams, his countryman as well as an idol since childhood.[159]

In an interview on March 18, 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 September 30, 2014, Adams released a new album titled Tracks of My Years. The album reached number one on the Canadian album chart. The album contains cover songs and one original song co-written with Jim Vallance.[160] 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 March 2, 2015.[161]

Adams released his first album of all new material in seven years on October 16, 2015. The album, titled Get Up, was co-written with Jim Vallance and produced by Jeff Lynne. On September 7, 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.[162] On December 31, 2015, he performed at the Central Hall Westminster in London for the BBC’s New Year’s Eve, which was broadcast live on BBC One.[163] The concert was divided into two parts, interrupted at the stroke of midnight by traditional fireworks was seen and was seen by about 12 million spectators in Great Britain.[164] On October 14, 2016, as announced by Adams himself in his channels during the summer, the Wembley 1996 DVD was released. This is the recording of his concert, as part of the 18 Til I die tour, held on July 27, 1996, at London’s Wembley Stadium, in front of over 70,000 spectators[165] The DVD immediately leaps to the top of the British industry charts.[166]

On September 21, 2017, Adams announced via social media his release of a new compilation album, Ultimate, with two new songs “Please Stay” and the anti-war themed “Ultimate Love”, on November 3, 2017.[167] Bryan Adams performed “the Ultimate tour” during the year 2018. He toured Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe, the US, and Canada. He also brought the ultimate tour 2018 to India in the month of October 2018,[168] where he performed at Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi.[169]

Adams with longtime guitarist Keith Scott,on the Get Up Tour 2017

Adams and his music are popular in India, where he is a household name for three generations of people,[170] and many people say the first few English phrases mastered by many young Indians are “It was the summer of ’69” and “Everything I do, I do it for you.”[171] Many music industry executives have said Adams is the most-known foreign music artist in India, with a Universal Music India executive saying in 2011, “The only other performer who comes close is Enrique Iglesias. Bryan is huge.[171][172] He was one of the first foreigners to stage a large-scale concert in India in the early 1990s, and he has returned to tour India several times.[171] Adams was on the cover of the September 2018 issue of Rolling Stone India, within which they printed an interview with him; the article stated that Adams is “one rock legend whose concerts have created mass frenzy every single time in every single city he’s played” in India.[173] It is also reported that “Summer of ’69” has been so popular in India for so long that it is “almost a Hindi song now”, often the only “western” song that might be allowed to be played at a traditional Indian wedding.[171] One Indian writer wrote “From wedding parties to school farewells, in every gathering of people intoxicated beyond a certain level comes a time when someone slips on ‘Summer of ’69’. I’ll bet you my Aadhaar number that as that song builds, there’ll come a point where everyone in the room is triumphantly pumping their fists in the air and screaming, ‘Those were the BEST DAYS of my life!'”[170]

In August 2018, Adams performed a duet version of “Summer of ’69” with Taylor Swift during her Reputation Tour in Toronto, Canada.[174][175] Adams released his fourteenth album Shine A Light on March 1, 2019. The album features collaborations with Ed Sheeran and Jennifer Lopez.[176][177] The album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart,[178] in the first week of its release, with 44,000 copies sold; its previous number one in Canada going back to the Tracks of My Years album released in October 2014. This was his 11th album in the top ten and the fifth album at the top of the Canadian charts.[178] It reached the second position in the UK Albums Chart,[179] and it was his tenth album to enter the UK Top-10 albums chart.[179] It also debuted in second position in Switzerland, which was his 15th album to enter the top ten of the Swiss charts;[180] second position in Austria;[181] second position in the New Zealand charts; and the third position in Germany.[182][183] Shine a Light was certified gold in Canada,[184] and it won the Juno Award for “Best Adult Contemporary Album” in 2020.[185] On June 19, 2020, on the 155th anniversary of the end of Slavery in the United States, the unreleased solo version of “Never Gonna Break My Faith” by Aretha Franklin was released with the participation of RCA Records, RCA Inspiration and Legacy Recordings, featuring a music video that contained contemporary topics, including films about George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.[186]

Adams, while writing this song, did not think it would be performed by Aretha. He conceived something like a hymn and “so that it can express a sense of faith, and that even if you have lost something, there will always be an inner light to guide you.” However, then Adams said:

“When the song was ready, I told the producers that Aretha was going to sing it – and she did. This solo version had been on my computer for years (about 15 years), and when I heard that the creative director of Sony Music, longtime producer and friend of Aretha’s Clive Davis, was making a movie about his life, I sent him this version. The world hadn’t heard her full performance yet and it really needed to be heard. I’m so glad it’s being released, the world needs this right now.”[186]

Adams during the “So Happy It Hurts Tour 2022” at the Hallenstadion in Zurich

Adams was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[187] Adams told the Times that he had asked Universal for access to the master tapes for Reckless in 2013 while working on a remastered edition of the album, but had been told that the tapes could not be found.[187] Adams eventually located a safety copy of the album to use on the remaster, and was not made aware of the fire until the Times’ initial report on June 1.[187] On November 15, 2019, Adams released an EP dedicated to Christmas. The Christmas EP contains five tracks, the new track “Joe and Mary” and three previously released tracks: “Christmas Time”, “Reggae Christmas” and “Merry Christmas”; and a new interpretation of “Must Be Santa”, a 1960s Christmas song, performed in 2009 by Bob Dylan.[188] At the end of November 2019, the album The Christmas Present by the British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams is released, Adams participates in the duet with Williams in the song Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).[189]

2020s [edit]

On November 13, 2020, Adams was featured on “Stop Crying Your Heart Out” as part of the BBC Radio 2’s Allstars’ Children in Need charity single.[190] The single debuted at number seven on the Official UK Singles Chart[191] and number one on both the Official UK Singles Sales Chart and the Official UK Singles Download Chart.[192] On December 7, 2020, Adams announced a series of UK concerts following the long hiatus of the “Shine a Light Tour” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of a sold out 17-date tour with Bon Jovi in US arenas.[193]

In July 2021, Adams signed a deal with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) to release his next album.[194]

On October 11, 2021, Adams released the title track of his 15th studio album, So Happy It Hurts. The album was released in March 2022. Adams also announced dates for a worldwide tour starting in February 2022.[195]

On December 17, 2021, Adams announced the cancellation of all remaining tours and concerts for the year, including his New Year’s Eve show in Vancouver, due to both concerns and restrictions due to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.[196]

On February 15, 2022, through his official instagram profile, he announced the publication on his official YouTube channel of new versions of the 16 songs of Pretty Woman: The Musical sung by Adams himself, the songs were co-written by Adams and Jim Vallance, after the release of the album recorded by the cast of the musical in the October 2018.[197][198][199]

Pretty Woman: The Musical [ edit ]

Adams approached Disney in 2009 to see if they would be interested in making the 1990 film into Pretty Woman: The Musical for Broadway. But it wasn’t until seven years later that he re-approached them and was introduced to producer Paula Wagner who put him together with director Jerry Mitchell. Adams recruited Jim Vallance, and the two of them spent the next two years writing the music and lyrics, and completed the songs in March 2018. The musical made its debut on Broadway in August 2018 and opened in London’s West End on February 13, 2020.[200]

craftsmanship [edit]

Voice and timbre [ edit ]

“When I think of Bryan Adams, I think of a great storyteller who writes the kind of songs that make me want to sing. Known for his killer, gritty voice, Bryan is a t-shirt and blue jeans guy who wrote some truly unforgettable melodies. — Matt Williams, of Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy in 2020.[201]

Gifted with a powerful hoarse voice, with a particularly recognizable timbre, Bryan Adams began his career in the mid-1970s, taking over from original singer Nick Gilder of Sweeney Todd, when he was a teenager and had a youthful voice very far from the standards he has achieved over the years. With Vallance’s help, it wasn’t long before Adams established a powerful and distinct sound, compared to that of Joe Elliott, Rod Stewart, Paul Rodgers and Steve Marriott.[202] Adams’ voice is often taken as an example of comparing similarities between different singers Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, Richard Marx and Don Henley. Recognized as one of rock’s greatest performers, he is considered among the best live singers.[203][204][205]

music style [edit]

Adams has played various styles of rock, from hard rock and arena rock to pop rock and soft rock. During the first few years of his career in the 1970s Adams fronted Canadian glam rock band Sweeney Todd; the band played hard rock as well as glam rock.[33] His early songs were about kids and about the lives of young people, and he is known for his romantic ballads. Adams has never shied away from political or social commentary, especially with songs such as “Native Son” and “Remembrance Day” from the album Into the Fire,[206] “Don’t Drop That Bomb on Me” from Waking Up the Neighbours, and “Ultimate Love” from Ultimate. In 1978, after meeting with the drummer and main songwriter Jim Vallance for Canadian rock band Prism under the pseudonym “Rodney Higgs”,[207] the initial course was quite difficult. Demos of Adams’ early songs were rejected by numerous record companies.

In 1978, the Adams–Vallance duo managed to sign their record deal with A&M Records and released the single “Let Me Take You Dancing”. It is notable for being Adams’ first solo single and his first-ever release as a solo artist, when he was 19.[208] The genre of the single was disco; the melody, a piano riff inspired by Robbie King, was composed by Vallance on his parents’ piano during the Christmas holidays in 1977; Adams, meanwhile, helped turn the riff into a song. In 1982, Vallance and Adams received a call from producer Michael James Jackson to contribute some songs for the next Kiss album. Although Vallance and Adams were not fans of heavy metal, it was a golden opportunity for exposure for their songs by a world-class rock group. In collaboration with Gene Simmons, the track “War Machine” and a rewrite “Rock ‘n Roll Hell” were recorded by Kiss for the album Creatures of the Night.[209] Adams’ first solo albums, Bryan Adams and You Want It You Got It, two clear-cut rock and hard rock albums, respectively, indicated the styles that Adams would become famous for.[210] In 1983, with the release of Cuts Like a Knife, Reckless and Into the Fire, their music was characterized by being hard rock with melodic overtones and powerful ballads (known as power ballads); the production of the first five albums was in cooperation with the American record producer Bob Clearmountain.[211][212]

In the 1990s, with the release of Waking Up the Neighbours in 1991, produced by Robert John “Mutt” Lange, they left the hard rock sound and released an album closer to classic rock and roll, taking inspiration from the sounds of bands and artists such as Def Leppard and Foreigner.[213] This album is based on these tones, which brings out a leap in notoriety and also in musical quality to the Canadian rocker, placing itself right in the middle between the sounds of and those of “18 Til ‘I Die”. Without forgetting that just after “Wakin ‘up the Neighbors” will come the best So Far So Good, assisted by this album, which churns out some of the singles that Adams fans.[214] In 1996, with his album 18 til I Die, Adams and Lange adopted a pop rock sound more in line with the style of the time. Many ballads were included in this work, although it also contained some rock songs such as “18 til I Die” and “The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You”.[215][216] The album sees the collaboration of the American singer and songwriter Gretchen Peters, still active today. In 1998, On a Day Like Today was released, co-produced by his compatriot Bob Rock, he opted for a sound oriented to pop rock, heavily influenced by contemporary bands.

Upon their return in 2000 with the album Room Service, Adams produced the album and co-wrote the songs with various co-writers, the themes of the songs being varied between street life, touring, truth, love and relationships. He again opted for a rock-oriented sound. In 2008, with 11, produced by the same Adams with the collaboration of Mutt lange, he sees the return of his long-time collaborator Jim Vallance after more than 15 years, he has experienced a sound softer, combining songs from soft rock, pop rock and melodic rock.[217] With Get Up produced entirely by Jeff Lynne, they continued in the line of rock, with the strong influence of Lynne’s fifty-year experience.[218] In 2019, with Shine a Light, he combined rock with pop rock and R&B.[219]

Influences and favourite musicians [ edit ]

“If I were to record the songs that were the real influences in my life, I would record a lot of hard rock from the 70s, “says Adams. “And most of those songs are untouchable. There are many reasons why I wanted to pick up a guitar,” says Adams. “One of them was the Machine Head album, by Ritchie Blackmore and Deep Purple”. —Bryan Adams, in 2014.[220]

Among his youthful influences, the musician has often mentioned Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan as well as all the pop and rock heard as a boy on the radio. While making the album cover version Tracks of My Years, the album was released in 2014, Adams in an interview published by the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, Adams said the real influences in my life, I would record a lot of hard rock from the 1970s. According to Adams, most of those songs are untouchable.[220]

His main sources of inspiration also include guitarists, besides Blackmore, he was influenced by guitarists such as Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Mick Ronson, Jeff Beck, Peter Frampton and Eddie Van Halen. Other influential and favourite artists were Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Humble Pie, Bob Marley, Bob Seger, Chuck Berry, David Bowie, Jackie Wilson, Joe Cocker, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Leonard Cohen, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, The Beatles, The Who, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison.[220][221][222]

Impact and legacy [ edit ]

With the mainstream success of Reckless in the 1980s, five times multi-platinum “Album of the Year” and in the top 20 in “The Best AOR Albums Of All Time” according to Kerrang! Magazine,[223][224] the true masterpiece of the Canadian rocker according to the Italian magazine Panorama,[225] and Waking Up The Neighbors in the 1990s, having gained worldwide circulation, Adams’ impact still persists today. Being one of the most popular rock artists of the 80s and 90s, the merit of having maintained a pure rock at that time as the world went into Hip hop music and Electronic music.[226]

Referred to as the “Groover From Vancouver”,[227][228] he is known for his powerful rock songs and romantic ballads, and his music has appeared in dozens of films both as a singer and as a songwriter and co-writer since the early 1980s, including Class, A Night in Heaven, Real Genius, Renegades, Pink Cadillac, An Innocent Man, Problem Child 2, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Cutting Edge, The Three Musketeers, Don Juan DeMarco, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Jack, Red Corner, Hope Floats, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, House of Fools, Devil’s Gate, Racing Stripes, Color Me Kubrick, The Guardian, Bobby, Cashback, Bridge to Terabithia, Old Dogs, Jock the Hero Dog and Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return.[229]

Activism and humanitarian work [ edit ]

Humanitarian work [ edit ]

Most of Adams’s philanthropic activity is through The Bryan Adams Foundation, which “aims to improve the quality of people’s lives around the world by providing financial grants to support specific projects that are committed to bettering the lives of other people”.[230] The foundation is mostly funded by Adams himself.

Since the 1980s, Adams has participated in concerts and other activities to help raise money and awareness for a variety of causes. His first high-profile charity appearance came in 1985 when he opened the US transmission of Live Aid from Philadelphia.[231] 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.[231] In 1986, Adams performed at The Prince’s Trust All-Star Rock Concert in Wembley Arena to celebrate first 10 years of the Trust and again in June 1987 at the 5th Annual Prince’s Trust Rock Gala along with Elton John, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and others. The following year on June 11, 1988, Adams performed at the Nelson Mandela birthday party concert at Wembley Stadium.[232] In June 1988, East Berlin experienced a lavish rock’n’roll festival called Peace Concert: Adams and Joe Cocker played in Weißensee in front of a crowd of over 85,000 people.[233][234] Only a week later, David Bowie played music in front of the Reichstag building, in front of 60,000 fans.[234] While Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson were in front of the Bundestag, with 40,000 people to attend the concert,[234] Bruce Springsteen performed in front of a crowd of over 160,000 people.[234]

In March 1989, he performed on the Greenpeace album Rainbow Warriors, which was also released in the Soviet Union on the Melodiya label. According to Greenpeace, worldwide sales raised more than eight million dollars for Greenpeace initiatives.[235] Highlights of the set include Somebody by Bryan Adams, a live version of Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2 and the hits by The Pretenders, R.E.M., Sting, Grateful Dead, Thompson Twins, Peter Gabriel and Dire Straits.[236]

In July 1989, Adams committed to work on another charity record: the remake of the Deep Purple classic “Smoke on the Water” for Rock Aid Armenia to obtain funds for the earthquake that occurred in Armenia at that time.[237] 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.[238] He performed the Pink Floyd songs “What Shall We Do Now?” and “Young Lust” during the performance of The Wall, and then joined Waters, Joni Mitchell, Cyndi Lauper, Van Morrison, Paul Carrack and others to perform Waters’ “The Tide Is Turning” to close the concert.[239] On March 2, 1993, Adams attended the Rock for the Rainforest, benefit concert hosted by Rainforest Foundation Fund is a charitable foundation founded in 1987 and dedicated to the focus on rainforests and defend rights of the indigenous peoples who live there. hosted by Sting and his wife Trudie Styler.[240] The event, which took place at Carnegie Hall in New York City, was attended by Sting, Tina Turner, James Taylor, George Michael, Tom Jones and Dustin Hoffman.[241] $800,000 was raised for the evening.[242] On April 24, 1993, he participated in the benefit concert Farm Aid at the Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.[243]

On December 10, 1997, Adams took part in a concert, “A Gift of Song : A Concert To Benefit The Children Of The World”, in celebration of the US Committee for UNICEF 50th Anniversary, held at the Z-100 Jingle Ball Madison Square Garden in New York City.[244]

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 US, Adams played at Canada’s Live 8 show in Barrie, Ontario.[245] Later that year, he performed in Qatar and raised GB£1.5M (US$2,617,000) from the concert. He also auctioned a white Fender Stratocaster guitar signed by many[quantify] of the world’s prominent[according to whom?] guitarists. The guitar raised a total of US$3.7 million for charity and thus set a record as the world’s costliest guitar.[245] The money went to Qatar’s “Reach Out to Asia” campaign to help the underprivileged across the continent.[245][246] 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 Indian Ocean tsunami.[245]

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.[247] On May 15, 2006, 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.[248] 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.[249] On February 28, 2008, he appeared in One Night Live at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto with Josh Groban, Sarah McLachlan, Jann Arden, and RyanDan in aid of the Sunnybrook Hospital Women and Babies Program.[249]

On January 29, 2006, Adams became the first Western artist to perform in Karachi, Pakistan after the September 11th attacks in conjunction with a benefit concert by Shehzad Roy to raise money for underprivileged children to go to school.[250] Some of the proceeds of that concert also went to victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.[250]

On October 18, 2007, Adams was billed to perform in Tel Aviv and Jericho as part of the OneVoice Movement concerts, hoping to aid in solving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[251] The peace concert for supporters of a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel was called off because of security concerns.[251]

On January 13, 2010, he received the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award for participating in numerous concerts and charity campaigns.[252][253]

On January 13, 2011, he participated in the Concert for Killing Cancer at the Hammersmith Apollo in London together with the historic rock band The Who, Jeff Beck, Debbie Harry, and Richard Ashcroft.[254] On October 22, 2013, he attended the TJ Martell Foundation’s 38th Annual Honors Gala in New York City for Cancer Research. He performed alongside Sting.[255]

“Bryan’s work – as a songwriter, composer, musician, recording artist, performer, and photographer – has touched millions of lives around the world. Add to that the countless number of causes and disadvantaged struggling around the world that his foundation has directly supported, protected and enriched – it’s remarkable. My father and I couldn’t be more proud of Bryan’s benevolence, and it is our privilege to honour him with this year’s Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award.” —Gary Slaight, 2015[256]

On September 14, 2014, Adams was the first artist to sing at the Invictus Games organised by Prince Harry in East London. Prince Harry reciprocated by attending Adams’s exhibition on Wounded soldiers in London.[257] Interviewed in November 2014 by KALTBLUT Magazine, he presents his photo book Wounded: The Legacy of War then Adams said:

“War is not the answer in solving problems. Sometimes, in 2004, George Bush said that “the world without Saddam Hussein’s regime is a better and safer place, and as we have seen, nothing could be further from the truth. Millions of displaced people, hundreds of thousands of dead, and countless thousands of injured, physically or mentally. It is an unspeakable disaster, like the war in Afghanistan.”[258]

In May 2015, he received the “Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award” in recognition of his social activism and support for various humanitarian causes, presented during Canadian Music Week at the Canadian Music Industry & Broadcast Awards Gala.[256] In 2016, Adams canceled an April 14 concert at Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi. From July 1, the state implemented the law whereby religious groups and private companies can refuse to provide their services to same-sex couples; after the example of Bruce Springsteen, who canceled his show in Greensboro, North Carolina in protest against the law prohibiting anti-discrimination measures against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders in using public restrooms, Adams also followed “the Boss”.[259]

“I cannot, in good conscience, perform in a state where some people are denied civil rights due to sexual orientation” —Bryan Adams cancels date of the “Get Up Tour” in Biloxi, Mississippi to protest the anti-LGBT law [259]

On September 30, 2017, Adams, along with Bruce Springsteen, met on stage at the 2017 Invictus Games. The Paralympic Games for Military Veterans, now in its third edition, saw the two artists perform for the closing ceremony at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. They performed some pieces of their repertoire, to close in duet performing “Cuts Like A Knife” and “Badlands”.[260]

In November 2019, Adams gifted Park Walk Primary School in Chelsea, England, with a new playground through his charity The Bryan Adams Foundation.[261] In previous years, Adams had built a playground for Ashburnham Community School in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London with his foundation.[262]

For his Shine a Light world tour in 2019, Adams teamed up with shipping company DHL for an environmental project to plant a tree for every ticket sold during the course of the tour.[263] In April 2020, he participates in the recording of the song “Lean on Me” together with an ad hoc supergroup of Canadian musicians accredited as ArtistsCAN, both in homage to the recent death of Bill Withers and for raise money for the Canadian Red Cross during the COVID-19 pandemic.[264][265]

In November 2020, he participates with other artists in the song “Stop Crying Your Heart Out”, proposed in a cover performed for the charitable cause of Children in Need under the supervision of BBC Radio 2.[266]

Animal rights activism [ edit ]

During his tours of 1992–1994, Adams successfully campaigned for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary with Greenpeace Chairman David McTaggart.[267] The two of them distributed over 500,000 postcards at concerts around the world encouraging people to write to politicians of countries blocking the vote, encouraging them to vote “yes” for the creation of the sanctuary at the meetings of the International Whaling Commission. IWC officially created the sanctuary on May 26, 1994.[268]

On November 10, 2002, Adams participated in the benefit concert at the Royal Opera House in London for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. He played “Run to You” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” with Brian May.[269]

Adams in a 2007 interview for PETA said:

“I’ve been vegetarian for about 17–18 years now, since I was about 28. And of course, my motto has always been If you love animals, don’t eat them. I’m opposed to fur and any kind of use of animal products. I don’t eat them, and I don’t wear them. I’m not for the killing of any creature-whether it be seals, cows, dogs, anything. So anytime it comes to any kind of animal cruelty, I’m totally against it. Being sympathetic to animal rights is just something that came very naturally to me. But the moment I began to understand what was going on with the treatment of animals, it led me more and more in the way of the path I am [on] now, which is a complete vegan.”[270]

In April 2019, while off the coast of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Adams physically intervened to protect a whale from being killed when local whalers tried to harpoon it within a conservation zone.[271] He is the president of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Environment Fund, a non-profit company registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to support sustainable initiatives to promote the preservation of the beauty and natural value of the islands.[272]

In May 2020, Adams was criticized for a profane social media post blaming the COVID-19 pandemic on “bat eating”.[273] Even though Adams did not single out any particular race in his remarks, online response was immediate and “Bryan Adams racist” began trending on social media.[274] Adams later apologized for the comments stating, “To any and all that took offence…No excuse, I just wanted to have a rant about the horrible animal cruelty in these wet-markets being the possible source of the virus, and promote veganism. I have love for all people and my thoughts are with everyone dealing with this pandemic around the world.”[275]

Photography [ edit ]

Adams accepting a Lead Award for photography in 2006

Adams also works as a photographer. On September 16, 2015, he was given an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in London for his work in photography. Adams has been published in British Vogue, L’uomo Vogue, American Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, British GQ, Esquire, Interview magazine and i-D,[276] and shot advertising and PR campaigns for Hugo Boss, Guess Jeans, Sand, Converse, Montblanc, John Richmond, Fred Perry, Escada, Gaastra, Zeiss, Joop, Zeiss AG, Schwarzkopf, Ermenegildo Zegna, AGL shoes, Windsor, Jaguar and OPEL cars.[277][278]

He won three Lead Awards in Germany for his fashion photography, most recently in October 2015 for his story in Helmut Berger, and previously in June 2012 and again in 2006.[279] He founded the art fashion Zoo Magazine, based in Berlin, for which he shoots regularly.[280]

His first retrospective book of photos was released by Steidl in October 2012 titled Exposed. Previous published collaborations include American Women (2005), for Calvin Klein in the United States; proceeds from this book went to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City for their breast cancer research programs,[276] and Made in Canada (1999) for Flare Magazine in Canada; proceeds went to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Both books were dedicated to his friend Donna, who died of the disease.[276]

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 domestic rate stamp (Canada)), another portrait of both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London.[281]

Adams supports the Hear the World initiative as a photographer in its aim to raise global awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss.[282] Adams released a photography book entitled Wounded – The Legacy of War (2013) to highlight the human consequences of war.[283]

In the summer of 2021, he shot the 48th edition of Pirelli Calendar in two working days in June in Los Angeles, where most of the cast met, followed by a day of work at Capri at the end of July. The Pirelli 2022 Calendar shot by Adams is called «On the road», portrays talents from the world of music that Adams has brought together in a journey through very different nationalities, musical genres, ages and professional paths. He photographed Iggy Pop, Rita Ora, Cher, Grimes, Normani, Kali Uchis, Jennifer Hudson , Saweetie, St. Vincent and Bohan Phoenix.[284][285]

Adams has also photographed many of his colleagues in the music business. Other album covers featuring work by Adams include those for:

Other famous artists that Adams collaborated with photographing them include Hillary Clinton, Ben Kingsley, Katie Couric, Jennifer Aniston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Lindsay Lohan, L’Wren Scott, Julianne Moore, Jerry Hall, Heather Graham, Sean Penn, Wim Wenders, Danny Trejo, Christie Brinkley, Sarah Jessica Parker, Neve Campbell, Renée Zellweger, Monica Bellucci, Eva Riccobono, Elisabetta Canalis, Caterina Murino, Elle Macpherson, Eartha Kitt, Ray Liotta, Cindy Crawford, Tereza Maxová, Alice Sebold, Amber Valletta, Katie Holmes, Kate Moss, Eve Ensler, Helena Bonham Carter, Daphne Guinness, Aline Weber, Lucy Liu, Laetitia Casta, Tilda Swinton, Lauren Hutton, Muhammad Ali, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Kingsley, Lukas Podolski, Natalia Vodianova, Naomi Campbell, Louise Bourgeois, Kate Moss, Nadja Auermann, Michael J. Fox, Mickey Rourke, Judi Dench, Justin Trudeau, Margaret Atwood, Linda Evangelista, Amanda Murphy, Mads Mikkelsen, and many more.[citation needed]

Publications[ edit ]

Made in Canada (1999) [292]

(1999) American Women (2005) [293] [294]

(2005) Exposed (Steidl, 2012) [295] [296]

(Steidl, 2012) Wounded – The Legacy of War (Steidl, 2013) [297] [298]

(Steidl, 2013) Untitled (Steidl, 2015) [299] [300]

(Steidl, 2015) Canadians (Steidl, 2017) [301] [302]

(Steidl, 2017) Homeless (Steidl, 2019)[303][304]

Exhibitions [ edit ]

Personal life[edit]

Bryan Adams has been a vegan for 32 years; he quit eating meat and dairy in 1989.[351] He relayed his experiences with his plant-based diet in an interview with Vegan Life Magazine in 2016:

For those people who aren’t veggie or vegan it was the best gift I could ever give myself to do it. I am turning 57 years old this year and I work hard, I am always on the move but I have tons of energy because I am plant-based. It is absolutely the best thing you could ever do for yourself. It is a great path.[352]

Adams has never married. In the 1990s, he was in a relationship with Danish model Cecilie Thomsen.[353] Adams and Alicia Grimaldi, his former personal assistant and now trustee and co-founder of his namesake foundation, had their first daughter in April 2011 and their second daughter in February 2013.[354] His parents are British, and one grandmother was born in Malta.[355] Adams has homes in London[21] and Paris.[356]

On October 30, 2021, Adams cancelled his participation in a tribute to singer Tina Turner, just before the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, after testing positive for COVID-19.[357] On November 25, 2021, Adams tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time, and was hospitalized in Italy.[358] Adams revealed that he had been given an “anti-thrombosis shot” and that he would not leave hospital “until [he] tests negative”. A hospital update described him as “symptomatic” but “on the mend.”[359]

Awards and honors[edit]

Adams’s awards and nominations include 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations and 15 Grammy Award nominations, including a win for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television in 1992. For his songwriting for films, Adams has been nominated for three times for Academy Awards[360] and five Golden Globe Awards. He was nominated for his fifth Golden Globe in 2007 for songwriting for the film Bobby; the song was performed by Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige. In 2008, Adams was ranked 38th on the list of all-time top artists in the Billboard Hot 100 50th Anniversary Charts.[13]

In 1990, Adams was awarded the Order of British Columbia.[361] On April 20, 1990, Adams was made a Member of the Order of Canada, and on May 6, 1998, was promoted within the order to the rank of Officer of the Order of Canada.[362] He received these awards for his contributions to popular music and philanthropic work via his foundation, which helps improve education for people around the world.[363][364]

On May 1, 2010, Adams received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for his 30 years of contributions to the arts.[18] On January 13, 2010, he received the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award for his part in numerous charitable concerts and campaigns during his career.[365]

Adams has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Canada’s Walk of Fame, the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame,[15][16] and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.[17] Adams is also a recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012).[366][367] In 2015, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS).[368]

Bryan Adams Band [ edit ]

The line-up after a concert in Lucca in 2013, from left to right: Bryan Adams, Gary Breit, Mickey Curry, Keith Scott, Norm Fisher

The support band, also known as “The Dudes of Leisure” or “Bryan Adams Band”, is the informal name given to the group of musicians who accompany Bryan Adams both in the studio and during live performances. Adams’s solo career began in 1979, the band around Adams, who not only takes on singing but also rhythm guitar, is made up of guitarist Keith Scott and drummer Mickey Curry. Bassist Dave Taylor was a permanent member of the band until the late 1990s. Keyboardist Tommy Mandel has been a part since 1981 in the studio and has been playing since the late 1980s.

Other musicians over the band’s span have included, U.K. keyboardist “John Hanaha” (1981–1988) and drummers “Jimmy Wesley” (1981–1983), Frankie LaRocka (1983–1985), Pat Steward (1985–1987) and “Danny Cummings” (1996–1998). Following the 1998 departure of Mandel and Taylor, the band from 1999 to 2001 consisted of only Scott on guitar, Curry, and Bryan Adams, who took on bass. Norm Fisher on bass and keyboardist Gary Breit have been in the band since 2002. Since 2016, they have alternated as session musicians and accompanists at bass concerts: Mark Wilson (2016), Richard Jones (2016), Phil Thornalley (2016–2017), and Solomon Walker (2017–present).

Discography[ edit ]

Filmography [ edit ]

Cinema [ edit ]

television [edit]

Radio broadcasting [ edit ]

Radio programs [ edit ]

Adams presents a collection of personal rock favourites:[373]

Concert tours[ edit ]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

List of Vietnamese people by net worth

The following Forbes list of Vietnamese billionaires is based on an annual wealth and wealth assessment compiled and published by Forbes magazine in 2021 and 2022.[1][2]

List of Vietnamese billionaires

See also[edit]

Related searches to Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today – CGY.org

    Information related to the topic Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today – CGY.org

    Here are the search results of the thread Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today – CGY.org from Bing. You can read more if you want.


    You have just come across an article on the topic Von Scales Wikipedia, Age, Ex-Wife, First Wife, Marriages, Net Worth, Live Today – CGY.org. If you found this article useful, please share it. Thank you very much.

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *