Who was/is Johnny Adams ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more

Johnny Adams

Reconsider Me

Johnny Adams

Reconsider Me

 

They called Johnny Adams the Tan Canary around his New Orleans homebase, so mellifluous were his rich, burnished tones. In a city with a musical legacy built around the funky second-line parade beat, Adams was a classy balladeer with a multi-octave range whose melismatic pipes were capable of swooping down into a deep baritone and then up to a falsetto with the greatest of ease.

Born January 5, 1932 in the Big Easy, the rail-thin Adams got a late start in the music biz because he was busy singing in service of the Lord. His secular jump in 1959 came at the behest of his neighbor, composer Dorothy LaBostrie (she'd cleaned up the lyrics to Little Richard's Tutti-Frutti). "She always knew I could sing, so she just decided to ask," said the late Adams. She wrote him the tasty ballad I Won't Cry, produced by a young Mac 'Dr. John' Rebennack for Joe Ruffino's Ric label. Johnny had a local hit his first time out, and more fine Ric 45s followed. "I was more or less just a singer then,"he said."I wasn't an artist. I was just a singer."  Rebennack co-wrote the Ray Charles-tinged A Losing Battle, which did dent the R&B charts on Ric in 1962.

Adams was part of a Crescent City contingent that journeyed up to Detroit in '63 to audition for Berry Gordy (others included Earl King and Chris Kenner). But Ruffino reportedly threatened a lawsuit, knocking a Motown deal off the table. After Ruffino's death, Johnny's contract went to Joe Assunto at Watch Records. There he revived Release Me, a country classic that first hit for Jimmy Heap in 1954. "We just heard that playing, between Esther Phillips and Engelbert Humperdinck," said Adams. "We just decided to do it." Shelby Singleton's Nashville-based SSS International logo picked it up in '68, and Adams joined a long list of singers to hit with the weeper.

The gut-wrenching soul ballad Reconsider Me, penned by Singleton staffers Mira Smith and Margaret Lewis and cut in Nashville, proved Johnny's biggest SSS hit, sailing to #8 R&B and #28 pop. "These ladies were doing a lot of writing for Jo Jo Benson and Peggy Scott at the time," said Adams. "You know, changing country songs into blues." Lewis and Smith also supplied his next hit, I Can't Be All Bad.

Beginning in 1983, Johnny reached a new demographic at Rounder Records. He gave the songbooks of Percy Mayfield and Doc Pomus album-length examinations, exquisitely delving into contrasting blues and jazz material without ever faltering. "They got a whole lot of New Orleans music,"Adams reasoned."I try to make mine different when I can." Prostate cancer killed him on September 14, 1998. 

- Bill Dahl -

Various - Sweet Soul Music

Various - Sweet Soul Music 30 Scorching Classics From 1965

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Release Me - The Sss And Pacemakersides 1966-1973 (CD)
Johnny Adams: Release Me - The Sss And Pacemakersides... Art-Nr.: CDPBCD016

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(Playback Records) 26 tracks All the original recordings released on the SSS and Pacemaker labels between 1966 and 1973 are collected here, including the unforgettable hit singles "Reconsider Me" and "Release Me", as well as some tracks...
$22.58
Best Of Johnny Adams - New Orleans Tan Canary (2-LP)
Johnny Adams: Best Of Johnny Adams - New Orleans Tan Canary... Art-Nr.: LPMG2003

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(Mardi Gras) 19 tracks, gatefold cover. This is the ultimate 2-LP record set of Johnny Adams' hits, originally released as individual 45 RPM records by WATCH and HEP ME Records.
$42.95
An Introduction To Johnny Adams (CD)
Johnny Adams: An Introduction To Johnny Adams (CD) Art-Nr.: CD0616152

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(Fuel) 16 tracks (64:51) from the archives of Gulf Coast Music, linernotes by Bill Dahl, remastering by Jesse Fishman. - Blessed with a grand, sophisticated vocal technique and a humongous range spanning several octaves that sometimes...
$16.92 $20.31
Only Want To Be With You (2-CD)
Johnny Adams: Only Want To Be With You (2-CD) Art-Nr.: CDSBR7027

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(Sunset Blvd Records) 28 tracks, digisleeve. Known in his native Crescent City as "The Tan Canary" for his exceptional voice, veteran R&B singer Johnny Adams has an exceptionally wide range of later years for Rounder Records. Adams sang...
$30.50
I Won't Cry - The Complete Ric & Ron Singles 1959-1964 (CD)
Johnny Adams: I Won't Cry - The Complete Ric & Ron Singles... Art-Nr.: CDCHD1424

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(Ace Records) 24 tracks with 12 page booklet. - It was a lucky day for music lovers when Johnny Adams’ songwriter neighbour Dorothy La Bostrie knocked on the young gospel singer’s door and asked if he would consider singing the demos for...
$18.05
The Soul Of New Orleans
Johnny Adams: The Soul Of New Orleans Art-Nr.: CDFUEL61992

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(1970s 'HepMe/JB's') (78:27/20)
$15.79
The Great Johnny Adams Jazz Album
Johnny Adams: The Great Johnny Adams Jazz Album Art-Nr.: CDROU2184

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'Best Of' compilation from the catalog of the largest independent record company in the US.
$11.26 $14.66
Released.. A Memorial Album 1968-83 (CD)
Johnny Adams: Released.. A Memorial Album 1968-83 (CD) Art-Nr.: CDRPMSH219

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(1968-83) (78:10/24)
$33.89
Chasing Rainbows - The Tan Canary (2-CD)
Johnny Adams: Chasing Rainbows - The Tan Canary (2-CD) Art-Nr.: CDSHOUT36

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These takes were recorded for labels like Hep Me, SSS International, or Chelsea before he joined Rounder Records in 1983.
$22.58