Bryan Adams can’t stop this thing he’s started nearly 45 years ago — and wouldn’t want to if he could.
Since his debut album in 1980, Adams has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and has been a radio fixture with the likes of “Heaven,” “Cuts Like a Knife,” “Summer of ’69,” “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” and many more — including “It’s Only Love,” his Top 20 1985 duet with the late Tina Turner. He’s been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, has stars son the Hollywood Hall of Fame and Canada Walk of Fame, is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and has received a Britain’s Jubilee Medal’s for Queen Elizabeth II’s Gold and Diamond jubilees. He’s also won 20 Juno Awards (Canada’s Grammy equivalent) and a Grammy and has been nominated for three Academy Awards.
Adams, 63, is also an acclaimed portrait photographer who’s been hired by high-level news and fashion publications.
Last year he released his 15th studio album, “So Happy It Hurts,” along with re-recordings of his “Classic” hits and the songs he and longtime writing partner Jim Vallance composed for “Pretty Woman — The Musical.” Adams is in the midst of a new U.S. tour, and he promises there’s plenty of music on the way…
• A large body of work makes concert set lists challenging for Adams to assemble. “Well, for America we’ll play the songs that everybody knows,” he explains by phone from Baltimore. “People definitely come to the shows based on the past, so that’s the easiest thing. And we pepper it with a few likes like ‘So Happy It Hurts,’ ’cause I’m trying to get that album some exposure. Many of the songs that we have were bigger hits elsewhere, so we do find there are certain songs that go over better around the world than they do in the States. So there is kind of a template which works really well right now and it sort of ebbs and flows between songs that are really well known and new songs and songs I like and on and on.”
• Earlier this year the usually apolitical (at least in his music) Adams released an anti-war song, “What If There Were No Sides at All,” along with an accompanying video. “It was written a few years ago; I was kind of waiting for the right moment to put it out. I just felt like now was the best time, with all the sort of conflicts all over the place. I just don’t want to remain silent. I can’t. I can’t watch this going on, all the rhetoric and nonsense I see on the Internet. I just thought, ‘You know what? I’ve just to say something.’ So that’s my song.”
• Adams says he’s enjoyed re-recording his older hits — which have been released on their own and as part of a deluxe version of “So Happy It Hurts” — and plans to do more. “I’ll probably put another record out in the next year, a Part 3 of the ‘Classic’ re-recordings. It’s really exciting to look back on some of them, and what’s interesting to sort of dissect them and figure out what was in the soup that made it so delicious? You sort of discover it as you start piecing it together.” He adds that through the process, “I did get a whole new respect for the drumming that was on those records, I’ll tell you that. (laughs) I’m playing (drums) now, and it’s pretty hard!”
• Adams’ future docket includes “another album… (that) I’m waiting for the right time to put out” and a boxed set later this year of live recreations of three of his albums (Including 1983’s breakthrough “Cuts Like a Knife”) recorded at Royal Albert Hall in London. “I’ve been asked to do a film recently, so I’m working on that. I just did a song on a documentary about homeless people; that’s going to be on the new album. At the moment I’ve got a load of (photo) exhibitions happening this summer, but I’ve really bene focused with making videos; I’m really trying to make interesting videos, even for the classic songs, and have content out there. So there’s plenty of stuff coming and going. The songs keep flowing. The next year should be interesting to see what comes up. I love being able to create stuff that isn’t what you’d expect and push myself.”
• As for Turner’s death, Adams says, Adams: It’s just so sad, isn’t it? You certainly end up reflecting a lot when you lose somebody like that. She was such a big mama hug, like whenever she was around me it was just like, ‘Oh, here we go, gimme a hug.’ I was welcome in her family, ’cause I was there at the beginning. I was there for her resurgence when it happened. And she took me on tour and she was so welcoming. She took me from complete obscurity over in Europe to playing Wembley Arena. And she was a lot of fun when we weren’t on stage. I would go into her dressing room pretty much every night, just to see how she was doing and check in on stuff. She liked that sort of communication. If you were there, you were welcome.”
Bryan Adams and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 14 at Little Caesars Arena, 2645 Woodward Ave., Detroit. (313)471-7000 or 313Presents.com.
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