Don Adams (musician)

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Don Adams , actually Hector Reay MacKay , (born May 2, 1942 in Glasgow , Scotland ; † June 24, 1995 in London , England ) was a British jazz, blues and soul singer who was mainly active in Germany .

Life

Don Adams was born as Hector Reay MacKay. He was the youngest of eight children in a working-class family and later called himself Donald or Don instead of Hector. In his youth he was enthusiastic about boxing .

Don Adams & The Flying Scotch was in Germany as early as the early 1960s and toured jazz and blues clubs, where he mainly appeared in so-called GI clubs of the US armed forces . At that time he recorded with the band The Flaming Stars , who also Pete Bender belonged, including the Jessie Hills -Song Oop Poo Pah Doo on which he then, however, in 1965 the label Metronome under the name of its established band The Flying Scotch published . He wrote the title of the B-side Sweet and sour Tears himself.

In the late 1960s he toured Germany with the musical project Hair , where he settled in Munich after the divorce from his first wife . There he sang briefly with a band called The Mochos and got to know Olaf Kübler and other musicians from the jazz scene in the Domicile . In the course of spontaneous sessions, he soon earned the reputation of the “black voice of Munich”. After Joe Kienemann left the Love Generation vocal ensemble in 1972 , he took over its position in the quintet. He married his band colleague Gitta Walther ; the marriage was divorced in 1976. In 1974 he moved from Love Generation to Hamburg to join the Les Humphries Singers , with whom he sang until 1975. Peter Herbolzheimer featured him in 1977 on the album Touchdown of his Rhythm Combination & Brass .

From 1977 to 1979 he released three singles with his Munich disco band Mandrake , one of which was also a maxi version. Besides him, members of the band were Otis Lee, Ricci Hohlt and Sheila Yvonne Bonnick .

His voice deteriorated afterwards and he apparently had health problems as well. He was married twice and last lived in London . He had a daughter (* 1982) from his marriage to Angie from Munich, a son and a daughter from his last marriage to Anna from Poland.

Don Adams died of cirrhosis of the liver . In 2007 his album Watts Happening was reissued.

Discography

(here only solo releases)

Albums
  • 1969: Watts Happening (Sunset Records / 2007 reissue: Sonorama Records)
  • 1972: The Black Voice ( United Artists Records )
  • 1977: Touchdown ( Polydor )
Singles
  • 1967: Dirty Angels / A new Day (with the orchestra Erwin Halletz ; Ariola )
  • 1968: Identity / Like a Man ( Liberty Records )
  • 1969: I can't stand living / That Feeling is gone (Orange)
  • 1969: Soap Bubbles / Yesterday Hero (Orange)
  • 1070: Pop Rock Black is Music (maxi single; Discothèque De Paris)
  • 1971: Look into a Mirror / Ev'ry Minute, Ev'ry Hour (Belter)
  • 1975: Magazine Queen / Black Mama ( Jupiter Records )
Compilations
  • 1968: The Waves are high today and That Feeling is gone (to the sampler International Beat ; Qualiton )
  • 1969: Degeneration (for the sampler Electric Underground ; Sunset Records)
  • 2007: Rest my Soul (for the sampler Groovy Therapy ; Sonorama Records)
  • 2012: Dirty Angels (to the sampler Baby, Shake mit Mir !!! ; Whale)

Web links

References and footnotes

  1. a b Description of the video Don Adams - The Black Voice! , Youtube.
  2. Don Adams comes to us ; In: Ted Garner: On the boards that mean the world , 2011, p. 64 ff.
  3. Another spelling: Sheila Bonnique
  4. Mandrake , Musik-Sammler.de.
  5. ^ A b Adams, Don - Watts Happening (Jazz) , Rockreport, June 6, 2007.
  6. Don Adams - Pop Rock Black is Music , Groovecollector.com.
  7. International Beat , Musik-Sammler.de.
  8. ^ Electric Underground , Musik-Sammler.de.
  9. ^ Groovy Therapy , Rate Your Music .
  10. Baby, Shake with Me !!!: One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure! , Rate Your Music.