With his number one Billboard single "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," and being recognized worldwide for his distinguishing, raspy voice, Bryan Adams started his career in the 1970s and has not looked back. In the past 30 years Bryan has written soundtracks for more than 40 motion pictures; received numerous nominations and awards; and three of his 10 albums have achieved multi-platinum status.
Bryan just recently released his 11th album, simply titled "11." VOA's Larry London joined Bryan Adams when his solo tour stopped in Washington D.C.
Now after 30 years of touring, Bryan Adams is doing something he has never done before.
"I've
done shows with Foreigner, Rod Stewart, and then some shows of our
own," he said. "Right now I'm on an acoustic tour. I'm just playing
with my guitar, and tonight we're playing here in Washington D.C., and
it's been amazing because I've never done this before. It's my first
sort of solo tour and it's been an education."
Despite Bryan Adams' solo tour, he still has ambitions to sing with other artists.
"If
something comes along that seems like the right thing to do, then,
yeah, I'd like to do it," he said. "There are singers like Etta James
I'd like to sing with. One big fantasy got fulfilled last year when
Aretha Franklin sang one of my songs; which was the song from "Bobby",
and she sang it as a duet with Mary J. Blige. So, I mean you can't do
much better than that, than having your song being sung by those
people."
Other than writing and singing the hits, Bryan Adams is also recognized for his charity work.
"You
travel the world. You see things, and you can't help but be affected
by it," he said. "Certainly when someone like another musician comes
forward and says, "Hey, how do you feel about being involved in this?"
One of the very first things I did was for Bob Geldof. He invited me
to sing on Live-Aid in 1985."
After achieving worldwide recognition, Bryan believes music should not be focused on one demographic group of people.
"You
know there have been songs that certainly transcended the boundaries,
and I think that is what music is about. Music is about not recognizing
boundaries," he said. "Someone asked me the other day what advice I
would give people who wanted to break into America [musically] and how
to break in as a songwriter, and really, I say don't think about
breaking in anywhere. Just think about your music because music
doesn't know any boundaries."
Bryan Adams tours 10 days every
month. He will continue his acoustic tour throughout the U.S., Europe
and Asia through the end of the year.