Sunday, October 25, 2009
Bryan Adams: Wired for songwriting
Associated Press
File 2008 Bryan Adams performs at the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland.
Bryan Adams and Lyle Lovett
If a musician is wired for songwriting, he is going to write songs, regardless of what's happening with his career. Ups and downs might stop the creative impulse from time to time, but ultimately, the melodies, chords and lyrics will come.
Bryan Adams and Lyle Lovett, who hit Roanoke in separate shows this week, couldn't be much further apart stylistically. But they do share at least a couple of things in common: They both came to national prominence during the 1980s with songs they wrote or co-wrote; and both have recently released records including more of their own original tunes.
Here, we take a look at what made them big, what has happened since and what they're up to now.
Back in the olden days of 1983, when MTV still spent most of its day playing music videos, Bryan Adams was one of its first stars.
The singles "Cuts Like A Knife" and "Straight From the Heart" introduced audiences to Adams, a Canadian singer who was co-writing most of his own songs. Adams' next record, 1984's "Restless," put him over the top, with the smash hits "Run to You," "Heaven," "Summer of 69" and a duet with Tina Turner, "It's Only Love."
He didn't reach such success again until 1991, when his "Waking Up the Neighbours" came out with another chart-topper, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You." It was also the theme song for the Kevin Costner movie, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" and was subsequently nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. By then, Adams had plenty of gold and platinum records, and lots of live and prerecorded compilations, too.
A quarter-century later, though, the 49-year-old Adams is still at it.
He has a new CD, "11" -- his 11th record of new original tunes -- and lots of tour dates in North America and Europe. The gigs include a Wednesday night solo performance at Jefferson Center's Shaftman Hall. The 924-capacity venue is sold out.
In a phone interview on Thursday from his home in London, England, Adams said that folks can expect to hear the hits exactly as they were written, with his voice and an acoustic guitar. Listeners tell him they don't miss hearing a band behind him, and Adams likes it that way. Over the years, he has shuffled and reshuffled band lineups, and stripping it down this way helps prevent monotony, he said.
"Luckily, I don't get bored of myself," Adams said.
The hits aren't coming in the U.S. these days. But Adams has still had success as a songwriter, writing and producing "Never Gonna Break My Faith" for the soundtrack to, "Bobby," a movie revolving around Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 1968 assassination. The song won the 2008 Grammy award for best song written for movies or television, but the trophies belong to singers Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige.
Adams didn't get the prize, but he got the thrill of having Franklin sing one of his tunes.
"The first time I heard her singing my words, I almost fell over," he said. "I just couldn't believe it."
But it's not all about music for Adams. He's a good photographer whose Maggie Gyllenhaal collage was on the cover of Interview magazine. He has photographed a commercial campaign for Guess clothing. He has shot pop culture figures including Renee Zellweger, Morrisey, Harry Belafonte, Mickey Rourke, Cindy Crawford and others for magazines and advertising campaigns.
How did all of that start?
"I had a camera on the road, and my guitar player was my muse, but he got married, and so I had to burn those photos, or [his marriage] would be over," Adams said, joking.
Those must have been some photos.
"You'll never know, because I burned them all."
Seriously, he said, his camera work started 10 years ago after a friend, whom he would identify only by her first name, Donna, died of breast cancer. He did a book in her honor, then just kept working in photography.
And he's a social activist with his own foundation. The Bryan Adams Foundation's Web site says it gives grants "for projects supporting the elderly, victims of war and natural disasters, and those suffering from mental or physical illness." Think of a cause or plight, and Adams has most likely participated as an artist or activist to help out.
"I now dedicate most of my life" to that work, he said.
Like a lot of artists, Adams has joined forces with the department store chains Walmart and Sam's Club to release "11." The disc, released in May, didn't quite tear up the U.S. "You can say that again," Adams said, joking.
It peaked at No. 80 on the Billboard 200, and dropped out after about a month. But it did hit No. 1 on Billboard's Canadian chart and has remained high in the European chart. Not that any of that matters much to Adams.
"I've only ever put out records for the love of playing music and singing," he said. "I never expected any of them to do well. I just hoped someone would listen and like them."
Adams likes them, too.
"I wouldn't play any of them" if there wasn't something special about them, he said. "I look down at my set list now and go, 'Yeah!' ... It's kind of a nice feeling. I remember when I used to have to scramble around, trying to figure out what song to play next."
