Bryan Adams Looks Back on 40 Years Since Breakout Album, Photographing Queen: 'I Didn't Realize She Had So Many Dogs'

Few artists have vibrantly carried the banner for guitar-based rock music as long and successfully as Canadian Music Hall of Famer Bryan Adams, who has kept fans singing along to his hits for four decades and counting. Adams' 1983 breakout album, Cuts Like a Knife, celebrated its 40th anniversary last January, and the musician is currently on tour wdelighting audiences with both his roster of classic hits as well as new music from his latest set and 15th studio album, 2022's So Happy It Hurts.

(Photo : JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Adams' musical career is matched by his other well-known and much-lauded passion, his extensive photography career. Having shot some of the world's most iconic portraits -- including a surprisingly relaxed and open sitting with the late Queen Elizabeth II -- as well as award-winning fashion work, Adams' dual talents in visual and auditory formats sets him on a level of his own among his peers.

Yes, of course. It was great to be back at Madison Square Garden last year, and the funny thing was some of the security guards there remember my first gig there and were saying "welcome back." I was so touched by that.

Interview

(Photo : TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images / Jason Kempin/Getty Images )

What has struck you most about performing your biggest hits four decades after their release? As an artist critiquing your own work, do you ever think that you might have liked to change anything about anything in your classic songs, having lived with them this long and played them so often?

I wouldn't change a thing, and a nice thing about having all these songs after so many years, is everybody sings them back. In some cases, all you have to do is play the opening guitar chord and they're away. It's very cool.

You've photographed an amazing number of famous and interesting people. Which portraits over the years would you consider your favorites?

(Photo : Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

Very difficult to say, sometimes i see a portrait of somebody that I worked with, for example, Amy Winehouse, and it brings back so many memories. I worked with her a few times, and we became friends. It just makes me sad to think that she's gone. And it's the same for other portraits of people that I've worked with, for example, Tony Bennett, Tina Turner, and so many others. It's been a privilege to have been in their company.

Future aspects


Very difficult to say, sometimes i see a portrait of somebody that I worked with, for example, Amy Winehouse, and it brings back so many memories. I worked with her a few times, and we became friends. It just makes me sad to think that she's gone. And it's the same for other portraits of people that I've worked with, for example, Tony Bennett, Tina Turner, and so many others. It's been a privilege to have been in their company.

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Bryan Adams, New Album
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