Can't Stop This Thing We Started: Happy Birthday, Bryan Adams!

Just to set the record straight: Bryan Adams is genuinely laid-back. He wears plain jeans and a simple black T-shirt, even though he’s sold over 100 million records in his career spanning more than 40 years and could easily dress in velvet and silk if he fancied it. But that’s not his style. Silk certainly isn’t his thing, especially as he’s been an avowed vegan for years. In fact, Adams has never made a secret of his political views when it comes to human rights and, above all, animal rights. That’s because he very often couldn’t care less what other people think. Only the matter of the millions of kisses he’s responsible for – well, that doesn’t leave him quite so unmoved.

Mr Adams, how would you describe yourself?

I’m the bassist in the band; sometimes I take photos as well.

And what are your goals in life?

That’s an easy question to answer, but it’s not always easy to live by: I get up every morning with the sole aim of making the most of the day.

Let’s talk about photography. Is it true that your career as a photographer began with a snapshot of Linda Evangelista?

That’s certainly true of my work as a fashion photographer. Before that, I’d mainly been taking self-portraits for record covers and occasionally taking portraits of friends. In the 1990s, it was primarily the fashion photographer Herb Ritts who encouraged and supported me. He made his studio and his assistants available to me for a whole summer so that I could photograph my first book. It was inspired by the loss of my girlfriend Donna, who had died of breast cancer. Herb was a wonderful person; I still work with some of his former colleagues today.

And which of your photographs reveals the most about you?

The photographs of my family – I cherish them more than anything else. I photographed my grandfather when he was 89. We talked about his time as a Royal Engineer during the World Wars. He was a modest man. He passed away a few years ago. I miss my grandparents terribly.

Would you like to be remembered as a photographer or as a musician?

I couldn’t care less whether people remember me or not. If I woke up tomorrow and there was no trace of me left on the internet, I’d be delighted. However – I once had an interview with a Brazilian journalist who asked me if I knew how many kisses my songs were responsible for. I’d never given that any thought before. He calculated that the figure would run into the billions. I really liked the idea of being responsible for a billion kisses. Because without love we are nothing, and having the chance to bring a little love into this world – that means everything to me.