Born in 1959 in Kingston, Ontario, Bryan Adams settled in Vancouver in 1973 after travelling the world extensively with his diplomat parents. He has since reached rock star status as a singer-songwriter. A high-school dropout at age 16, Adams has produced four books. Made In Canada (Key Porter Books, 1999) contains Adams' own photographs of Canadian women including Joni Mitchell, Pamela Anderson Lee and Shania Twain. The book arose after Adams lost a close friend to breast cancer. Royalties were directed to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. His second book Haven (Trebuk, 2000) was a similar book for the United Kingdom featuring the likes of Queen Elizabeth, Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Christie and Elizabeth Hurley. It was followed by a third portfolio, American Women (Powerhouse: Key Porter, 2005), produced in collaboration with Calvin Klein. Once again royalties were allocated to cancer research, this time the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Adams built a recording studio complex in Vancouver but lives primarily in London, England. Sorelle Saidman, a former Georgia Straight journalist, has written an unauthorized biography and Adams was also the subject of a promotional music tour book simply entitled Bryan Adams. He has received the Order of Canada and many music awards. Books about him include Bryan Adams: The Inside Story (London, England: Boxtree Limited, 1992) by Hugh Gregory and the unauthorized biography (noted above) by Sorelle Saidman. [See Saidman entry].

[BCBW 2005] "Music" "Photography"