Bryan Adams

For most people, a No.1 hit like (Everything I Do) I Do It For You would define their entire career. For Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, it’s possibly not even his most popular song.

Pre-worldwide chart domination with the theme song from Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, Adams was already a stadium-packing megastar, no small thanks to a string of radio-friendly hits including Run To You, Heaven and Summer Of ’69.

Adams got his start as a 15-year-old, fronting the Canadian rock band Sweeney Todd. Following his departure from the band, he formed a songwriting partnership with former Prism drummer Jim Vallance, leading to his self-titled debut in early 1980. You Want It You Got It followed a year later and saw Adams begin to make a dent on the charts.

That progress was solidified in some style in 1983 with Cuts Like A Knife, bagging Adams his first top ten hit in the US with Straight From The Heart. A year later, Adams topped the album charts in both Canada and the US with his fourth solo album Reckless, egged on by a string of high charting singles, including the No.1 Heaven and two further top ten hits in Run To You and Summer Of ’69. Reckless also featured It’s Only Love, a duet with Tina Turner that was nominated for a Grammy.

Adams’ purple patch continued with Into The Fire, which again charted highly at home and abroad and yielded another top ten single in Heat Of The Night.

All of this would pale in comparison to the Adams’ flying start to the next decade, particularly (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, the first single taken from his 1991 album Waking Up The Neighbours. Thanks to its prominence in the hit film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, the single was a resounding success, hitting No.1 across the world and staying atop the UK charts for a record-breaking 16 consecutive weeks.