Illustration by Arthur Rackham of the ballad The Twa Corbies

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides. The form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century it took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and the term is now often used as synonymous with any love song, particularly the pop or rock power ballad.

Origins[link]

The ballad probably derives its name from medieval French dance songs or "ballares" (from which we also get ballet), as did the alternative rival form that became the French Ballade. In theme and function they may originate from Scandinavian and Germanic traditions of storytelling that can be seen in poems such as Beowulf.^[1] The earliest example we have of a recognisable ballad in form in England is ‘Judas’ in a 13th-century manuscript.^[2]

Ballad form[link]

Most northern and west European ballads are written in ballad stanzas or quatrains (four-line stanzas) of alternating lines of iambic (an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable) tetrameter (eight syllables) and iambic trimeter (six syllables), known as ballad meter. Usually, only the second and fourth line of a quatrain are rhymed (in the scheme a, b, c, b), which has been taken to suggest that, originally, ballads consisted of couplets (two lines) of rhymed verse, each of 14 syllables.^[3] As can be seen in this stanza from ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Annet’:

The horse| fair Ann|et rode| upon|
He amb|led like| the wind|,
With sil|ver he| was shod| before,
With burn|ing gold| behind|.^[1]

However, there is considerable variation on this pattern in almost every respect, including length, number of lines and rhyming scheme, making the strict definition of a ballad extremely difficult. In southern and eastern Europe, and in countries that derive their tradition from them, ballad structure differs significantly, like Spanish romanceros, which are octosyllabic and use consonance rather than rhyme.^[4]

In all traditions most ballads are narrative in nature, with a self-contained story, often concise and relying on imagery, rather than description, which can be tragic, historical, romantic or comic.^[3] Another common feature of ballads is repetition, sometimes of fourth lines in succeeding stanzas, as a refrain, sometimes of third and fourth lines of a stanza and sometimes of entire stanzas.^[1]

Composition[link]

Scholars of ballads are often divided into two camps, the ‘communalists’ who, following the line established by the German scholar Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) and the Brothers Grimm, argue that ballads arose by a combined communal effort and did not have a single author, and ‘individualists’, following the thinking of English collector Cecil Sharp, who assert that there was a single original author.^[2] The communalist position tends to lead to the view that more recent, particularly printed broadside ballads, where we may even know the author, are a debased form of the genre. The individualists position has tended to lead to the view that later changes in the words of ballads are corruptions of an original text.^[5] More recently scholars have pointed to the interchange of oral and written forms of the ballad.^[6]

Classification[link]

Illustration by Arthur Rackham to Young Bekie.

European Ballads have been generally classified into three major groups: traditional, broadside and literary. In America a distinction is drawn between ballads that are versions of European, particularly British and Irish songs, and 'native American ballads', developed without reference to earlier songs. A further development was the evolution of the blues ballad, which mixed the genre with Afro-American music. For the late 19th century the music publishing industry found a market for what are often termed sentimental ballads, and these are the origin of the modern use of the term ballad to mean a slow love song.

Traditional ballads[link]

The traditional, classical or popular (meaning of the people) ballad has been seen as originating with the wandering minstrels of late medieval Europe.^[1] From the end of the 15th century we have printed ballads that suggest a rich tradition of popular music. We know from a reference in William Langland's Piers Plowman, that ballads about Robin Hood were being sung from at least the late 14th century and the oldest detailed material we have is Wynkyn de Worde's collection of Robin Hood ballads printed about 1495.^[7]

Early collections of English ballads were made by Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) and in the Roxburghe Ballads collected by Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (1661–1724).^[7] In the 18th century there were increasing numbers of such collections, including Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth: or, Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719–20) and Bishop Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765).^[7] The last of these also contained some oral material and by the end of the 18th century this was becoming increasingly common, with collections including John Ritson's, The Bishopric Garland (1784), which paralleled the work of figures like Robert Burns and Walter Scott in Scotland.^[7]

Key work on the traditional ballad was undertaken in the late 19th century in Denmark by Svend Grundtvig and for England and Scotland by the Harvard professor Francis James Child.^[2] They attempted to record and classify all the known ballads and variants in their chosen regions. Since Child died before writing a commentary on his work it is uncertain exactly how and why he differentiated the 305 ballads printed that would be published as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.^[8] There have been many different and contradictory attempts to classify traditional ballads by theme, but commonly identified types are the religious, supernatural, tragic, love ballads, historic, legendary and humorous.^[1]

Broadsides[link]

An 18th-century broadside ballad: The tragical ballad: or, the lady who fell in love with her serving-man.

Broadside ballads (also known as 'roadsheet’, ‘stall’, ‘vulgar’ or ‘come all ye’ ballads) were a product of the development of cheap print in the 16th century. They were generally printed on one side of a medium to large sheet of poor quality paper. In their heyday of the first half of the 17th century, they were printed in black-letter or gothic type and included multiple, eye-catching illustrations, a popular tune tile, as well as an alluring poem.^[9] By the 18th century, they were printed in white letter or roman type and often without much decoration (as well as tune title). These later sheets could include many individual songs, which would be cut apart and sold individually as "slipsongs." Alternatively, they might be folded to make small cheap books or "chapbooks" which often drew on ballad stories.^[10] They were produced in huge numbers, with over 400,000 being sold in England annually by the 1660s.^[11] Tessa Watt estimates the number of copies sold may have been in the millions.^[12] Many were sold by travelling chapmen in city streets or at fairs.^[13] The subject matter varied from what has been defined as the traditional ballad, although many traditional ballads were printed as broadsides. Among the topics were love, religion, drinking-songs, legends, and early journalism, which included disasters, political events and signs, wonders and prodigies.^[14]

Literary ballads[link]

Literary or lyrical ballads grew out of an increasing interest in the ballad form among social elites and intellectuals, particularly in the Romantic movement from the later 18th century. Respected literary figures like Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott in Scotland both collected and wrote their own ballads, using the form to create an artistic product. Similarly in England William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge produced a collection of Lyrical Ballads in 1798, including Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. At the same time in Germany Goethe cooperated with Schiller on a series of ballads, some of which were later set to music by Schubert.^[15] Later important examples of the poetic form included Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Barrack Room Ballads’ (1892-6) and Oscar Wilde’s ‘Ballad of Reading Gaol’ (1897).^[16]

Ballad operas[link]

Painting based on The Beggar's Opera, Act III Scene 2, William Hogarth, c. 1728

In the 18th century ballad operas developed as a form of English stage entertainment, partly in opposition to the Italian domination of the London operatic scene.^[17] It consisted of racy and often satirical spoken (English) dialogue, interspersed with songs that are deliberately kept very short to minimize disruptions to the flow of the story. Subject matter involved the lower, often criminal, orders, and typically showed a suspension (or inversion) of the high moral values of the Italian opera of the period. The first, most important and successful was The Beggar's Opera of 1728, with a libretto by John Gay and music arranged by John Christopher Pepusch, both of whom probably influenced by Parisian vaudeville and the burlesques and musical plays of Thomas D'Urfey (1653–1723), a number of whose collected ballads they used in their work.^[18] Gay produced further works in this style, including a sequel under the title Polly. Henry Fielding, Colley Cibber, Arne, Dibdin, Arnold, Shield, Jackson of Exeter, Hook and many others produced ballad operas that enjoyed great popularity.^[19] Ballad opera was attempted in America and Prussia. Later it moved into a more pastoral form, like Isaac Bickerstaffe's Love in a Village (1763) and Shield’s Rosina (1781), using more original music that imitated, rather than reproduced, existing ballads. Although the form declined in popularity towards the end of the 18th century its influence can be seen in light operas like that of Gilbert and Sullivan's early works like The Sorcerer.^[20] In the 20th century, one of the most influential plays, Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's (1928) The Threepenny Opera was a reworking of The Beggar's Opera, setting a similar story with the same characters, and containing much of the same satirical bite, but only using one tune from the original.^[21] The term ballad opera has also been used to describe musicals using folk music, such as The Martins and the Coys in 1944, and Peter Bellamy's The Transports in 1977.^[22] The satiric elements of ballad opera can be seen in some modern musicals such as Chicago and Cabaret.^[23]

Beyond Europe[link]

Native American ballads[link]

Statue of John Henry outside the town of Talcott in Summers County, West Virginia

Native American ballads are ballads that are native to North America (not to be confused with ballads performed by native Americans).^[24] Some 300 ballads sung in North America have been identified as having origins in British traditional or broadside ballads.^[24] Examples include ‘The Streets of Laredo’, which was found in Britain and Ireland as ‘The Unfortunate Rake’; however, a further 400 have been identified as originating in North America, including among the best known, ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett' and 'Jesse James'.^[24] They became an increasing area of interest for scholars in the 19th century and most were recorded or catalogued by George Malcolm Laws, although some have since been found to have British origins and additional songs have since been collected.^[24] They are usually considered closest in form to British broadside ballads and in terms of style are largely indistinguishable, however, they demonstrate a particular concern with occupations, journalistic style and often lack the ribaldry of British broadside ballads.^[6]

Blues ballads[link]

The blues ballad has been seen as a fusion of Anglo-American and Afro-American styles of music from the 19th century. Blues ballads tend to deal with active protagonists, often anti-heroes, resisting adversity and authority, but frequently lacking a strong narrative and emphasising character instead.^[24] They were often accompanied by banjo and guitar which followed the blues musical format.^[6] The most famous blues ballads include those about John Henry and Casey Jones.^[24]

Bush ballads[link]

Cover to Banjo Paterson's seminal 1905 collection of bush ballads, entitled The Old Bush Songs

The ballad was taken to Australia by early settlers from Britain and Ireland and gained particular foothold in the rural outback. The rhyming songs, poems and tales written in the form of ballads often relate to the itinerant and rebellious spirit of Australia in The Bush, and the authors and performers are often referred to as bush bards.^[25] The 19th century was the golden age of bush ballads. Several collectors have catalogued the songs including John Meredith whose recording in the 1950s became the basis of the collection in the National Library of Australia.^[25] The songs tell personal stories of life in the wide open country of Australia. Typical subjects include mining, raising and droving cattle, sheep shearing, wanderings, war stories, the 1891 Australian shearers' strike, class conflicts between the landless working class and the squatters (landowners), and outlaws such as Ned Kelly, as well as love interests and more modern fare such as trucking.^[26] The most famous bush ballad is "Waltzing Matilda", which has been called "the unofficial national anthem of Australia".^[27]

Sentimental ballads[link]

Now the most commonly understood meaning of the term ballad, sentimental ballads, sometimes called "tear-jerkers" or "drawing-room ballads" owing to their popularity with the middle classes, had their origins in the early ‘Tin Pan Alley’ music industry of the later 19th century. They were generally sentimental, narrative, strophic songs published separately or as part of an opera (descendants perhaps of broadside ballads, but with printed music, and usually newly composed. Such songs include "Little Rosewood Casket" (1870), "After the Ball" (1892) and "Danny Boy".^[24] By the Victorian era, ballad had come to mean any sentimental popular song, especially so-called "royalty ballads", which publishers would pay popular singers to perform in Britain and the United States in "ballad concerts." Some of Stephen Foster's songs exemplify this genre.^[28] By the 1920s, composers of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway used ballad to signify a slow, sentimental tune or love song, often written in a fairly standardized form (see below). Jazz musicians sometimes broaden the term still further to embrace all slow-tempo pieces.^[29]

Jazz, blues and traditional pop[link]

As new genres of music, such as ragtime, blues and jazz, began to emerge in the early 20th century the popularity of the genre faded, but the association with sentimentality led to the term ballad being used for a slow love song from the 1950s onwards.^[24] Most pop standard and jazz ballads are built from a single, introductory verse; usually around 16 bars in length, and ending on the dominant; the chorus or refrain, usually it is 16 or 32 bars long, and in AABA form (though other forms such as ABAC are not uncommon). In AABA forms, the B section is usually referred to as the bridge; often a brief coda, sometimes based on material from the bridge, was added as in "Over the Rainbow".^[30] Other key traditional pop and jazz ballads include: "Body and Soul" by Johnny Green; "Misty" by Erroll Garner; "The Man I Love" by George Gershwin; "My Funny Valentine" by Rodgers and Hart, "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday, "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" by Cole Porter, the instrumental ballad "Naima" by John Coltrane, "In a Sentimental Mood" by Duke Ellington and "Always" by Irving Berlin.^[31]

Pop and rock ballads[link]

To emphasize the emotional aspect of a power ballad, crowds customarily hold up lit lighters.^[32][33]

The most common use of the term ballad in modern pop music is for an emotional love song.^[34] When the word ballad appears in the title of a song, as for example in The Beatles's "The Ballad of John and Yoko" or Billy Joel's "The Ballad of Billy the Kid", the folk-music sense is generally implied. Ballad is also sometimes applied to strophic story-songs more generally, such as Don McLean's "American Pie".^[35]

Power ballads[link]

Simon Frith identifies the origins of the power ballad in the emotional singing of soul artists, particularly Ray Charles and the adaptation of this style by figures such as Eric Burdon, Tom Jones and Joe Cocker to produce slow tempo songs often building to a loud and emotive chorus backed by drums, electric guitars and sometimes choirs.^[36] According to Charles Aaron, power ballads came into existence in the early 1970s, when rock stars attempted to convey profound messages to audiences.^[37] He argues that the power ballad broke into the mainstream of American consciousness in 1976 as FM radio gave a new lease of life to earlier songs like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" (1971), Aerosmith's "Dream On" (1973), and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (1974).^[37] Other notable examples include Nazareth's version of "Love Hurts" (1975), Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is"^[36] and Scorpions "Still Loving You" (both 1984), Heart's "What About Love" (1985),^[38] and Whitesnake's "Is This Love" (1987).^[39]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ballads

• Border ballads
• Corrido — a form of ballad originating in northern Mexico and the U.S. Southwest
• Graves, Alfred Perceval
• List of the Child Ballads
• List of folk song collections
• List of Irish ballads
• List of rock ballads
• Murder ballad
• Roud Folk Song Index
• Song structure (popular music)
• Torch song

Notes[link]

References and further reading[link]

• Middleton, Richard. "Popular Music (I)". Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (subscription required). Accessed 2007-04-06.
• Randel, Don (1986). The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-61525-5.
• Temperley, Nicholas. "Ballad (II, 2)". Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (subscription required). Accessed 2007-04-06.
• Witmer, Robert. "Ballad (jazz)". Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (subscription required). Accessed 2007-04-06.
• Marcello Sorce Keller, "Sul castel di mirabel: Life of a Ballad in Oral Tradition and Choral Practice", Ethnomusicology, XXX(1986), no. 3, 449- 469.

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2011)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ballads

• The Ballad Society of Japan
• The British Literary Ballads Archive
• The Bodleian Library Ballad Collection: view facsimiles of printed ballads
• The English Broadside Ballad Archive: searchable database of ballad images, citations, and recordings
• Welsh Ballads Website
• The Traditional Ballad Index
• Black-letter Broadside Ballads Of The years 1595-1639 From the Collection of Samuel Pepys
• Smithsonian Global Sound: The Music of Poetry — audio samples of poems, hymns and songs in ballad meter.
• The Oxford Book of Ballads, complete 1910 book by Arthur Quiller-Couch
• Great Rock Ballads
• Jazz and Vocal Ballads
• English Broadside Ballad Archive -- an archive of images and recordings of over 4,000 pre-1700 broadside ballads

Bryan Adams
Background information
Birth name	Bryan Guy Adams
Born	(1959-11-05) 5 November 1959 (age 52) Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, photographer, actor, record producer, social activist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, bass, harmonica
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Polydor
Website	bryanadams.com

Bryan Adams, OC OBC (born Bryan Guy Adams, 5 November 1959) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. For his contributions to music, Adams has many awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations, 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television in 1992. He has also won MTV, ASCAP, and American Music awards. In addition, he has won two Ivor Novello Awards for song composition and has been nominated for several Golden Globe Awards and three times for Academy Awards for his songwriting for films.

Adams was awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia for contributions to popular music and philanthropic work via his own foundation, which helps improve education for people around the world.^[1][2]

Adams was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with the 2,435th star in March 2011 and Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998,^[3] and in April 2006 he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at Canada's Juno Awards.^[4] In 2008, Bryan was ranked 38 on the list of All-Time top artists by the Billboard Hot 100 50th Anniversary Charts. On 13 January 2010, he received the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award for his part in numerous charitable concerts and campaigns during his career,^[5] and on 1 May 2010 was given the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for his 30 years of contributions to the arts.^[6]

Early life[link]

Adams was born in Kingston, Ontario, to parents Conrad and Jane, who had emigrated from England in the 1950s.^[7] From his grandmother, he also inherited Maltese ancestry. Originally a soldier in England, Adams' father became a Canadian diplomat, latterly attached to the United Nations.^[7] Adams grew up traveling around the world with his parents, with his father's diplomatic postings in Europe and the Middle East. He traveled through the United Kingdom, and the Middle East, and spent more than four years in Lisbon, Portugal and a year in Vienna, Austria. After his parents divorce,^[7] in 1973 Adams and his mother returned to settle in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Music career[link]

Early career[link]

Around the age of 14-15, Adams worked as a dishwasher to save money for a proper guitar. He quit the job after a year and started auditioning as a guitarist while rehearsing his own band in his mother's rented basement in North Vancouver. Adams elected to sing until they found a singer, but they never found one, and his auditioning landed him a few jobs, with bands like Shock and Sweeney Todd, who in 1976 released If Wishes Were Horses with the 15-year-old Adams as the singer.^[8] He quit school to play nightclubs and go on the road and upon his return he settled into the Vancouver studio scene, working as a background vocalist for the CBC and working with keyboardist Robbie King, whom Adams attributes as having given him his first paying session.

In 1978, at the age of 18, Adams met Jim Vallance introduced by a mutual friend in a Vancouver music store. Vallance was the former drummer and principal songwriter for Vancouver based rock band Prism and had recently quit that band to focus on a career as a studio musician and songwriter. They agreed to meet at Vallance's home studio a few days later, which proved to be the beginning of a partnership which still exists today. Later in 1978, Adams signed to A&M records for the paltry sum of one dollar.^[9] Some of the first demos written in 1978 have surfaced over the years, most notably "I'm Ready" (recorded for both the album Cuts Like a Knife and later his release for MTV Unplugged) and "Remember," which was recorded on his first album. Both songs were covered by other artists even before his first album was released. Also recorded during this time was Adams' first single, "Let Me Take You Dancing," which made the Canadian RPM chart in March 1979 and it's B-Side Don't Turn Me Away, which has never appeared outside of the original 7" and 12" singles. An early version of "Straight From The Heart" was written during this period. The song was later recorded for Adams' third album "Cuts Like A Knife" in 1983 and released as a single, becoming Adams's first top ten record in the US in 1983.

1980s[link]

Adams' self-titled debut album was released in February 1980, and marked the beginning of what was to become a long songwriting partnership between Adams and co-writer Jim Vallance. With the exception of "Remember" and "Wastin' Time", most of the album was recorded from 29 October up until 29 November 1979 at Manta Studios in Toronto and co-produced by Adams and Vallance. The album was certified gold in Canada in 1986.^[10]

Adams' second album, You Want It You Got It, was recorded in New York City in two weeks and it marked Adams' first album co-produced by Bob Clearmountain.^{[citation needed]} It was released in 1981 and contained the FM radio hit "Lonely Nights," but it was not until his third album that he achieved international recognition, popularity and sales.

Adams also co-wrote many songs for other bands during this time including "War Machine" and "Rock and Roll Hell" for Kiss, and "No Way to Treat a Lady" for Bonnie Raitt.^{[citation needed]}

Cuts Like a Knife, which was released in January 1983, was Adams' breakout album due mainly to the lead singles. "Straight from the Heart" was the most successful song, reaching number ten on the Billboard Hot 100.^[11] Another single, "Cuts Like a Knife" charted at number 15. "This Time" also placed on the Hot 100. Music videos were released for four of the singles from the album. "Cuts Like a Knife" arguably became Adams' most recognizable and popular song from the album. Its music video received heavy airplay on music television channels. The album peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 album chart and achieved three times platinum status in Canada, platinum in the United States and gold in Australia.^[10][11][12]

Adams' best-selling album, Reckless, co-produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain, peaked at number one on the Billboard 200. The album was released in November 1984 and featured the singles, "Run to You", "Summer of '69", "Heaven", "One Night Love Affair", "Somebody", and "It's Only Love", a duet with Tina Turner. All the singles had accompanying music videos and all charted on the Billboard Hot 100 but only "Run to You", "Summer of '69", and "Heaven" peaked in the top ten. "Heaven" became the most successful single from Reckless at the time of its release on the pop charts, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the mainstream rock chart.^[11] "It's Only Love" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. In 1986, the song won an MTV award for Best Stage Performance.^[13] After the release of the album, Adams was nominated for Best Male Rock Performance.^[13] The album is Adams' best-selling album in the United States and was certified five times platinum.^[14]

In December 1984, Adams and his touring band, which consisted of Keith Scott, Dave Taylor, keyboarder Johnny 'Blitz' Hannah and new drummer Pat Steward, played concerts in Chicago, Detroit, New York and Philadelphia.^[15] In early 1985, Adams started a tour throughout the United States, then later Japan, Australia, Europe and at last Canada.^[15] After winning four Juno Awards, Adams started a Canadian tour through major cities across that country. Later he headed south towards the American West Coast, culminating with 2 dates at the studded Paladium in Los Angeles.^[15]

After the tour in the United States, Adams took part of a grand ensemble of Canadian artists named Northern Lights, who recorded the song "Tears Are Not Enough" for the African famine relief effort. Adams later headed back to Europe for a fifty city concert tour with rock singer Tina Turner culminating in April with his return to London to headline three sold-out shows at the Hammersmith Odeon.^[15] Adams began the first leg of his tour entitled "World Wide in '85" which started in Oklahoma and ended in October 1985.^[15] Adams later visited Vancouver, Canada, and afterward returned to the American East Coast to play 2 sold-out concerts in New York.^[15]

The follow-up album to Reckless was Into the Fire which was released in 1987. The album was recorded at Cliffhanger Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia and mixed at AIR Studios in London and Warehouse Studio in Vancouver. This album contained the hit songs "Heat of the Night" and "Hearts on Fire" and hit the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic.^{[citation needed]}

In 1989 Adams did backup singing on Mötley Crüe's album Dr. Feelgood and also on Belinda Carlisle's song "Whatever It Takes" which appeared on her Album Runaway Horses.^{[citation needed]}

1990s[link]

Adams' next album, Waking Up the Neighbours, co-produced by Adams and Mutt Lange, peaked at number six on the Billboard 200.^[11] It was even more successful on the other side of the Atlantic, reaching number 1 on both big European markets, the UK and Germany. The album was released in September 1991 and featured "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", his second 1 hit single in Billboard Hot 100. This song was featured on the album and a movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner and Alan Rickman. The single topped the charts in numerous countries around the world including big markets such as the US, the UK, France, Australia and Germany. "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" spent a record-breaking 16 consecutive weeks at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. It also achieved record-breaking sales in the US.^[14][16][17] Canadian content regulations were revised in 1991 to allow radio stations to credit airplay of this album towards their legal requirements to play Canadian music.^[17] Adams won a Grammy Award in 1991 for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television.^[18][19]

Adams further supported the album with his tour, Waking Up the World which started on 4 October 1991, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. On 18 December 1991, Adams played two first-ever shows in Reykjavík, Iceland and then performed in the U.S. with a concert at the Ritz Theatre in New York City on 10 January.^[15] It was a sell-out in less than twenty minutes.^[15] In attendance were music legends Ben E. King and Nona Hendryx.^[15] The Canadian leg of the Waking Up The World Tour kicked off in Sydney, Nova Scotia on 13 January 1992, and wrapped up with a standing room only concert in Vancouver, Canada, on 31 January. In February 1992, he started touring in New Zealand and Australia for seven dates—kicking off with a press conference in Sydney. On 21 February, the tour headed to Japan for approximately a dozen shows in six cities. The tour continued through several European countries in June 1992, including Italy, Germany, Holland and Scandinavia, and in July 1992, Bryan performed for the first time in Hungary and Turkey (where he filmed his video for "Do I Have To Say The Words?"). During the long tour, further singles from the Waking Up the Neighbors album were released: In the US, the rocky "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" peaked at number 2, and "Do I Have to Say the Words?" reached number 11. In the UK, "Thought I Died and Gone to Heaven" was the most successful single behind "(Everything I Do) I Do it for You" by reaching the Top 10. In September through December 1993, the tour took place in the US. The Asian tour headed to Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong in February 1993, before returning to the US during March through May.^[15][19]

In November 1993 Adams released a compilation album entitled So Far So Good, that again topped the Charts in numerous countries such as the UK, Germany and Australia. It included a brand new song called "Please Forgive Me", that became another number 1 single in Australia as well as reaching the Top 3 in the US, the UK and Germany. In 1994 he collaborated with Rod Stewart and Sting for the single "All for Love" written for the Motion Picture Soundtrack of the movie Three Musketeers. The single topped the charts worldwide. It was followed in 1995 by, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" (song released with the Motion Picture Soundtrack of the movie Don Juan DeMarco). It became another number 1 in the US and Australia as well as a Top 5 hit in the UK and Germany. Released in June 1996, the album 18 til I Die contained the UK Top 10 singles "The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me" and "Lets Make a Night to Remember". The album peaked at number thirty-one on the Billboard 200 in the United States and held that position for three weeks.^[11] It was more successful in Europe and Australia and reached the top spot on the UK charts for Adams' third number 1 in a row.^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]} The album has been certified platinum in the United States and is Adams last studio effort which has been certified by the RIAA.^[14] 18 til I Die was certified three times platinum in Canada and Australia and two times platinum in the UK. On 27 July Adams performed at the Wembley Stadium in London in front of a crowd of about 70,000. It was his second sold-out concert there and it is often considered as his biggest concert ever as it went out live to 25 countries and fans from all over the world came up to watch the performance.It also received rave reviews from critics and fans alike.^[10][12][30] In December 1997, Adams released MTV Unplugged with three new tracks: "Back to You", "A Little Love" and "When You Love Someone". "Back to You" was the first single, followed by "I'm Ready", an acoustic version of the Cut's Like A Knife track. The album was a top 10 success in Germany while both singles reached the top 20 in the UK.

On a Day Like Today was released in 1998 and was the first studio album since 1981's You Want It You Got It which wasn't certified by the RIAA.^[14] This release coincided with his contract being sold to Interscope Records. Despite Interscope's involvement or lack of, On a Day Like Today enjoyed tremendous success internationally, entering the Top 5 in Germany and was certified platinum in the UK. It generated two British Top 10 singles: "Cloud Number Nine" and "When You're Gone", a duet with Melanie C of The Spice Girls.

To commemorate the millennium, Adams released The Best of Me, his most comprehensive collection of songs at that time, which also included two new songs, the title track "The Best of Me" and the UK number 1 track "Don't Give Up". The album reached the Top 10 in Germany and was certified three times platinum in Canada and Platinum in the UK. The single from the album, "The Best of Me" was a very successful hit with the exception of the US, where neither the single or the album were released by Interscope Records.

2000–present[link]

Bryan Adams playing in Hamburg, Germany.

In 2000, Adams wrote and sang on a song for Chicane's album Behind the Sun^[31] called "Don't Give Up". Even though his voice is somewhat altered electronically, it is still recognisable. An official music video was made of the song, in which Adams also appears.^[32]

In 2002, Adams wrote and performed the songs for the DreamWorks animated film, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. The songs were included on the film's soundtrack. The most successful single from the soundtrack was "Here I Am", a British Top 5 and German Top 20 hit. The song also gave him his fourth Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Song from a Motion Picture.

In 2004, ARC Weekly released its chart of top pop artists since the last 25 years and Adams came up at number 13 in the chart with four number-one singles, ten top five hits and 17 top ten hits. Six years after the release of On a Day Like Today, Room Service was released in September 2004. It topped the charts in Germany and Switzerland and peaked at number four in the UK, selling 440,000 copies in its first week in Europe and thus debuted at number one on Billboard's European album chart. The single, "Open Road", was the most successful single from the album and peaked at number one in Canada and number twenty-one in the UK. In May 2008, the album was also released in the US but charted only at number 134 on the Billboard 200.

In 2005, Anthology, the first 2-disc compilation was released, containing two new tracks. The US release features a new version of "When You're Gone", a duet with Melanie C. Also in 2005, Adams re-recorded the theme song for the second season of Pamela's Fox sitcom Stacked.

In 2006, Adams wrote and performed the theme song "Never Let Go" which was featured in the closing credits of the film The Guardian starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher. Adams also co-wrote the song "Never Gonna Break My Faith" for the film Bobby. The song was performed by the R&B singers Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige and earned him a Golden Globe Nomination in 2007.^[33]

Adams released his eleventh album internationally on 17 March 2008. It was appropriately called 11. The album was released in the US exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club retail stores on 13 May 2008.^[34] The first single released from the album was "I Thought I'd Seen Everything". Adams did an 11-day, 11-country European acoustic promotional tour to kick off the release of the album.^[35] The album debuted at number one in Canada (making it his first album to reach that position since Waking Up the Neighbours in 1991) as well as reaching number two in Germany. In the United States, the album charted at number 80.^[11] In May 2009, Bryan Adams announced on his Twitter account that he has started writing and recording a new album in Paris. Bare Bones is certified Gold in India.^[36]

Adams was one of the four musicians who were pictured on the second series of the Canadian Recording Artist Series to be issued by Canada Post stamps on 2 July 2009.^[37] The total estimated number of Bryan Adams stamps that were printed is one and one-half million.^[38] In December 2009, Adams wrote, produced and performed the song "You've Been a Friend to Me" for the Disney film Old Dogs.^[39]

In February 2010 he released "One World, One Flame" – a track used as a theme song by the German TV Station ARD for their Olympic coverage of Olympic Games in Vancouver.^{[citation needed]}

On 12 February 2010, Adams performed a duet with Nelly Furtado. The song was called "Bang the Drum" and was co-written with Jim Vallance for the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, in front of 60,000 spectators at BC Place Stadium.^{[citation needed]}

Adams performed at a party that Wayne Gretzky and Jaromír Jágr attended during Olympics, this brought all three together once again, following Gretzky's final game in 1999 at Madison Square Garden, when Gretzky then played for the New York Rangers and Jagr was with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Adams then sang the Canadian national anthem and ad-libbed a line to acknowledge Gretzky's departure, singing, "We're gonna miss you Wayne Gretzky."

Adams was one of several well known Canadian musicians to visit Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at his official residence. Originally the visit was meant to be Adams's plea to the Prime Minister to change the archaic copyright laws (http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/04/03/straight-from-the-heart/), instead Harper turned it into a photo op for himself and an informal "jam session".^[40] His latest album, Bare Bones, has been certified gold in India, and he thanked all his Indians fans for giving him such support.^[36]

Bryan Adams & Keith Scott during their tour in Bangalore, India in 2011

On 19 February 2011 Bryan Adams and his band played in Kathmandu, Nepal making him the first ever international artist to rock Nepal which was organized by ODC Network (P) LTD.^[41] Bryan Adams performed at the opening ceremony of ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 on 17 February in Dhaka, Bangladesh^[42] and also performed in a solo concert in the next day.^[43]

On 14 March 2011, Adams announced that he and co-founder of his foundation and girlfriend, Alicia Grimaldi, were expecting a baby and on 22 April 2011, Grimaldi gave birth to a daughter, Mirabella Bunny.^[44]

On 10 September 2011, Taylor Swift covered Bryan Adams' song Summer of 69 at her concert at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. On 19 November 2011, Bryan recorded the music video for "Tonight In Babylon" in Southwark, London. On 20 November 2011, he performed on the UK X Factor with the remaining acts in the competition.

On 31 January 2012, Adams announced a 20-date concert tour across Canada between April and June, to be followed by a new studio album expected to be released late in the year.^[45]

Social activism[link]

Bryan Adams during the visit to Nepal in 2011

Most of Adams' philanthropic activity is dedicated to his foundation "The Bryan Adams Foundation", which aims to advance education and learning opportunities for children and young people worldwide, believing that an education is the best gift that a child can be given. The foundation is mostly funded by his photographic activities.

Since the 1980s, Adams has participated in concerts and other activities to help raise money and awareness for a variety of causes. His first high profile charity appearance came in 1985 when he opened the US transmission of Live Aid from Philadelphia.^[46] In June of the next year, Adams participated in the two-week Amnesty International "A Conspiracy of Hope" tour alongside Sting, U2 and Peter Gabriel.^[46] In 1986 Adams performed at The Prince's Trust All-Star Rock Concert in Wembley Arena to celebrate first 10 years of the Trust and again in June 1987 at the 5th Annual Prince's Trust Rock Gala along with Elton John, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and others. The following year Adams performed at the Nelson Mandela birthday party concert at Wembley Stadium.

Adams helped commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall when, in 1990, he joined many other guests (including his songwriting partner Michael Kamen) for Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall in Berlin, Germany.^[47] He performed the Pink Floyd songs What Shall We Do Now? and Young Lust during the performance of The Wall, and then joined Waters, Joni Mitchell, Cyndi Lauper, Van Morrison, Paul Carrack and others to perform Waters' "The Tide Is Turning" to close the concert.^{[citation needed]} His version of Young Lust, peaked at number 7 at Mainstream Rock Tracks.^{[citation needed]}

During his tours of 1992-1994, Adams successfully campaigned for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary with Greenpeace Chairman David McTaggart.^{[citation needed]} The two of them distributed over 500,000 postcards at concerts around the world encouraging people to write to politicians of countries blocking the vote, encouraging them to vote yes for the creation of the sanctuary at the meetings of the International Whaling Commission. IWC officially created the sanctuary on 26 May 1994.^[48]

On 24 April 1993, Adams joined Farm Aid VI alongside Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Ringo Starr.^{[citation needed]}

On 29 January 2005, Adams joined the CBC benefit concert in Toronto for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Twenty years after performing at Live Aid in the USA, Adams played at Canada's Live 8 show in Barrie, Ontario.^[49] Later that year, he performed in Qatar and raised £1.5M ($2,617,000) from the concert. He also auctioned a white Fender Stocaster guitar signed by many of the world's prominent guitarists. The guitar raised a total of 3.7 million US dollars for charity and thus set a record as the world's costliest guitar.^[49] The money went to Qatar's "Reach Out to Asia" campaign to help the underprivileged across the continent.^[49][50] Money raised also went to some of his own projects like rebuilding a school in Thailand and building a new sports center in Sri Lanka, both of which had been devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami.^[49]

Adams in Karachi, Pakistan

On 29 January 2006, Adams became the first Western artist to perform in Karachi, Pakistan after 11 September attacks, in conjunction with a benefit concert by Shehzad Roy to raise money for underprivileged children to go to school.^[51] Some of the proceeds of that concert also went to victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.^[51]

On 18 October 2007, Adams was billed to perform in Tel Aviv and Jericho as part of the OneVoice Movement concerts, hoping to aid in solving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.^[52] The peace concert for supporters of a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel was called off because of security concerns.^[52]

Adams supports the animal rights group PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals) by shooting photos for them and writing letters. He's written to the CEO of KFC restaurants in Canada in November 2007, asking them to become leaders in using more modern and more humane methods of killing chickens.^[53] Adams has been a vegan since 1989 and was also a nominee for PETA's "Sexiest Vegetarians of the Year".

On 25 May 2005, Adams raised £1.3M with cousin Johnny Armitage, from a concert and auction entitled Rock by the River for the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.^[54] On 15 May 2006, Adams returned to London to attend the Hope Foundation's event (hosted by designer Bella Freud), helping to raise a portion of the £250,000 to support the Palestinian refugee children.^[55] The following June, he offered individuals from the public the chance to bid to sing with him live in concert at three different charity auctions in London. Over £50,000 was raised with money going to the NSPCC, Children in Need, and the University College Hospital.^[56] On 28 February 2008 he appeared in One Night Live at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada with Josh Groban, Sarah McLachlan, Jann Arden and RyanDan in aid of the Sunnybrook Hospital Women and Babies Program.^[56]

To support the peace in Georgia, Adams played a special outdoor concert in Tbilisi, on 19 September 2008.^{[citation needed]}

He played at The Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Born Free Foundation at "Wild and Live" on 14 November 2009.^{[citation needed]} His foundation raised £170,000 for Kids Company, a UK based charity that helps underprivileged and abused children in London, England.^{[citation needed]}

As a photographer[link]

Adams accepting a LeadAward for photography in 2006

Adams has had his photographs published in British Vogue, L'uomo Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, Interview magazine and i-D, among others.^[57] His other photographic efforts include founding Zoo Magazine, the fashion/art magazine based in Berlin, Germany which he shoots for regularly. On 1 June 2005, Calvin Klein published a book of his photos in the United States entitled American Women; proceeds from this book go to breast cancer research for programs at the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.^[57] Flare Magazine in Canada released a similar book of photos called Made In Canada in December 1999. Both these books were dedicated to his friend Donna, who died of the disease.^[57]

As a photographer, Adams has worked with many of his musical peers, including Sting, Shania Twain, Mick Jagger, Arcade Fire, Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant, Take That, Joss Stone, Plácido Domingo, Sarah McLachlan, Celine Dion, Billy Idol, Moby, Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse, t.A.T.u., Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, Bryan Ferry, Lenny Kravitz, Die Antwoord, and Morrissey to name a few.^[58] On 27 November 2000 Adams played onstage with The Who at the Royal Albert Hall. A DVD of the concert was issued. Adams photographed the band and his photos appear in the DVD booklet.

In 2002, Adams was invited, along with other photographers from the Commonwealth, to photograph Queen Elizabeth II during her Golden Jubilee; one of the photographs from this session was used as a Canadian postage stamp in 2004 and again in 2005 (see Queen Elizabeth II definitive stamp (Canada)), another portrait of both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London.^[59]

Adams supports the Hear the World initiative as a photographer in its aim to raise global awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss.^[60]

He photographed Michael J. Fox and Tatjana Patitz in the 2011 Carl Zeiss AG company calendar in New York City in the summer of 2010. The focus was about the size difference of the subjects in a comedic presentation.^[61]

His photographic exhibitions include:

• Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto 1999
• McCord Museum, Montreal 2000
• Saatchi Gallery, London 2000
• Photokina, Köln (Cologne), Germany 2001
• ICA, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 2004
• Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto 2004
• Calvin Klein, NYC, Dallas, Paris 2005
• Canada House, Trafalgar Square, London 2005-06
• Il Tempio Di Adriano, Rome, Italy, July 2006
• Photokina, Köln (Cologne), Germany, September 2006
• Leica Gallery, Vienna, Austria, November 2006
• Galerija Fotografija, Ljubljana, Slovenia, November 2006
• H.Stern exhibition, São Paulo, Brazil, March 2007
• PhotoEspana, Madrid, Spain, Fotografos Insospechados (Unsuspected Photographers) Mickey Rourke photographs, May–July 2007
• Nunnington Hall, North Yorkshire, England, May–June 2007
• 401 Projects, New York City, September–November 2007
• The Hospital, Covent Garden, London, England, November 2007 (Modern Muses)
• The National Portrait Gallery, London, England, February–May 2008 (Modern Muses)
• Haus Der Kunst, Munich, Germany, May 2008 (Photos of the German National Football Team)
• 14th Street Gallery, New York City, May 2008 (Hear The World) (plus other exhibitions in Berlin and Zurich with the same show)
• Saatchi Gallery, London, July 2009 (Hear The World)
• Calvin Klein American Women 2010, New York City, September 2010

Personal life[link]

Adams never comments on his personal life:^[7]

A vegan, he has homes in: Canada; Chelsea, London;^[7] and Paris, France.^[62]

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

Bryan Adams' star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

In addition to his success at the Junos and Grammys and other music awards, Adams was also nominated for his fifth Golden Globe in 2007 for songwriting on the film Bobby which was sung by Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and has been nominated three times for Academy Awards for writing music in film.^[33][63]

File sharing lawsuit[link]

"Somebody" was one of 24 songs in the first file-sharing copyright infringement lawsuit brought by major record labels in the United States to be tried by a jury.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bryan Adams

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Bryan Adams portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bryan Adams

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Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer at the 2009 Australia Day ceremony in Canberra preparing to be naturalised.
Background information
Birth name	Gerard Hugh Sayer
Born	(1948-05-21) 21 May 1948 (age 64) Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, England
Genres	Pop, pop rock, soft rock, disco
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, entertainer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica
Years active	1973—present
Labels	Chrysalis Records (UK) Warner Bros. Records (US) Rhino Records (US) Universal Music (Aus)
Website	leosayer.com
Notable instruments
Harmonica

Leo Sayer (born Gerard Hugh Sayer, 21 May 1948)^[1] is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s.^[2] His first seven hit singles in the UK all reached the Top 10 – a feat first registered by his one-time manager, Adam Faith.^[2]

Early life[link]

Sayer was born on 21 May 1948 in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, England.^[1] He was initially discovered by musician David Courtney, who then co-managed him with the singer turned manager, Adam Faith.^[1]

Career[link]

Sayer began his music career co-writing songs with David Courtney, including "Giving It All Away", which gave Roger Daltrey of The Who his first hit without The Who in 1973.^[1]

That same year, Sayer began his career as a recording artist. At the time of his initial chart breakthrough in the UK, with his second single "The Show Must Go On", he wore a pierrot style costume and make-up and the song went quickly to number two.^[1] He had several subsequent single hits including, "One Man Band" (1974), "Long Tall Glasses" (1974) and "Moonlighting" (1975). In 1976, Sayer recorded three Beatles songs, "I Am the Walrus", "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" for the film, All This and World War II.

In 1977, he had a US number one with "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" (a Grammy Award winner for the year's best Rhythm and Blues Song), as well as the romantic ballad, "When I Need You" (1977), which reached number one in both the UK and US. Written by Albert Hammond and Carole Bayer Sager, it was Sayer's first UK chart-topper (after three number two hits) and his second successive US number one.^[3] It was also the first of two UK chart-toppers in a row for producer Richard Perry.^[3]

Sayer also made cover versions of Bobby Vee's Sonny Curtis/Jerry Allison composition, "More Than I Can Say" (his fourth UK number 2 hit and US number 2), and Buddy Holly's "Raining in My Heart" (1979) and "Orchard Road" in 1983. In the US, three of his singles - "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" (1977), "When I Need You" (1977) and "More Than I Can Say" (1980) - were certified gold.^{[citation needed]}

In 1978, Sayer made an appearance on The Muppet Show.

Sayer provided songs for the soundtrack of the French-Belgian animated film, Le Chainon manquant in 1980. In 1981 he was the voice of Dan the forest ranger in The Raccoons on Ice, the second of four specials serving as a predecessor to the Canadian animated series, The Raccoons. He also sang several songs for the special, all of which were included on the 1983 album Lake Freeze.^{[citation needed]}

In 1990, he contributed to the last studio collaboration between Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, Woolfson's solo album Freudiana, performing "I Am A Mirror".^[4]

Sayer performed at the Sanremo Music Festival in 1990, with "The Moth And The Flame" (English version of "Tu... sì" by Mango) and, in 1991, with "All Alone" (English version of "Dubbi No" by Mietta).

In 2000, "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" was featured in the hit film, Charlie's Angels, and was on the accompanying soundtrack album.^{[citation needed]}

On 12 February 2006, he made a surprise return to number one in the UK Singles Chart, with Meck's remix of "Thunder In My Heart". It was his first appearance in the UK Top 10 for almost 24 years, and his second UK chart-topper, almost three decades after his first.^{[citation needed]} In 2008 Sayer released a new album in Australia, Don't Wait Until Tomorrow. This album, produced by Garth Porter (from the Australian pop band Sherbet), and released by Universal Music Australia, featured selections from his catalog in an entirely new setting, re-arranged with strings and acoustic and jazz instrumentation.^{[citation needed]} Sayer has appeared in various TV shows including The Muppet Show (on which he sang "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", "The Show Must Go On", and "When I Need You"), The Wiggles 2008 DVD, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing which featured Sayer's hit of the same name, Celebrity Big Brother UK in 2007 and the Australian television comedy, Stupid, Stupid Man.

Leo Sayer: At His Very Best, a career-spanning compilation album, was released in the UK on 6 March 2006. It featured the Meck single, alongside "When I Need You" and "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing".^[5]

Personal life[link]

In January 1967, while 19-year old Sayer was working as a hall porter at the King's Hotel in Hove, he assisted in the rescue of guests from a fire that damaged the first floor of the hotel. He was rescued by builders working on a block of flats beside the hotel.^[6]

In 2005, Sayer moved to Sydney, Australia, where he has remained. He became an Australian citizen on 26 January 2009 at a naturalization ceremony attended by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.^[7]

Leo Sayer's name is also used in Cockney rhyming slang, meaning "all-dayer", as in an all-day drinking session.^{[citation needed]}

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

† - Australia release only

Singles[link]

References[link]

• Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955–2002 - Billboard/Record Research

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Leo Sayer Free Download
• Official Fan Database
• Myspace
• iTunes
• Leo Sayer at the Internet Movie Database