Born Bryan Guy Adams on November 5th, 1959 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, his parents, Elizabeth and Conrad, had moved from Plymouth, England to Canada in the 1950s. By 1976, Bryan had become the vocalist for a Vancouver Glam/Rock band called Sweeney Todd, who had earlier topped the Canadian charts with a song called "Roxy Roller", that featured singer Nick Gilder. After recording one unsuccessful album, "If Wishes Were Horses", Adams left the group after less than a one year stay. In 1978, Bryan met songwriter/drummer Jim Vallance, late of the Vancouver based band Prism, and formed a songwriting partnership that would prove highly successful. Later that same year, Adams was signed to A&M Records for a recording contract that included a signing bonus of one dollar. Among the tunes he cut was a Disco number called "Let Me Take You Dancing", that, after being sped up to a dance tempo, reached the Canadian RPM chart in March, 1979.

Adams's self-titled debut album was released in February 1980 and would be certified Gold in Canada in 1986. His second LP, "You Want It You Got It", was issued in 1981 and contained two local hits "Lonely Nights" and "Fits Ya Good". During this point in his career Bryan also co-wrote songs for other artists, including Billboard charted songs like "No Way To Treat A Lady" for Bonnie Raitt and "Don't Let Him Know" for Prism. It took until early 1983 when the lead single from "Cuts Like A Knife", Adams' third album, finally broke through to the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The song "Straight From The Heart" stayed in the Top 40 for eleven weeks and would also top the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart. Two more singles from the album, "Cuts Like A Knife" (#15) and "This Time" (#24) also became Hot 100 hits. The album itself peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 chart, reaching Platinum status in the U.S., three times Platinum in Canada, and Gold in Australia.

The November, 1984 follow-up LP, "Reckless" was filled with hit singles that kept Bryan on the charts throughout 1985: "Run To You" (#6), "Somebody" (#11), "Heaven" (#1), "Summer Of '69" (#5), "One Night Love Affair" (#13) and a duet with Tina Turner called "It's Only Love" (#15). The album is Adams's best-selling record in America, being certified five times Platinum. In support of the LP, Bryan embarked on a two-year world tour starting in Canada and United States, then into Japan, Australia, Great Britain and back to Canada. After winning four Juno Awards (Canada's version of a Grammy), the singer again toured the U.S. before taking part in a grand ensemble of Canadian artists named Northern Lights, who recorded the charity single "Tears Are Not Enough" for the African famine-relief effort in February, 1985. A fifty city tour of Europe with Tina Turner followed, culminating in April with his return to London to headline three sold-out shows at the Hammersmith Odeon. Next, he set out on the first leg of his tour entitled World Wide in '85, which ended in October 1985. That same year, Adams worked on Roger Daltrey's sixth solo album, "Under a Raging Moon", a tribute to The Who's late drummer Keith Moon who died in 1978. Bryan co-wrote two tracks for the album, "Rebel" and "Let Me Down Easy", which became a Top 15 hit on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and featured Adams playing guitar and singing backing vocals.

The follow-up to "Reckless", titled "Into the Fire" was released on March 30th 1987, and contained three more Billboard chart makers, "Heat of the Night" (#6), "Hearts On Fire" (#26) and "Victim Of Love" (#32). Though commercially successful, peaking at #7 on the Billboard 200 and selling two million copies, the "Into The Fire" LP was considered a failure next to the astounding success of "Reckless". Critical reception was generally unfavorable, with some calling out Adams for having "nothing new to say." In May 1987 the Into the Fire Tour kicked off in America before heading to the U.K. where he played the Prince's Trust charity concert at Wembley Stadium in London. Returning to the U.S., Bryan appeared on TV's Late Night With David Letterman before selling out two nights at Madison Square Garden. A sold out show in Toronto preceded a trek through the Western United States. Returning to the U.K. in October, Adams sold out four nights in a row at Wembley Stadium before touring Sweden, Switzerland and Ireland. The Asian leg of the tour saw ten sold out concerts, five of which were in Tokyo. Returning to Europe, he performed in both East and West Berlin before going back to Switzerland.

On September 24th, 1991 the album "Waking Up The Neighbours" hit store shelves. Co-produced by Bryan and Mutt Lange, the LP reached #6 on the Hot 200, topped the charts in eight countries and sold over sixteen million copies world-wide. The lead single, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" spent seven weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, sixteen consecutive weeks at #1 in the U.K., and led the Canadian singles chart for nine weeks. In all, the record topped the charts in sixteen countries and sold ten million copies around the globe. Written specifically for the Kevin Costner film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the song would go on to win a Grammy Award for Best Song From A Motion Picture. "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" was the second single plucked from the album. It peaked at #2 during a nineteen week stay in the Billboard Top 40 and was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance, although it won neither. Next up was "There Will Never Be Another Tonight", which stalled at #31. "Thought I'd Died And Gone to Heaven" reached #13 in America and #8 in the U.K. After "All I Want Is You" missed the U.S. Top 40, "Do I Have To Say The Words?" came in at #11. One last single, "Touch The Hand" also missed the U.S. Top 40.

The Waking Up The World tour kicked off on July 6th, 1991 and lasted into 1993. Stops included India, Egypt, Portugal, Vietnam, Iceland, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Germany, Holland, Scandinavia and the United States. In 1993, the single "Please Forgive Me" reached #7 during a remarkable twenty-six week stay in the Billboard Top 40. Next, a collaboration with Rod Stewart and Sting called "All For Love", co-written by Adams, Mutt Lang, and Michael Kamen for the Motion Picture Soundtrack of the movie Three Musketeers, reached number one across Europe, Australia and North America. It was followed in 1995 by, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" which was included in the Motion Picture Soundtrack of the movie Don Juan DeMarco starring Johnny Depp. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 as well as rising to number one in Australia and the Top 5 in the U.K. and Germany.

In June, 1996, the album "18 til I Die" was released. Three singles were issued from the collection, including "The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me", which cracked the Top 10 in England, as well as "Let's Make A Night To Remember" which also made the Top 10 in Great Britain and reached #24 in America. The LP reached #31 on the Billboard 200 chart, but was much more successful in Europe and Australia. On July 27th, 1996, Adams performed his second sold-out show at Wembley Stadium in London in front of a crowd of approximately 70,000 people. On November 5th of that year, a duet with Barbra Streisand called "I Finally Found Someone" was released. The song was included on the soundtrack of Streisand's self-directed movie The Mirror Has Two Faces and reached #8 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart, as well as being nominated for an Oscar. The song gave Streisand her first significant record in almost a decade and her first Billboard Top 10 hit since 1981. The song has since been included on several reissues of Adams' album, "18 Til I Die". The song also marked Bryan's final Billboard Top 40 entry. In December 1997, Adams released an acoustic live album called "MTV Unplugged" that included three new tracks: "Back to You", "A Little Love" and "When You Love Someone". The LP was a Top Ten success in Germany, but could only muster world-wide sales of 500,000. Adam's eighth studio album, "On A Day Like Today" was issued on October 27th, 1998 and coincided with his contract being sold to Interscope Records. The LP enjoyed tremendous success internationally, entering the Top 5 in Germany and was certified Platinum in the U.K. It generated two British Top 10 singles: "Cloud Number Nine" and "When You're Gone", a duet with Mel C of The Spice Girls which reached #3 in the UK and #7 in Canada.

To mark the new millennium, Adams released a greatest hits collection called "The Best of Me", which also included two new songs, the title track and the UK #1 song "Don't Give Up". The album reached the Top 10 in Germany and was certified three times Platinum in Canada and Platinum in the U.K. The single, "The Best of Me" became a hit all across Europe, but for some reason, Interscope Records chose not to issue the single or the album in America. In 2002, Bryan co-wrote and performed the songs for the DreamWorks animated film, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. The most successful single from the soundtrack was "Here I Am", which reached #5 in Great Britain and the Top 20 in Germany. The song also gave him his fourth Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Song From A Motion Picture.

In 2004, ARC Weekly released its list of top Pop artists in the last twenty-five years and Bryan Adams was listed at number thirteen with four Number-One singles, ten Top Five hits and seventeen Top Ten hits. In September of that same year, the album "Room Service" was released. It went on to top the charts in Germany and Switzerland and peaked at #4 in the UK, selling 440,000 copies in its first week. The single, "Open Road" was the best selling single from the LP and peaked at #1 in Canada and #21 in the U.K. In May 2008, the album was finally released in the U.S. but stalled at #134 on the Billboard 200. In 2005, "Anthology", a two-disc compilation containing two new tracks, was released. The U.S. release featured a new version of "When You're Gone", the duet with Melanie C. Later that year, Adams re-recorded the theme song for the second season of Pamela Anderson's sitcom Stacked. In 2006, Adams co-wrote and performed "Never Let Go" which was featured in the closing credits of the Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher film The Guardian. He also co-wrote the song "Never Gonna Break My Faith" for a movie called Bobby. The song was performed by Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige and earned Bryan a Golden Globe Nomination in 2007. That same year he co-wrote two songs, "A Place for Us" and "Another Layer" for the Disney fantasy/drama film Bridge to Terabithia. Adams released his eleventh album, appropriately called "11" on March 17th, 2008. The first track released was "I Thought I'd Seen Everything". In support of the album, Bryan embarked on an eleven day, eleven country European tour. The LP debuted at number one in Canada and reached number two in Germany. In the United States, the album topped out at #80.

Adams was honored as one of four musicians who were pictured on a series of stamps issued by Canada Post on July 2nd 2009. In December of that year, he co-wrote, produced, and performed the song "You've Been a Friend to Me" for the Disney comedy film Old Dogs starring John Travolta and Robin Williams. The following February, Bryan released a record called "One World, One Flame" in Austria and Germany only. It was a tune he had written for the German television network, ARD to be used during the broadcasting the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. During the opening ceremony of those games, he and Nelly Furtado performed a duet called "Bang The Drum". In November 2010, Adams released the acoustic album "Bare Bones", which was recorded live at various locations earlier in the year. It was certified Gold in India a year later. On February 19th, 2011, Bryan became the first international artist to perform in Nepal when he and his group played in Kathmandu. On November 19th, he recorded the song called "Tonight In Babylon" for the "Loverush UK!" album. The next day he appeared on the U.K. TV show The X Factor where he performed "When You're Gone" with the remaining acts in the competition. In July of 2012 Bryan's voice could be heard as the lead character in the animated, South African film Jock Of The Bushveld, which was re-titled Jock The Hero Dog for the American market. In 2013 he wrote and sang a song called "After All" with Michael Buble for the album "To Be Loved". In July, 2014, Bryan Adams in Concert was filmed at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto for the American program Great Performances on PBS. It was shown on American Public Television on March 2nd 2015. A new album called "Tracks Of My Tears", which included mostly cover tunes, was released the next September and went straight to the top of the Canadian charts.

His first album of all new material in seven years finally arrived on October 16th 2015. Titled "Get Up", the effort was co-written with Jim Vallance and produced by Jeff Lynne of ELO fame. November 3rd 2017 brought another compilation LP, "Ultimate" that included two new songs, "Please Stay" and "Ultimate Love". In support of the album, Bryan toured Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Europe, the United States and Canada. His fourteenth album, "Shine A Light", which featured Jennifer Lopez and Ed Sheeran, was issued on November 3rd 2017. 2018 saw him tour across India at Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi. In June, 2019, Bryan's music was reported to be among the hundreds of others that were destroyed in a 2008 fire at Universal.

Along with his musical career, Bryan has also been involved with a host of other endeavors. Believing in advancing education and learning opportunities for children around the world, he funds The Bryan Adams Foundation. Adams has also performed at many charity concerts to raise money and awareness for a variety of causes, including Live Aid, the Amnesty International "A Conspiracy of Hope" tour, The Prince's Trust All-Star Rock Concert and many, many others. A vegan for over thirty years, he also supports the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) by shooting photos for them and writing letters. Photography is also among his passions and he was recognized for his exceptional work when he was given an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in London, England. His photos have been published in several notable magazines, including British Vogue, American Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, British GQ and Esquire. He has also photographed advertising campaigns for Hugo Boss, Guess Jeans, Sand, Converse, Montblanc, Zeiss AG, Schwarzkopf, Ermenegildo Zegna, AGL shoes and Jaguar and OPEL cars. In 2002, he was invited, along with several other photographers, to photograph Queen Elizabeth II during her Golden Jubilee. One of his images from this session was used as a Canadian postage stamp in 2004 and again in 2005. His photo of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip was hung in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Although he has never married, Adams and Alicia Grimaldi, his former personal assistant and now trustee and co-founder of his foundation, welcomed their first daughter in April, 2011. A second daughter arrived in February, 2013. The couple maintained homes in London, and Paris. His 2019 schedule included dozens of shows in Canada and the U.S. before heading to Europe in November. As with most other musicians, his 2020 tour was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-May, when he vented his frustration during an on-line rant that blamed Chinese meat markets for the outbreak, he was heavily criticized on social media. Bryan quickly apologized, saying he only wanted to post about animal cruelty.

October, 2021 brought the release of the title track from his upcoming album, "So Happy It Hurts", and the announcement of a 2022 UK and Ireland tour. On the 30th of that same month, Bryan was slated attend a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony to honor Tina Turner, but had to make a last-minute exit from the big bash in Cleveland, Ohio after testing positive for COVID-19. A spokesman for Adams, who duetted with Turner on the 1985 single "It's Only Love", assured fans the singer is "fully vaccinated and has no symptoms at all." Unfortunately he tested positive for a second time in late November after arriving in Milan ahead of the unveiling of the 2022 Pirelli calendar, which he photographed. Through it all, he did manage to release a new album called "So Happy It Hurts" in March 2022.

Plans for 2023 included a summer tour with Joan Jett, scheduled to kick off on June 6 in Baltimore and end on August 3 in Seattle.