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Adams ‘Happy’ To Release New Album Despite COVID Setback

By Keith Sharp

Bryan Adams was all set to fly down to Cleveland to assist in the induction of Tina Turner into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s Class of 2021 on October 30th at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse when he took the mandatory COVID-19 test before boarding his flight. The test showed he was positive!

“The officials there said there must be a mistake so I stuck that swab up my nose again, and it still showed positive, so I had to cancel,” explained Adams on the phone from his Vancouver-based Warehouse Recording Studio. “I had gotten vaccinated way back but one of my daughters had contracted COVID from school. She just had a sore throat and the usual flu-like sniffles, I felt fine, but because the test showed positive, I had to cancel.”

Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams

Adams had been billed to perform a tribute to Turner with Mickey Guyton, HER and Christine Aguilera (they had previously recorded a hit single; “It’s Only Love” off his 1984`Reckless’ album), his spot was taken by Keith Urban, but he says it wasn’t that big of a disappointment as Tina herself did not attend and had instead presented a video thank you from her home in Switzerland.

“It would have been nice to hang out with the other performers but Tina wasn’t there and you can’t beat Tina,” he noted. As for Adams not being considered for The Hall Of Fame himself, despite selling over 100 million records and having participated in such high profile, U.S music events like his 1985 Live Aid performance in Philadelphia and his Amnesty International 1986 tour dates with The Police, Peter Gabriel and U2, Adams claims he is non-plussed by the continuing snub by the Hall Of Fame. “If they called me to tell me I was in, I’d be like “Thanks,” “Cheers” but it’s not something I think about.”

What Adams is thinking about is the release of a new single, “So Happy It Hurts” from an album by the same name which will be released in March. “I was working on four or five songs during the pandemic and I realized I had enough for an album and it came together quite quickly,” he noted. “As for the single; I’m just glad I got it out this year and that it contains the word “happy.”

“I would have liked to release the entire album at the same time but we couldn’t find a factory to manufacture the vinyl,” Adams noted. “So we said, Okay, fine, we’ll wait until we can find the right place.”

A limited-edition “So Happy It Hurts” boxed set will be released on March 12 containing both a Deluxe CD and Vinyl copy of the record, a personally-signed photo plus a 48-page hard copy. The single itself plus the majority of the album’s 12 tracks are positive, up-tempo tracks co-written with familiar contributors like Jim Vallance, Mutt Lange and Gretchen Peters.

Bryan Adams - So Happy It Hurts - Box Set
Bryan Adams – So Happy It Hurts – Box Set

As for touring, Adams and his band are heading down to Las Vegas for a brief residency in November before staging a high-profile New Year’s Eve concert in Vancouver and then heading out to Europe in January for a previously-planned European tour.

Adams is still concerned about the pandemic, noting drummer Mickey Curry is not performing the Vegas dates due to the fear of bringing infection back to his family. “We are receiving reports that people are not turning up for concerts even though they have bought tickets.”

Bryan Adams 2021
Bryan Adams 2021

But still, Adams is aware that performing live is still important in keeping his crew and band members employed. “I have a lot of people who depend on me to keep things going and to provide them with a livelihood and besides, I wouldn’t know what else to do, writing and performing has been my entire life.”

For more information on ordering the boxed set or future Adams’
updates, please link to https://www.bryanadams.com

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