January 5, 1932 - September 14, 1998
American blues singer from New Orle… Read Full Bio ↴January 5, 1932 - September 14, 1998
American blues singer from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was known as "The Tan Canary" for the amazing range of his singing voice and his gospel influenced style. He began his career singing gospel, but crossed over to secular music in 1959 and scored a national hit with the single "I Won't Cry." That was followed by a string of regional hits in the 1960s which included "Release Me" and "Reconsider Me."

In the 1980s and 1990s Adams recorded several award-winning albums for Rounder Records. He died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1998 after a long battle with cancer

(2) 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 tribute albums 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 R&B sound, preferring to deliver sophisticated soul ballads draped in strings.

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 Mac Rebennack, 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 standard "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, From the 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

I Don't Worry Myself
Johnny Adams Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Johnny Adams:

A Lot of Living to Do There are girls just ripe for some kissing And I…
A World I Never Made The late show is over And the city is fast asleep And…
After All the Good Is Gone Today, I got a letter From someone Just a friend We knew a l…
Baby Please Baby, hear it on Baby please, baby please, come back to…
Body And Fender Man I'm your body and fender man, I can fix your…
But Not For Me Old man sunshine listen you Never tell me dreams come true J…
Christmas Song Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at you…
Do Right Woman Take me to heart and I'll always love you And nobody…
Georgia Morning Dew Standing on this mountain looking over L.A. at the break of …

Good Morning Heartache Good morning heartache, you old gloomy sight Good morning he…
Hell Yes I Cheated Hell Yes I Cheated Even though it was wrong But she gave…
I Can't Be All Bad Yes, baby I know, I know That I made you mad With something…
I Cover the Waterfront I cover the waterfront, I'm watching the sea,, Will the one …
I Don't Want to Do Wrong Um I don't wanna do wrong But you've been gone baby…
I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home I got a funny feelin' that all of you girls had…
I Owe You I hadn't anyone till you, I was a lonely one 'til…
I Won't Cry Darling I found out a long time ago About someone else…
Imitation of Love We do the things that lovers do Like you kiss me…
Lovers Will Who'll take the only hearts they got And throw them…
Neither One of Us It's sad to think we're not gonna be here And it's…
Now You Know You don't know what love is 'Til you've learned the meaning…
O Little Town Of Bethlehem Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee…
One Day One fine day, you'll look at me And you will know…
Reconsider Me Hello baby, yes it's really me After the wrong I've done Gue…
Release Me Please release me Oh, let me go, oh, yes You see I,…
Room With A View I've been cherishing, Through the perishing winter nights …
She Said The Same Things To Me You know she talks like ev'rybody in the room Was gonna…
Spanish Harlem There is a rose in Spanish Harlem A red rose up…
The Night Is A Hunter Oh, the night is a hunter It catches me all the…
There Is Always One More Time If your whole life somehow Wasn't much 'til now And you've a…
This Time I'm Gone for Good I shoulda stayed gone When I left before 'Cause you do me…
White Christmas I, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas Just like the one…
Why Do I Um I don't wanna do wrong But you've been gone baby…
Willow Weep For Me Willow weep for me Willow weep for me Bend your branches gre…
You Don't Know What Love Is You don't know what love is 'Til you've learned the meaning…

You Make A New Man Out Of Me My love, I'll never find the words My love, to tell…

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TRACKS