Bryan Adams

Adams was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, to English parents. From his grandmother he also inherited a Maltese ancestry. As Adams' father was a diplomat, he grew up travelling around the world with his parents. Subsequently, most of his youth was spent growing up in Europe and the Middle East, part of the time in Birre, Portugal, situated close to Lisbon; where he learned the Portuguese language. In 1973, Adams' family returned to Canada and settled down in North Vancouver, British Columbia. His musical goals began during his teenage years, and as he explained to Carlo D'Agostino from Rolling Stone magazine, "In high school, I was too far into my music to even pay attention to girls." He washed dishes, sold pet food, and worked in record stores, and at the age of 15, Adams quit school to play in nightclubs with bands like Shock and Sweeney Todd, who released an album called If Wishes Were Horses with the fifteen year old Adams as lead singer. A serendipitous meeting with drummer Jim Vallance in a Vancouver music store led to a song-writing partnership that continues to this day. They wrote songs for many other artists notably Neil Diamond, Kiss, Prism, Bonnie Raitt, Rod Stewart,... more...