Laten John Adams Jr. (January 5, 1932 – September 14, 1998), was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

, known as "The Tan Canary" for the multi-octave range of his singing

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...

, his swooping vocal mannerisms and

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

. His biggest hits were his versions of " Release Me" and " Reconsider Me" in the late 1960s.

Life and career

Adams was born in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, United States, the oldest of 10 children. He became a professional musician on leaving school. He began his career singing

with the Soul Revivers and Bessie Griffin's Consolators, but crossed over to

secular music Non-religious secular music and Religious music, sacred music were the two main genres of Western world, Western music during the Middle Ages and Renaissance music, Renaissance era. The oldest written examples of secular music are songs with Lat ...

in 1959. His upstairs neighbor, the songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie, supposedly persuaded him to start performing secular music after hearing him sing in the bathtub. He recorded LaBostrie's ballad "Oh Why," released as "I Won't Cry," for Joe Ruffino's Ric label. Produced by the teenaged Mac Rebennack (later known as Dr. John), the record became a local hit. Adams recorded several more singles for the label over the next three years, most of them produced by Rebennack or Eddie Bo. His first national hit came in 1962, when "A Losing Battle", written by Rebennack, reached number 27 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

. After Ruffino's death in 1963, Adams left Ric and recorded for a succession of labels, including Eddie Bo's Gone Records, the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

–based

Modern Records Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Hadda Brooks, Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turn ...

, and Wardell Quezergue's Watch label. His records had little success until he signed with Shelby Singleton's

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

–based SSS International Records in 1968. A reissue of "Release Me", originally released by Watch, reached number 34 on the R&B chart and number 82 on the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

. Its follow-up, " Reconsider Me", a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

song produced by Singleton, became his biggest hit, reaching number 8 on the R&B chart and number 28 on the pop chart in 1969. Two more singles, "I Can't Be All Bad" and "I Won't Cry" (a reissue of the Ric recording), were lesser hits later the same year, and the label released an album, ''Heart and Soul''. Adams left SSS International in 1971 and recorded unsuccessfully for several labels, including

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and Ariola, over the next few years. At the same time, he began performing regularly at Dorothy's Medallion Lounge in

and touring nightclubs in the south. In 1983, he signed with

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

, for which he recorded nine critically acclaimed albums produced by Scott Billington, beginning with ''From the Heart'' in 1984. These records encompassed a wide range of

and R&B styles and highlighted Adams's voice. The albums included tributes to the songwriters Percy Mayfield and

Doc Pomus Jerome Solon Felder (June 27, 1925 – March 14, 1991), known professionally as Doc Pomus, was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-writer of many rock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hal ...

. The jazz-influenced ''Good Morning Heartache'' included the work of composers like

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

and

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ' ...

. Other albums in this series are '' Room with a View of the Blues'' (1988), ''Walking on a Tightrope'' (1989), and ''The Real Me'' (1991). These recordings earned him a number of awards, including a W.C. Handy Award. He also toured internationally, with frequent trips to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and worked and recorded with such musicians as Aaron Neville, Harry Connick Jr., Lonnie Smith, and Dr. John. He died in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

, in 1998 after a long battle with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

Singles (chart hits only)

Albums

* '' Heart & Soul'' (SSS International, 1969) * ''I Won't Cry'' (Ric, 1971) * ''A Christmas in New Orleans with Johnny Adams'' (Ace, 1975) * ''Stand By Me'' (Chelsea, 1976) * ''After All the Good Is Gone'' (Ariola, 1978) * ''From the Heart'' (Rounder, 1984) * ''After Dark'' (Rounder, 1985) * '' Room with a View of the Blues'' (Rounder, 1988) * ''Walking on a Tightrope'' (Rounder, 1989) * ''The Real Me: Johnny Adams Sings Doc Pomus'' (Rounder, 1991) * ''Good Morning Heartache'' (Rounder, 1993) * ''The Verdict'' (Rounder, 1995) * ''One Foot in the Blues'' (Rounder, 1996) * '' Man of My Word'' (Rounder, 1998)

References

External links

Johnny Adams "Heart & Soul
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Johnny 1932 births 1998 deaths 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers American blues singers Rhythm and blues musicians from New Orleans Charly Records artists Deaths from prostate cancer in Louisiana Soul-blues musicians Blues musicians from New Orleans Singers from Louisiana