Adam Faith

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Adam Faith
Background information
Birth name	Terence (Terry) Nelhams-Wright
Also known as	Terry Nelhams
Born	23 June 1940
Origin	London, England
Died	8 March 2003 (aged 62)
Genre(s)	Rock and roll Pop
Occupation(s)	musician actor journalist
Instrument(s)	vocals
Label(s)	Parlophone Top Rank International HMV Warner
Associated acts	The Worried Men (1957), The Roulettes, Bobby Vee, Cliff Richard, Billy Fury, Lonnie Donegan, Buddy Holly
Notable instrument(s)
vocals

Terence (Terry) Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith (23 June 1940, East Acton, London — 8 March 2003, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) was an English singer, actor and financial journalist. Teen idol turned top actor then financial wizard, Faith was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s.^[1] He became the first UK artist to lodge their initial seven hits in the Top 5.^[1] He was also one of the first UK acts to record original songs regularly.^[1]

Early life and education

Terence (Terry) Nelhams-Wright was born at 4 Churchfield Road, Acton, West London. He was unaware his surname was Nelhams-Wright until he applied for a passport and obtained his birth certificate. He was known as Terry Nelhams. The third in a family of five children, Nelhams grew up in a council house in a working class area of London, where he attended John Perryn secondary modern school. He started work at 12, delivering and selling newspapers while still at school. His first full-time job was odd-job boy for a silk screen printer.

Music career

Adam Faith became one of Britain's significant early pop stars. 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".

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 programme 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. Good gave him a part in the stage show of Six-Five Special, along with The John Barry Seven but the show folded after four performances. His second release later that year was a cover of Jerry Lee Lewis' "High School Confidential", backed with the Burt Bacharach and Hal David penned "Country Music Holiday", 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_(TV_series). The producer, Stewart Morris, gave him a contract for three shows, extended to the full 22-week run. His contract with HMV had ended, and he sang one track, "I Vibrate", on a six-track EP released by the Fontana record label. Barry's manager, Eve Taylor, got him a contract with Top Rank, but his only record there, "Ah, Poor Little Baby" / "Runk Bunk" produced by Tony Hatch, failed to chart due to a lack of publicity caused by a national printing strike.

Despite the failure, Faith was becoming popular through television appearances. He became an actor by taking drama and elocution lessons, and appeared as a pop singer in the film, Beat Girl. The script called for Faith to sing a songs, and as Barry was arranging Faith's recordings and live Drumbeat_(TV_series) material, the film company asked him to write the score. This was the beginning of Barry's career in film music.

Faith's success on Drumbeat_(TV_series) enabled another recording contract with Parlophone. His next record in 1959, "What Do You Want?", written by Les Vandyke and produced by Barry and John Burgess, received good reviews in The New Musical Express and other papers, as well as being voted a hit on Juke Box Jury. This became his first number one hit in the UK Singles Chart,^[1] and his pronunciation of the word 'baby' as 'bay-beh' became a catch phrase.^[2]

"What Do You Want?" was the first number one hit for Parlophone, Faith the only pop act on the label.^[2]

With songs like "Poor Me" (another 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.

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 on 4 November 1960 to critical acclaim for the inventiveness of Barry's arrangements and Faith's own performances. The material ranged from standards such as "Summertime", "Hit The Road To Dreamland" and "Singin' In The Rain" to more contemporary songs, such as Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman's "I'm A Man", Johnny Worth's "Fare Thee Well My Pretty Maid", and Howard Guyton's "Wonderful Time".

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 December 1960 he became the first pop artist on the TV interview series Face to Face with John Freeman.

Faith made six further albums and 35 singles, with a total of 24 chart entries. In the early 1960s, Faith's backing group was The Roulettes.

Film and television career

Faith's twee pop became less popular in the mid-1960s in competition from The Beatles. After a final single in 1968 he parted company with EMI and concentrated on acting. While a musician he had appeared in films such as Beat Girl (1961), Never Let Go, and television dramas such as the Rediffusion/ITV series, No Hiding Place but now he concentrated on 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.

In the 1970s, he went into music management, managing Leo Sayer among others.

He starred as the eponymous hero in the 1970s television series Budgie (LWT/ITV), about an ex-convict, but his career declined after a motorcycle accident in which he almost lost a leg. He restarted with a role as the manipulative manager of rock star David Essex, in Stardust. He was nominated for a BAFTA award. In 1980 he starred with Roger Daltrey in McVicar and appeared with Jodie Foster in Foxes.

Played the role of James Crane in the 1985 TV Movie Minder on the Orient Express - part of the Minder franchise.

From 1992-1994, Faith appeared in another TV series, Love Hurts starring with Zoe Wanamaker, and in 2002 he appeared in the BBC series, The House That Jack Built. In 2003, Adam appeared in an episode of Murder in Mind.

Later years

He married Jackie Irving in 1967 and they had one daughter Katya Faith who became a television producer. In 1986, he was hired as a financial journalist, by the Daily Mail and its sister paper The Mail on Sunday.

He had had heart problems since 1986 when he had open heart surgery.

In the 1980s, Faith became a financial investments advisor. 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. Adam also advised and invested monies for Michael Winner via Sir Nicholas Goodison and also with Roger Levitt's financial group. However both these investments lost money.^[3]

He became ill after his stage performance in the touring production of Love And Marriage at Stoke-on-Trent on the Friday evening, and died at North Staffordshire Hospital of a heart attack early on Saturday 8 March 2003.

British tabloid newspapers reported his last words as "Channel Five is all shit, isn't it? Christ, the crap they put on there. It's a waste of space". Although it is not certain these were his words, it has become an urban myth.^[4]

Discography

Singles

Albums

• Adam (Parlophone) (1960) - UK Number 6
• Beat Girl (film soundtrack) (Columbia) (1961) - UK Number 11
• Adam Faith (Parlophone) (1962) - UK Number 20
• From Adam with Love
• For You - Love Adam
• On the Move
• Faith Alive (Parlophone) (1965) - UK Number 19
• I Survived
• Midnight Postcards (PolyGram) (1993) - UK Number 43

^[1]

Compilations

• The Best Of Adam Faith (Starline) (1966)
• The Best Of Adam Faith (MFP) (1971)
• 24 Golden Greats (Warwick) (1981) - UK Number 61
• Not Just A Memory (Amy Records) (1983)
• The Best Of Adam Faith (re-issue) (MFP) (1985)
• The Best Of Adam Faith (second re-issue) (MFP) (1989)
• The Singles Collection (Greatest Hits) (1990)
• The Best Of EMI Years (1994)
• The Very Best Of Adam Faith (MFP/EMI) (1997)
• Greatest Hits (EMI Gold) (1998)
• The Very Best Of Adam Faith (EMI) (2005)
• All The Hits (EMI Gold) (2009)

^[1]

References

External links

• Allmusic entry
• Adam Faith site
• Adam Faith, entry in IMDB
• Obituary, The Guardian, March 10, 2003
• Obituary, The Telegraph, March 9,2003
• Comprehensive Discography