Bryan Adams Ringtones

From the mid-'80s to the mid-'90s, Canadian singer/songwriter and guitarist Bryan Adams was one of the most successful recording artists in popular music worldwide. Usually dressed in blue jeans, sneakers, and white T-shirts, the energetic performer stalked stages around the globe, electric guitar in hand, singing his own up-tempo pop/rock songs and ballads before audiences numbering in the tens of thousands. He released a series of multi-platinum albums containing chart-topping singles featured in popular motion pictures. His raspy voice, simple compositions, and straightforward musical approach earned him early critical approbation as a likable if unoriginal rock & roll journeyman, but as he began to become massively popular, reviewers increasingly pointed out the clichés in his lyrics and the derivative nature of his music, especially as he softened his style in the early '90s for his hit movie theme songs. By the end of the '90s, his record sales had fallen precipitously and he had become largely identified with his movie work, though he continued to tour extensively, playing his many hits.

In January 1978, Adams met Jim Vallance. Seven years Adams' senior, Vallance had been the drummer in the successful Canadian band Prism and had written most of the songs for their self-titled debut album under the pseudonym Rodney Higgs. But, finding that he disliked touring, he had left the band and was trying to develop a career as a songwriter and producer. He and Adams agreed to form a partnership in which they would co-write songs and he would produce demo tapes of them, on which Adams would sing. (It has been extensively reported, repeated in one rock encyclopedia after another, that they sold songs to a variety of established artists prior to the launch of Adams' own recording career. This is not true. In fact, the songwriters did place songs with many artists, but most of the recordings took place well after Adams started making records himself.) Utilizing Vallance's connections, they began sending those demos to Canadian music publishing companies, and in August 1978 they were signed to a songwriting and production deal with Irving-Almo Music, the publishing arm of A&M Records. Adams, meanwhile, was negotiating with RCA Victor Records for a separate recording contract, but when A&M got wind of that, they quickly signed him as an artist as well. In February 1979, A&M released his first single, the Adams/Vallance composition "Let Me Take You Dancing," a disco song he later disavowed, particularly the 12" single remix version. It spent 23 weeks in the Billboard dance chart, peaking at number 22, with a reported worldwide sale of 240,000 copies. March 1979 saw the release of Rock n' Roll Nights by BTO (formerly Bachman-Turner Overdrive), which Vallance had produced and on which he had placed several songs. Next, Adams and Vallance placed songs on the third Prism album, Armageddon, with "Rodney Higgs" and Adams credited on "Take It or Leave It," Adams collaborating with Prism guitarist Lindsay Mitchell on "Jealousy" (later recorded for Adams' second album), and Adams writing "You Walked Away Again" alone. Adams and Vallance also placed "I'm Ready" on the 1979 album Goose Bumps by former Stories singer Ian Lloyd. (Adams would record his own version of the song on his third album.)

Meanwhile, Adams was working on his debut LP, and Bryan Adams was released on February 12, 1980. The album was not released initially in the U.S., although "Hiding from Love" (written by Adams and folksinger Eric Kagna) was issued as a single and reached number 43 in the dance chart. Ian Lloyd's next release, 1980's 3WC (Third Wave Civilization), featured two Adams/Vallance songs that Adams later would reclaim for his own albums, "Lonely Nights" and "Straight from the Heart." In May 1980, Adams assembled a backup band and embarked on his first tour as a solo act, spending four months playing clubs and colleges in Canada. Then, he went to work on his second album, You Want It, You Got It, which A&M released in mid-1981. The album was Adams' first to come out in the U.S. He toured North America for six months starting in October, earning opening spots with the Kinks and Foreigner. The album broke into the Billboard chart in January 1982, peaking at number 118 in 13 weeks, while Adams' version of "Lonely Nights" hit number three in the mainstream rock chart and became his first solo Hot 100 entry at number 84.

As songwriters, Adams and Vallance continued to place their extra material with other artists. "Jump," written by Adams and bandmember Paul Dean, was featured on Loverboy's quadruple-platinum album Get Lucky, released in October 1981. And in January 1982, Prism's fourth album, Small Change, featured the Adams/Vallance compositions "Don't Let Him Know" and "Stay," the former becoming a number one hit on the mainstream rock chart and a Top 40 hit on the Hot 100. Adams toured Canada opening for Loverboy in the spring of 1982, then began work on his third album. His next notable credit, however, came when his, Vallance's, and bandmember Gene Simmons' "War Machine" was featured on Kiss' Creatures of the Night in October 1982. His own album, Cuts Like a Knife, was ready by the end of the year, and A&M prefaced it with his version of "Straight from the Heart," released as a single in December. It broke his career open, peaking in the Top Ten of the Hot 100 and setting up the LP, which followed in January 1983 and eventually reached the Top Ten and went platinum, spawning further Top 40 hits in the title song and "This Time." The album's success was stimulated by Adams' extensive touring in support of it, which began in Canada in January and February and continued from March to August in the U.S., where he opened for Journey, with a six-week tour of Europe in the fall and dates in Japan in November, followed by another round of shows in Canada. In total, he spent 283 days on the road in 1983.

Meanwhile, Adams and Vallance had accepted an offer to write their first song for the movies, and November 1983 saw the opening of A Night in Heaven and the release of its soundtrack album, featuring their song "Heaven," which Adams performed. The track made the Top Ten of the mainstream rock chart in early 1984, but Adams declined to release it as a single just then. Instead, he held it back for his next album, which he and Vallance began writing after he completed a tour of the Far East in March 1984. As usual, the products of their writing sessions began to turn up on other albums before Adams himself re-emerged. "Can't Wait All Night" was the title song of Juice Newton's June 1984 album and became a singles chart entry. "Boys Nite Out" (co-credited to bandmembers Marc Storace and Fernando Von Arb) was featured on The Blitz, an album by Krokus, released in August 1984. The following month saw the opening of the film Teachers, the soundtrack to which included two Adams/Vallance songs, "Teacher, Teacher," which became a Top 40 hit for .38 Special, and "Edge of a Dream," a singles chart entry for Joe Cocker. Adams' fourth album, Reckless, was released on his 25th birthday, November 5, 1984, preceded by the single "Run to You," which reached the Top Ten. It was followed by no less than five Top 20 singles drawn from the album: "Somebody," "Heaven" (which hit number one), "Summer of '69" (Top Ten), "One Night Love Affair," and a duet with Tina Turner, "It's Only Love." The LP, which hit number one in the U.S. on August 10, 1985, sold five million copies in America and a reported three million more in the rest of the world. (Adams also earned his first two Grammy nominations, best male rock performance for the album as a whole, and best rock performance by a duo or group for "It's Only Love.") As usual, Adams toured extensively to support it, his World Wide in '85 tour launching in late December and continuing through November 1, 1985. He found time early on to co-write (with Vallance and David Foster) "Tears Are Not Enough," Canada's answer to "Do They Know It's Christmas" and "We Are the World," as a charity song for Ethiopian starvation relief, which was recorded by the all-star group of Canadian artists Northern Lights and became a number one hit in Canada, later included on the We Are the World LP. He also opened the American side of the Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985.

Adams' success made him and Vallance, if anything, even more appealing to other artists as songwriters. In August 1985, Loverboy featured another of their compositions, "Dangerous," on the Lovin' Every Minute of It album. The song was later released as a single and reached the Hot 100. In September, Roger Daltrey included two Adams/Vallance songs, "Rebel" and "Let Me Down Easy," on his album Under a Raging Moon, and "Let Me Down Easy" also became a chart single. (The songwriters reworked "Rebel" for the next Adams album.) Adams was also in demand as a guest performer on records. Vallance was producing the Canadian group Glass Tiger, and Adams came in to sing a duet vocal on their song "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)." It hit number one in Canada in February 1986 and number two in the U.S. eight months later. In April, Adams and Vallance's song "No Way to Treat a Lady" appeared on Bonnie Tyler's album Secret Dreams & Forbidden Fire. (Tyler had covered "Straight from the Heart" on her platinum 1983 album Faster Than the Speed of Night. Four months later, Bonnie Raitt also sang "No Way to Treat a Lady" on her Nine Lives album.) In May 1986, Adams and Vallance's song "It Should Have Been Me" was included on Neil Diamond's album Headed for the Future. (The following year, it was covered by Carly Simon on her album Coming Around Again, with Adams producing.) In June, Adams participated in six stadium concerts as benefits for Amnesty International. In September, the songwriters contributed "Back Where You Started" to the Tina Turner album Break Every Rule.

Into the Fire, the fifth Bryan Adams album, was released in March 1987, prefaced by the single "Heat of the Night," which became Adams' fifth Top Ten hit in the U.S. The album also spawned the Top 40 hits "Hearts on Fire" and "Victim of Love," but its success fell far short of that enjoyed by Reckless. Nevertheless, Into the Fire reached the Top Ten...read more