After Bryan Adams photographed Hillary Clinton to some acclaim, he has also offered to shoot Obama.

As well as an international singer he has become a respected photographer whose work is currently on display as the official lensman for Hear the World www.hear-the-world.com, a global initiative that raises awareness about the importance of good hearing and the impact of hearing loss.

One of Adams’ most viewed photographs is a recent portrait of Senator Hillary Clinton, which is currently being used as a campaign poster. “I’m flattered that Senator Clinton would use one of my images for such an important time in American politics,” says Adams. “As a Canadian and an impartial observer, I’d be pleased to take Senator Obama’s portrait.”

source: Music-News.com

Share This Article

Bryan Adams’s “Hear the World” photo exhibit features black-and-white shots of Mick Jagger, Amy Winehouse, Placido Domingo and other famous singers cupping their ears in a listening pose.

The 48-year-old Canadian singer, who rocketed to fame with his 1984 album “Reckless” is helping raise money and awareness for the problem of hearing loss. The photos, on display in New York’s Meatpacking District until Thursday before moving to Berlin and Zurich, will be auctioned online after the exhibition ends, with the proceeds going to the Hear the World Foundation.

Adams, still boyish-looking with short sandy hair and a svelte runner’s physique, also is touring the U.S. this month to promote his new album “11” He recently spoke with Bloomberg’s Paul Goguen at the New York exhibit, held in a loft at 413-415 W. 14th St.

Goguen: How did you get interested in hearing loss?

Adams: Hearing is so crucial to a musician. Most people give a lot attention to their eyes or other parts of their anatomy, but there’s not a lot of attention to hearing. In fact, there are people who didn’t want to do this because they feel hearing is sort of attached to the elderly. But in fact, it affects people of all ages. We want to break down the stigma.

Goguen: Was it difficult making the transition from recording artist to photography?

Adams: I don’t really think about crossing borders or boundaries. I just think about making music and I think about making pictures.

Queen Elizabeth

Goguen: I understand one of your photos was made into a Canadian stamp. How did that happen?

Adams: I did some portraits of Queen Elizabeth II on her Golden Jubilee. The Canadian post office got a copy of some of the photographs and chose one for a stamp.

Goguen: You enjoyed tremendous success in the 1980s as a recording artist. What was it like to get so much attention at such a young age?

Adams: It was a really exciting time and I’ve got great memories of watching it all take off. A friend of mine told me, “I’d really like to be you except for the first 25 years.” But actually the first 25 years were really exciting.

Goguen: “Reckless” was No. 1 on the Billboard charts and produced six hit singles, including “Heaven” and “Summer of ‘69.” What made it such a success?

Adams: It was like catching a wave. I had three albums before then and each one built a little following. By the time “Reckless” came out, there was a lot of anticipation. And we just hit the right chord; that’s all there was to it.

Goguen: You are promoting your new album with a series of acoustic concerts. Why acoustic?

Adams: Because it was easier to move a small army of me than a large army of my band. It’s purely for the sake of quickness.

Source: Bloomberg : Interview by Paul Goguen

Share This Article

“Tonight We Have the Stars” will be the second single of the new album “11″ and will be released on the 30th May.

source: schattenblick.de

Share This Article

Bryan to perform intimate acoustic shows similar to “the 11 promo tour in Europe” now in America

Bryan is doing 15 shows across America in May to promote the upcoming release of ‘11’ in America. These will be exclusive performances in very intimate and unique venues including small theatres, clubs and even a church.

Tickets will be available by April 11th. Please check out our tour & ticket section regularly for online ticket ordering and further information.

Source: BA Offical Website

Share This Article

CTV News - Bryan’s secret concert in Vancouver

VANCOUVER — On the night before Good Friday, a few hundred people were treated to a religious experience at a grand downtown Vancouver church, courtesy of hometown boy Bryan Adams.

“You know the last time I played in this area I think it was a nightclub called The Cave,” he told the crowd. “So it’s good to be back.”

Billed as a private, intimate event, it lived up to the promise, with Adams speaking directly to the audience – partly filled with people he knew – and audience members feeling comfortable talking back.

“Hey, remember Black Bart’s?” someone yelled out, referring to an old Burnaby club.

“I do remember that place,” he replied. “I was trying to forget it.”

Asked at a press conference before the event why he opted for a secret concert as opposed to playing a public, ticketed show, Adams fingered his manager, Vancouver-based Bruce Allen.

“You’d have to ask Bruce, who arranged that. I wanted to tell everybody about it. I don’t know why it was a secret. I just think they thought it was a good idea.”

Adams begins a world tour next month in South America. There are no Canadian dates.

It’s been years since Adams has lived in Vancouver (he’s a Londoner now), but he is still strongly identified with the city, particularly by Vancouverites – and still has personal connections here, too.

“My family still live here and I have a recording studio here, which I like to go and visit once in a while and see if it’s still standing,” he told reporters.

“I’m amazed every time I come back to Vancouver how much it’s changed. I mean, you go away for a month and there’s three more skyscrapers. It’s great. I think the city’s developing beautifully.”

Adams was in Vancouver to celebrate his mother’s 80th birthday, on Wednesday. When asked at the news conference whether his mother would be at the concert, he said she’d come to every one of his shows if she could. “She’d be there every day. She’d be selling t-shirts.”

And there she was in a pew, 12 rows back from the stage, sitting next to Adams’ brother (who also celebrated a birthday on Wednesday). When Adams asked her to “stand up and take a bow,” the crowd broke into an impromptu Happy Birthday to You. After some wild cheering, Adams joked “Let’s get back to me now, okay?”

He was clearly comfortable in front of the hometown crowd, in fine voice (particularly as the evening progressed) and looking pleased with himself after each well-received number.

Adams recently played 11 shows in 11 days across Europe to promote the new album (his 11th studio recording). He played several tracks from 11 Thursday night, but it was the older songs – such as Cuts Like a Knife, Run to You and Summer of ‘69 – that got the most enthusiastic response from the sedate, if appreciative, crowd.

When he performed Heaven, he gestured up at the church. “I’ve never played in such a beautiful building,” he said earlier in the evening.

Among the stage banter highlights was a story Adams related that took place at his hotel earlier in the day. While waiting for a key, Adams was approached by another woman, who started chatting with him. She said she was in town to see Bryan Adams, clearly not recognizing who he was. “I said that’s really cool,” Adams told the audience, before asking the woman to stand up if she was there. She was. “Glad you could make it,” Adams told her.

He also told a story about trying to move from a less-than-desirable apartment in Burnaby to a place for rent in Kits Point. When Adams arrived at the Kits Point apartment, the landlord told him “sorry,” the place had been rented. But then he recognized Adams as a background vocalist from a CBC recording session the previous week (the landlord, it turns out, played the trumpet) and managed to get Adams into the apartment anyway, along with his brother.

That was the place, Adams told the audience, where he learned how to write songs and in fact where he wrote one of his huge, early hits, Straight from the Heart. “Don’t ever say that music don’t pay,” he said, before launching into the song.

Standing there with his guitar and his harmonica, under the huge stained glass church window, Adams seemed less the international superstar and more the grateful recipient of a warm homecoming.

It all felt very homey: brother videotaping his former roommate on-stage; mom accepting birthday wishes from friends – and polite strangers; Adams pausing to autograph CDs on-stage after he was done playing.

“Hope to see you soon,” he told the crowd after an hour and 10 minutes. “Thank you very much.” And he left the sanctuary.

Credits: theglobeandmail.com, Video: CTV

Share This Article

Bryan Adams was recently interviewed by Tom Harrison from Canwest News Service

How is this record being marketed?
I’m not sure, ask Bruce Allen! (Adams’ manager). Seriously, I’m not a marketing person, but in order to re-introduce myself, I’ve decided to do acoustic shows where I play a combination of new and old songs, chat a bit about them and do a show a day. I could actually do more, but during the day I do press interviews and TV…

Has this record presented a particular challenge to you?

Every record is a challenge. The music is, of course, the most difficult part, but I don’t feel pressured to deliver. I just make songs and then one day I have enough for a record. It’s really no different than it has ever been; I just plod along and one day it all comes together.

How was it produced?
I produced it on tour and backstage just like the last album. I really enjoy the process of having all this time on tour to record music. It’s quite funny, sometimes, when people from the hotels we’re staying at walk into my room and see microphones in the bathrooms, mattresses from the bed against walls to make the room dead sounding — not to mention all the sheets hung all over the place.

What do you want from a record these days?
Actually, I don’t look for anything particular, I just get on with making the best songs that I can. I have never liked following a trend. If I look back I think it’s all quite consistent. I mean, you could take any of the songs off this album and they would work on any of the other albums. My voice is really hanging in there. I feel like it’s sounding better than ever, perhaps that’s because I tour so much.

Is there a song on the album you regard as pivotal — a song that pointed to the sound you wanted, or said what you wanted the album to say?
Yes, perhaps the opening song of the record, Tonight We Have The Stars. After that song was done, I knew there was an album in the making.

The way people hear or buy music has changed. The recording industry has changed so much to the extent that there is talk of the CD’s demise. Starbucks is stepping up, Radiohead is selling directly to fans, some labels are selling purely digitized music and not bothering to make CDs. Did you have to consider your options?
My theory is, if the songs are good enough, the rest will take care of itself. After all, it’s music that everyone wants, so just get on with it. All this chit chat about digital downloading . . . I mean bootlegging has been there all along. I can remember in the mid-90’s when we were touring Asia, the record company was apologizing to me for all the bootlegging and album rip-offs. It was a joke actually. They estimated that for every CD we sold, 10 were being counterfeited. So what is the difference today? Nothing. Musicians have to take it on the chin, as usual.

Is the album a continuation of the previous record or a reaction?
It was good to get back into making records with the last album. I was slightly disillusioned at the beginning of the decade as the record company I was signed to was sold off, and all of my friends that I had there had been fired or laid off. In retrospect, I took it kind of personally. I didn’t like the way these people had been treated and I didn’t like the way I became a number. Plus, I got stuck with Jimmy Iovine (president of Interscope Records, where Adams ended up), who was about as interested in my music as I was in being a rap artist. Now I see it was just the system in turmoil and that if you stay true to yourself, the system will adapt . . . and so will you.

As you get older, is it becoming harder to write?
I don’t think so. I think it was always hard to write songs. Let me clarify that; it was easy to write songs, just hard to write good ones. Songwriting was always a bit of a graft, Vallance and I spent years grafting away. It’s the only way to get things done. Dedication to the craft.

Do you get complacent and have to kick your butt when you become aware that you might be growing complacent? Or does touring and other pursuits circumvent that?
Ask anyone about me and the last adjective you will ever hear about me is complacent! I’ve worked out a way to work and enjoy my life while working — that is simply not to do it all the time. I simply dedicate myself to art, and creating it, when the spirit moves me. Then, when I feel like I need to make the time for it, I go away, rent a house somewhere by the sea, and write.

What prompted you to write with Jim Vallance again?
There was never a time I didn’t want to work with Jim. He is by far the finest musician I’ve ever worked with. This is not to say other people I’ve worked with aren’t as talented, because they are. It’s just that Jim and I created a kind of sound together. Plus, he can play so many instruments so well. I remember when we first started writing in the 70s, I was blown away with how he could play drums and bass with so much ease, not to mention piano and guitar. It was like working with a one man band. I’m super happy to have him included on this latest album.

Were there a few awkward moments initially or did you pick up where you left off?
We wrote over the internet; it was simple.

Was it a good experience?
Very.

You also use a mixture of old and new associates such as Pat Steward and Colin Cripps. Why?
Pat has worked with me before on classic tracks like Summer Of ‘69 and Colin was with us on tour with his wife, Kathleen Edwards. I remember hearing this guitar sound during their soundcheck and I ran out to see what it was, and introduced myself to him. I’m always searching for something to enhance what I do. Sometimes it’s an instrument like the Irish flute on the Unplugged album. Or sometimes it’s another musician.

I get the feeling that you might be entering a new phase of your career where you are more relaxed. The record just seems more reflective
Perhaps so. It’s reflective but, for me, it’s also forward thinking. People always ask about the past and for me it’s just that . . . past. I only think about today and tomorrow, but it’s mostly about today . . . that way tomorrow will take care of itself.

Credits: Canwest News Service, Photo: APA

Share This Article

Bryan Adams was talking to BBC News entertainment reporter Mark Savage.

An album, a tour and an art exhibition - that’s a lot to take on at once
Yes, especially for one afternoon! They sort of coincidentally crashed into one another - although the album was actually finished last year and I’ve been sitting around waiting to put it out.

On tour you’re going to be playing in small venues like churches and cabaret bars. What’s the idea behind that?
It’s not really a full tour. It’s an hors d’oeuvre, an amuse bouche, where you get a little taster of what the album’s going to be like. I’ll sing acoustically for eleven songs, which is kind of the theme of everything.

How do you psyche yourself up before going on stage?

I just have a cup of tea and go do it. Just a regular cup. No milk.

I’ve seen you pull people out of the audience to sing with you. Is that fun?
I like the idea of the talent show. The badder the better!

Maybe you should be a guest judge on The X Factor?
I’ve never been asked - but the thing is I have a really hard time giving criticism to people. I don’t think it’s really my place.

Perhaps they could do one of those theme weeks where all the contestants have to sing a Bryan Adams song…
If someone asked me, maybe I would do it. Why not? Put that in your article and see if I get the call!

The women you’ve photographed for your exhibition are all very strong and independent. Was it intimidating taking their portraits?
They’re not intimidating at all. They were quite sweet. All of them.

How do you get people to relax in front of the camera?
You get them naked to start out with and then just go backwards! Seriously, though, you’ve got to build up an atmosphere of comfort. Some people came prepared - Vivienne Westwood came with the most amazing clothes on and she looked great and so it was very simple.

Why did you call the album 11?
It’s my eleventh studio album, and there 11 songs on it. There are no secondary meanings.

It’s nothing to do with Spinal Tap, then?
[Laughs] I hadn’t thought of that! Maybe we could use that in the adverts: “This album is one louder than 10!”

You’re well known for your love songs, but this record seems a bit more philosophical. Is that a fair assessment?
In a lot of ways, the album is about searching for something. There’s even a song called Something To Believe In. I don’t know if it’s so much philosophical, it’s just where I’m at. Perhaps it’s just my time to be thinking like that…

You played at Live 8 and headlined a benefit concert for victims of the Pakistan earthquake in 2006. Do you think people would be surprised at how political you are?
I’m just interested in the world. When the Berlin Wall was about to come down, I went to Berlin. And then, when the bombing of New York happened, I went to New York as well. I mean, I just wanted to. It’s just my style.

Did you know that President Bush named you as one of the artists he has on his iPod?
No, I didn’t! My opinion of him has just gone up!

You don’t have a record deal in the US at the moment. Is that problematic?
I’m not really sure. I’ve got a contract with Universal for the rest of the world, and with America we’ll just scratch our heads and fumble along. If fans want to buy the album they can get it on the internet, and you’ll probably be able to buy it on my website too.

Has the rise of internet piracy affected your sales?
I couldn’t really be objective about that. I’ve already had an incredible run as an artist and I can’t always expect to have that kind of success. But I think it’s going to be very difficult for young artists that are coming up. I doubt we’ll ever see the Michael Jackson sales numbers ever again.

Do you think that will put people off making music?
If it does, they shouldn’t be in the record business in the first place. Making music is only about making music, it’s not about selling records. People who chase money make crap. When I see people bragging about record sales it makes me want to dive behind the sofa.

Source: BBC News

Share This Article

Share This Article

Don’t worry if you missed the show on 12th March. You can watch the 9:59 minutes video now on our website.

Bryan on “The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos”

Share This Article

An exhibition of Bryan Adams’s photographs will be held at the National Portrait Gallery in London

Click here to watch the interview

Bryan Adams has photographed several eminent women from the world of business and the arts. He’s also photographed one male news presenter…

To coincide with the release of his 11th album, Bryan Adams is performing in 11 countries in 11 days. And not surprisingly, the title of his new album is “Eleven”.

At the same time, an exhibition of Bryan Adams’s photographs will be held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Called Modern Muses, it features portraits of 21 women who are leaders in the arts, business and charity.

Bryan Adams came into the studio to discuss his photographs. While he was here he took the opportunity to create a couple more masterpieces, including the image above.

Credits: channel4.com

Share This Article