Bryan Adams Gave Away His First Big US Hit Before Recording It Himself

For artists coming from other countries, making it big in the US, the world’s biggest music market, has always been a huge goal. Bryan Adams, born and raised in Canada, had already gained some solid footing in his native country a couple of albums into his career. But he lacked the US breakthrough.

As is often the case with rockers, a ballad did the trick. And it was a song that had already been recorded a few times before Adams took a shot at it.

Bryan Adams gained his first smattering of notoriety in Canada as the lead singer for the band Sweeney Todd. One fun note of trivia: Adams replaced Nick Gilder in this group. Gilder enjoyed a huge smash in America with “Hot Child In The City” not long after he went on his own.

Adams on the Rise

Considering he would go on to become one of the most popular artists of the decade, it was fitting that Adams’ debut solo album arrived in 1980. His first taste of US success came with the song “Hidin’ From Love”, which, strangely enough for a guy who’d become known as an authentic rock and roller, nearly made the Top 40 on the American dance charts.

His sophomore album, You Want It You Got It, made further inroads a year later. While it further established Adams as a star in Canada, it also gave him more American exposure. The track “Lonely Nights” received solid US airplay on rock radio (though not enough to put him in the pop charts just yet).

Time and again throughout music history, rock and pop legends seem to hit their stride on their third album. Add Bryan Adams to that storied list. While his first two LPs displayed promise, Cuts Like A Knife, released in 1983, sent him rocketing to the pop music rafters.

Under the Covers

As was the case for his first two records, Adams shared much of the songwriting duties on the album with Jim Vallance. Throughout Adams’ most successful stretch, the pair formed an unstoppable duo. But Adams’ first US hit single came without Vallance’s help, at least not on the writing side.

Adams co-wrote the song “Straight From The Heart” with Eric Kagna. The artist has stated in interviews that the song was one of the first that he wrote after teaching himself to play a little bit of piano.

But before he had the chance to record it, he gave it away. Or at least loaned it to Ian Lloyd. Lloyd, once lead singer of the band Stories (of “Brother Louie” fame), did the first version of “Straight From The Heart” on a solo album that he released in 1980.

A couple more covers of the song appeared in the next few years. Then, a little bit later in the same year that Adams released his take on the song, Bonnie Tyler also recorded it and included it on her album Faster Than The Speed Of Night. Considering that the album sold like hotcakes as the home of Tyler’s No. 1 hit “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”, Adams’ royalties from “Straight From The Heart” turned out to be quite a windfall.

“Heart” of the Matter

Fittingly, it was Adams’ own version of “Straight From The Heart” that turned out to be the biggest hit. He chose it as the first single from Cuts Like A Knife. The song rose all the way to No. 10 in the US, meaning that his first American hit was a doozy.

With the ballad opening the doors, Adams was then able to go with a more rocking edge on follow-up singles “Cuts Like A Knife” and “This Time”, both of which reached the Top 25. And that was just the appetizer for the incredible success of Reckless. The 1984 album by Adams spun out an incredible six Top 15 hits, including “Heaven”, his first US No. 1.

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