Where Is Canadian Rocker Bryan Adams Today?
On Nov. 5, 1959, Bryan Adams was born. Exactly 25 years later, on Nov. 5, 1984, the Canadian singer-songwriter released the album Reckless. His fourth album in four years, it was an unmitigated success, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard charts and yielding massive hits like his first No. 1 song “Heaven,” “Run to You” and “Summer of ’69.”
In the 40 years that followed, Adams had a period of chart dominance in the ’80s and a string of blockbuster movie soundtrack ballads in the early ’90s. But he’s been a bit quieter in recent years. So where is Bryan Adams today?
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The child of a Canadian Army officer and diplomat, Adams lived abroad throughout his childhood, before returning to his native Canada and dropping out of high school to pursue life as a musician. After fronting the glam rock band Sweeney Todd in his late teens, he connected with musician and producer Jim Vallance, who became Adams’ songwriting partner throughout the ’80s.
On the basis of material he developed with Vallance, Adams was signed to A&M Records in 1978. His first album, 1980’s Bryan Adams, failed to make much impact stateside, but 1981’s You Want It You Got It yielded his first hit, “Lonely Nights.” 1983’s Cuts Like a Knife helped Adams become a major musical presence, with the title track and “Straight From the Heart” both hitting the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
But 1984’s Reckless heralded Adams’ arrival in the big leagues. The album’s six singles all charted in the Billboard Top 20, with the album hitting No. 1 and eventually going platinum five times over. He received multiple Grammy nominations for the album and embarked on a two-year world tour to promote the album. In 1985, he opened the U.S. transmission of Live Aid — the beginning of a career-long involvement with humanitarian organizations and charity concerts.
His follow-up album, 1987’s Into the Fire, didn’t reach the same heights as Reckless. But a new era for Adams was around the corner — a time when he would exchange his upbeat pop sound for adult contemporary ballads and become the undisputed king of early ’90s movie soundtracks.
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The 1990s Ushered in Soundtracks
If you were alive in the summer of 1991, you remember how omnipresent Adams’ “Everything I Do (I Do It for You)” was. The theme song to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves hit No. 1 in 19 countries, including the U.S., where it held on to the top spot for seven weeks. The song led to Adams receiving his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Song in a Motion Picture, his first Academy Award nomination for Best Song, and his first and last Grammy win, for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.
It also set up his follow-up album, 1991’s Waking Up the Neighbors, for success — the album, which included “Everything I Do (I Do It for You),” hit No. 1 in 10 countries and peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard album charts.
In the following years, Adams distinguished himself as the go-to artist for soundtrack ballads. “All for Love,” from the soundtrack to 1993’s The Three Musketeers, featured Adams, Sting and Rod Stewart on a song cowritten by Adams, and hit No. 1 in fifteen countries, including the U.S.
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The same year, he released “Please Forgive Me,” another of his biggest hits, as part of a greatest hits album. It became his only No. 1 song in the U.S. that was not written for a film soundtrack.
His 1995 song “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” from the soundtrack to Don Juan DeMarco, stayed at No. 1 for five weeks on U.S. charts and netted him additional Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy nominations.
Adams’ next album, 1996’s 18 Til I Die, represented the beginning of a slowdown in his career — U.S. music trends had changed, with alternative rock, rap and R&B ballads dominating the airwaves.
The 2000s were comparatively quiet for Adams, with his most notable moments still involving soundtracks, as well as writing hits for other artists — he cowrote and recorded the soundtrack to the 2002 children’s animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, which grabbed him another Golden Globe nomination, and he cowrote the Grammy-winning Aretha Franklin song “Never Gonna Break My Faith” (this song also led to yet another Golden Globe nomination). In 2009, he was depicted on a Canadian postage stamp.
He also began to focus on his sideline in photography during this decade. Adams shot high-profile ad campaigns, as well as editorial features for magazines including Vogue UK, GQ and Interview Magazine. Photos from his 2002 photo session with Queen Elizabeth II were turned into multiple Canadian postage stamps. He photographed models for the 2021 and 2022 editions of the famous Pirelli calendar and has released eight books of photography to date.
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In the 2010s, Adams reunited with former songwriting partner Jim Vallance. The two collaborated on songs for Adams’ albums, and in 2017, they wrote the music and lyrics for the musical version of Pretty Woman, which ran on Broadway from July 2018 to August 2019. The play has since been mounted around the world and toured around the U.S.
Adams also became a father, with his former personal assistant Alicia Grimaldi. The couple welcomed their first daughter in 2011, and a second daughter in 2013.
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In 2019, Adams was unexpectedly in the news for physically preventing a whale from being killed by fisherman who were illegally hunting the animal. An outspoken animal rights advocate and vegan, Adams spotted the whale hunt while at his vacation home in Mustique and swam up to the hunters’ boats on a paddle board, allowing the whale time to escape.
In 2022, Adams released his 15th studio album, So Happy It Hurts. He is still promoting it with live dates around the world — in the remaining months of 2024, he’ll play Europe, India and the Middle East, before moving on to Australia, the U.K. and a six-night engagement at the Wynn Las Vegas.
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’80s Where Are They Now
March 2023
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