by NEW YORK — Bryan Adams may have snagged his first Grammy nomination in over two decades, but he won’t be at the ceremony. He has a performance tonight.
The Canadian rock star had committed to a concert in Las Vegas on Sunday and didn’t want to disappoint his fans or his crew with a cancellation.
“Work is work. I mean I have 40 people on my tour so I want to make sure I hold them with warm food and shoes you know? he said earlier this week.
Working hard is a theme for Adams, who released four albums last year – his 15th studio album So Happy It Hurts, the cast album for Pretty Woman: The Musical, Classic and Classic Pt. II”, in which he re-recorded songs from his catalog and played most of the instruments.
On Sunday, he’s in the Best Rock Performance category for “So Happy It Hurts,” the title track, which includes the lyrics “I’m so happy it hurts/I’m so glad it’s outrageous.” He received his last nomination in 1998 for the song “I Final Found Someone”.
“I’m absolutely blown away by the nomination, especially after such a long time. But I mean I’m really grateful. I don’t think I’ll win, but I’m happy to be nominated,” he said.
To win, Adams must beat Beck and his cover of Neil Young’s “Old Man”; Ozzy Osbourne’s Patient Number 9, starring Jeff Beck; “Wild Child” by the Black Keys; Brandi Carlile’s Broken Horses; Idles’ “Crawl!” and “Holiday” by Turnstile. Adams suspects “patient number 9” will win in honor of Jeff Beck, who died earlier this year.
If Adams wins, the trophy will add to the Grammy he won in 1992 for Best Song for a Motion Picture for “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” which was used for “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” Soundtrack.
This is a remarkably rich time for the 63-year-old singer-songwriter. He says that while he was composing “So Happy It Hurts,” he was constantly coming up with ideas and recording more songs than usual. In the face of the pandemic, he ended up playing most of the instruments solo.
“I’m not a particularly good drummer, but I really love to give everything to make it great,” he says with a laugh.
The album is filled with gratitude and mature love, with upbeat tracks like “You Lift Me Up”, “I’ve Been Looking for You” and “Let’s Do This”. In the song These Are the Moments That Make Up My Life, he sings “I like to make the kids breakfast/I like the family way/I like the sound of their laughing/While I plan out my day.”
“I think one of the things we should take advantage of as songwriters is our truth,” he says. “If you can start writing songs that are really about your truth and are able to really open up in a way that you can relate it to your life without revealing too much, I think people will identify with it.”
He also dug out his old amps, guitars and gear and began re-recording all of his hits like “Summer of ’69”, “Run to You” and “Everything I Do (I Do It for You)”. He did it after Universal Music Group refused to return his original masters and took inspiration from Taylor Swift, who has also begun re-recording her catalogue.
“It brought back a lot of memories. First of all, it brought back memories of where I was, who I was recording with, how much work went into those recordings and the general appreciation of what I was doing at the time,” he said.
“There are minor changes to things, but generally I’m sticking with the original recordings because I thought people would recognize that,” he added. “If it wasn’t a live recording, it had to have the same structure and emotion.”
This year Adams will find himself in familiar territory – work. After a spring tour of Asia, he’s visiting 26 cities across the US this summer, kicking off in June in Baltimore with stops in New York City, Boston, Denver, Phoenix, San Francisco and more. Joan Jett opens.
He is also planning a “Classic Pt. III’ and recorded three of his early albums live at London’s Royal Albert Hall which he hopes to release – ‘Cuts Like a Knife’, ‘Into the Fire’ and ‘Waking Up the Neighbors’.
“It’s super exciting,” he says, and then has to go. After all, he has to prepare for an appearance on late-night TV.
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Mark Kennedy can be found at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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For more information on this year’s Grammy Awards, visit: www.apnews.com/GrammyAwards
