Canadian rock legend Bryan Adams launches his 13-date greatest-hits national tour starting today in Victoria. He plays Rogers Arena in Vancouver tomorrow night.
The musician, who grew up on the North Shore, is touring to support his current compilation, Ultimate, which includes hits Run To You, Can’t Stop This Thing We Started and Summer of ’69, among others.
Reviews for Adams’s concerts usually wax effusive about his staying power and ability to still sell out arena bowls, and his rock- and love-anthems that for many, don’t get old.
After Adams’s recent show in Glasgow, Scotland’s Herald newspaper said the performer “was at the top of his game from start to finish . . . and his experience as a performer showed.”
The review said Adams acknowledged as he closed the show: “I think that is as close to magic we can get.”
Born in Kingston, Ont., Adams moved to North Vancouver in the mid-1970s. He began his career as a background vocalist at the age of 17 and by late 1976 he had become vocalist for the band Sweeney Todd, which earlier that year snagged a No. 1 hit on Canadian music charts with the song Roxy Roller. Adams was the lead vocalist on the U.S. remake of the song.
By 1991, Adams would release the album Waking Up The Neighbours — featuring the hit song Everything I do, I do it for You — which would be a chart topper around the globe and hit No. 1 in both Germany and the U.K.
Adams has 20 Juno Awards from 56 nominations, 15 Grammy Award nominations, with one win, and three Academy Award nominations for songs he has written.
Adams has won the Order of Canada and the Order of B.C. for his contributions to music and charities. His charitable work includes Amnesty International, Greenpeace, PETA and Live Aid. His Bryan Adams Foundation, funded mostly by his photography projects, supports educational opportunities for children worldwide.
