Adam Faith

Adam Faith, originally uploaded by Truus, Bob & Jan too!.

British fan card by The Adam Faith Fan Club, London. Photo: Parlophone Records.

English pop singer, actor and financial journalist Adam Faith (1940-2003) started as one of the more popular British teen idols, turned into a top actor and then became a financier. In the early 1960’s he was the first British artist with his initial seven hits lodging in the Top 5, just before the Beatles came along and changed the entire musical landscape.

Adam Faith was born as Terence (Terry) Nelhams-Wright in London in 1940. The third in a family of five children, Nelhams grew up in a council house in a working class area of London. He started work at 12, delivering and selling newspapers while still at school. Faith began his musical career in 1957, while working as a film cutter in London in the hope of becoming an actor, singing with and managing a skiffle group, The Worried Men. The group played in Soho coffee bars after work, and became the resident band at The 2i's Coffee Bar, where they appeared on the BBC Television live music program Six-Five Special. The producer, Jack Good, was impressed by the singer and arranged a solo recording contract with HMV under the name Adam Faith. His debut record (Got a) Heartsick Feeling and Brother Heartache and Sister Tears in January 1958, failed to make the charts. His second release later that year was a cover of Jerry Lee Lewis' High School Confidential, but this also failed. Faith returned to work as a film cutter at National Studios at Elstree until March 1959, when Barry invited him to audition for a BBC TV rock and roll show, Drumbeat. The producer, Stewart Morris, gave him a contract for three shows, extended to the full 22-week run. Faith was becoming popular through television appearances. Faith's success on Drumbeat enabled another recording contract with EMI's Parlophone label. His next record in 1959, What Do You Want?, written by Vandyke and produced by Barry and John Burgess, received good reviews in the NME and other music papers, as well as being voted a hit on Juke Box Jury. It soared to number one on the British charts in the course of a 19-week run. His pronunciation of the word 'baby' as 'bay-beh' became a catch phrase.

Adam Faith became an immediate star, with his matinee-idol looks and charismatic screen presence. At the time, he was distinctive for his hiccupping glottal stops and exaggerated pronunciation. He did not write his own material, and much of his early success was through partnership with songwriter Les Vandyke and John Barry, whose arrangements were inspired by Don Costa's pizzicato arrangements for Buddy Holly's It Doesn't Matter Anymore. With songs such as Poor Me (another UK chart topper), Someone Else's Baby (a UK #2) and Don't That Beat All, he established himself as a rival to Cliff Richard in British popular music. Poor Me also later became the title of his first autobiography. He became an actor by taking drama and elocution lessons, and appeared as a pop singer in the film Beat Girl (1959, Edmond T. Gréville), according to Bruce Eder on All Music “a fairly gritty British delinquency drama”. His next film Never Let Go (1960, John Guillermin) starred Peter Sellers and Richard Todd. A UK variety tour was followed by a 12-week season at Blackpool Hippodrome and an appearance on the Royal Variety Show. His next release was a double A-side single, Made You/When Johnny Comes Marching Home. Both made the Top Ten, despite a BBC ban for Made You for 'a lewd and salacious lyric'. His 1960 novelty record Lonely Pup (In a Christmas Shop), to coincide with his Christmas pantomime, gained a silver disc. His debut album Adam was released on in 1960 to critical acclaim for the inventiveness of Barry's arrangements and Faith's own performances. Still 20 and living with his parents, he bought a house in Hampton Court for £6000, where he moved with his family from their house in Acton. In January 1961, NME reported that Faith had been booked to headline the television show, Sunday Night at the London Palladium. Faith's third film, the comedy What a Whopper (1961, Gilbert Gunn) with Sid James and Carole Lesley, opened to a terrible pasting from the press. On IMDb reviewer Peter Yates writes: “Almost makes Plan 9 seem workable”. Faith’ next film project, Mix Me a Person (1962, Leslie Norman) starring Anne Baxter, received good reviews. This was a thriller in which his character (Harry Jukes) spent a great deal of time behind bars. He did manage to sing a couple of songs, however, en route; the title song and a version of La Bamba.

Adam Faith's teen pop became less popular in the mid 1960’s with competition from The Beatles. In 1965 he made his only two appearances in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with It's Alright (#31) and Talk About Love (#97). He made six further albums and 35 singles, with a total of 24 UK chart entries. After a final single in 1968 he parted company with EMI and concentrated on acting in repertory theatre. After a number of small parts, he was given a more substantial role in Night Must Fall, playing opposite Dame Sybil Thorndike. In autumn 1969 he took the lead in a touring production of Billy Liar. Faith began 1970 by appearing on the BBC's review of the sixties music scene, Pop Go The Sixties, performing What Do You Want and Someone Else's Baby live on the show's broadcast on BBC1, on 1 January 1970. Later in the 1970’s, he went into music management, managing Leo Sayer among others. Faith also co-produced Sayer's 1975 album, Another Year, and earlier had co-produced Roger Daltrey's album, Daltrey (1973). He starred as the eponymous hero in the television series Budgie (1971-1972), about an ex-convict, but his career declined after a car accident in which he almost lost a leg. He restarted with a role as the manipulative manager of rock star David Essex, in Stardust (1974, Michael Apted). He was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In 1980 he starred with Roger Daltrey in McVicar (1980, Tom Clegg), and appeared with Jodie Foster in Foxes (1980, Adrian Lyne). He played the role of James Crane in the TV film Minder on the Orient Express (1985). Faith appeared in another TV series, Love Hurts (1992-1994) starring with Zoë Wanamaker, the BBC series, The House That Jack Built (2002, Nick Philips) and an episode of Murder in Mind (2003). In the 1980’s, Faith became a financial investments advisor, but he still continued to perform. In 1986, he was hired as a financial journalist, by the Daily Mail and its sister paper, The Mail on Sunday. He had a financial involvement with television's Money Channel, but the channel proved unsuccessful and closed in 2001. Faith was declared bankrupt owing a reported £32 million. In 1985, he appeared on a BBC Radio 2 tribute program to James Dean, written and presented by Terence Pettigrew. You're Tearing Me Apart was aired on the 30th anniversary of Dean's death. Dean had been his idol, and the film Rebel Without A Cause had inspired the teenage Faith to become a singer and actor. Faith had had heart problems since 1986, when he had open heart surgery. He became ill after his stage performance in the touring production of Love and Marriage at the Regent Theatre, and died in a hospital in Stoke-on-Trent of a heart attack in 2003. Since 1967, Adam Faith was married to former dancer Jackie Irving and they had one daughter Katya Faith, a television producer.

Sources: Bruce Eder (All Music Guide), Geoff Leonard and Pete Walker (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.