Joel Adams (born 16 December 1996) is an Australian pop/soul singer-songwriter and producer, popularly known for his hit debut single, " Please Don't Go" in 2015. On 5 October 2018, Adams' single, "Fake Friends" was released. He released his self-titled debut

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

in March 2020.

Biography

Adams was born and raised in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Australia. He is of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, South African and English descent. Joel is a graduate of

Marist College Ashgrove Marist College Ashgrove (abbreviated as MCA) is an Independent school, independent Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding primary school, primary and secondary school, secondary school for Sin ...

in Brisbane. His stage name is his mother's maiden name. Joel changed his name from

Gonçalves Gonçalves (, ; Portuguese for "son of Gonçalo") is a Portuguese surname. Origin: Germanic patronymic ''Gundisalvis''. Notable people with the surname include: * Adílio de Oliveira Gonçalves (1956–2024), Brazilian footballer * Ailton Gon ...

due to his last name being difficult to spell and correctly pronounce due to his Portuguese heritage.

Career

2012–present: ''The X Factor'' and "Please Don't Go"

Joel gained popularity in 2012, at the age of 15, singing a cover of

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

's "

The Girl Is Mine "The Girl Is Mine" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson and English singer-songwriter and musician Paul McCartney for Jackson's sixth solo album, '' Thriller''. The track was written and co-produced by Jackson and ...

" for the '' X Factor Australia'' (under the name Joel Gonçalves). After being featured as one of the youngest and most promising singers, he was eliminated during the "bootcamp" round. He released his debut single " Please Don't Go" in November 2015, which made its

ARIA Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

debut in February 2016 at number 88, later peaking at number 55. It also peaked at number 54 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

, number 6 in Sweden and number 11 in Norway. The song also appeared on the UK Independent Single Breakers Charts for 42 weeks, peaking at number 1 for multiple weeks in June, July, August, and September 2016. and peaking at number 50 on the UK Singles Chart the week of 5 August 2016. The song officially charted in over 15 countries globally, including the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. In Australia, the song spent 31 weeks in the ARIA Top 100 Singles Chart – but never once cracked the Top 50; peaking at No. 55. In October 2016, Adams was named the 16th most influential artist in the world on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

's 25 Under 25 list, which listed the most influential music artists under the age of 25. In January 2017, Adams released the video for "Die for You". It was available for free download from his website. In October 2018, Adams released his second single "Fake Friends". The song was co-written by Adams,

Ryan Tedder Ryan Benjamin Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, and lead vocalist for the pop rock band OneRepublic, while also serving as a prolific cont ...

and Zach Skelton. According to Adams' team, the song is "about discovering who your real friends are when the chips are down". In 2024, Adams formed the group ''Simply West''.

Discography

Extended plays

Charted and certified singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Joel 1996 births Living people Musicians from Brisbane Australian people of Portuguese descent Australian people of South African descent Australian people of English descent Australian male singer-songwriters 21st-century Australian male singers People educated at Marist College Ashgrove 21st-century Australian singer-songwriters