Johnny Adams
6 Shouts - 73,485 Scrobbles
Biography
Renowned around his Crescent City home base as "the Tan Canary" for his extraordinary set of soulfully soaring pipes, veteran r&b vocalist Johnny Adams tackled an exceptionally wide variety of material for Rounder in his later years; elegantly rendered albums i own to legendary songwriters Doc Pomus and Percy Mayfield preceded forays into mellow, jazzier pastures. But then, Adams was never particularly into the parade-beat grooves that traditionally define the new orleans sound, preferring to deliver sophisticated soul draped in strings.
Read More...Adams sang gospel professionally before crossing over to the secular world in 1959. Songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie -- the woman responsible for cleaning up the bawdy lyrics of Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" enough for worldwide consumption -- convinced her neighbor, Adams, to sing her tasty ballad "I Won't Cry." The track, produced by a teenaged Dr. John, was released on Joe Ruffino's Ric logo, and Adams was on his way. He waxed some outstanding follow-ups for Ric, notably "A Losing Battle" (the Rebennack-penned gem proved Adams' first national r&b hit in 1962) and "Life Is a Struggle."
After a prolonged dry spell, Adams resurfaced in 1968 with an impassioned r&b revival of Jimmy Heap's country "Release Me" for Shelby Singleton's SSS imprint that blossomed into a national hit. Even more arresting was Adams' magnificent 1969 country soul classic "Reconsider Me," his lone leap into the r&b Top Ten; in it, he swoops effortlessly up to a death-defying falsetto range to drive his anguished message home with fervor.
Despite several worthy SSS follow-ups ("I Can't Be All Bad" was another sizable seller), Adams never traversed those lofty commercial heights again (particularly disappointing was a short stay at Atlantic). But he found a new extended recording life at Rounder; his 1984 set, Transmissions From the Satellite Heart, proved to the world that this Tan Canary could still chirp like a champ. With producer Scott Billington, he recorded some nine albums for the label prior to his cancer-related death on September 14, 1998. ~ Bill Dahl, Rovi
Top Tracks
Total plays on Last.fm over the last 6 months- Silver Bells - (3:20) - 659 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Release Me - (2:47) - 616 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Reconsider Me - (3:48) - 435 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- This Christmas - (2:43) - 276 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- I Won't Cry - (2:16) - 147 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Feel The Beat (The Revenge Edit) - (5:20) - 186 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP3
7digital
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot - (2:41) - 145 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Please Come Home For Christmas - (4:56) - 160 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.69 USD- Ringtone
- It Ain't the Same Thing - (4:13) - 125 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Lonely Man - (2:35) - 111 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- In A Moment Of Weakness - (2:32) - 115 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Tell It Like It Is - (3:08) - 99 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- If I Could See You One More Time - (3:38) - 114 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Hell Yes I Cheated - (3:34) - 99 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- The Little Boy That Santa Forgot - (2:43) - 164 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Georgia Morning Dew - (3:16) - 105 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- I Don't Worry Myself - (2:39) - 96 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- A Losing Battle - (2:48) - 61 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- I Can't Be All Bad - (3:01) - 60 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Losing Battle - (2:51) - 88 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone

Earl King
Brook Benton
Smiley Lewis
Guitar Slim
Ernie K-Doe
Eddie Hinton
Chris Kenner
Z.Z. Hill
Bobby "Blue" Bland
James Carr