Role Guitarist Name Stuart Adamson | Years active 1976–2001 | |
 | ||
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, musician Instruments Vocals, guitar, keyboard, bass guitar Children Kirsten Adamson, Calum Adamson | ||
Birth name William Stuart Adamson | ||
Stuart adamson tribute
William Stuart Adamson (11 April 1958 – 16 December 2001) was a Scottish guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lead vocalist, and guitarist of rock group Big Country, which rose to prominence in 1983.
Contents
- Stuart adamson tribute
- Stuart adamson remembrance video
- Early life
- Skids
- Big Country
- Final years and death
- Discography
- References
Prior to that he founded Scottish art-punk band Skids. In the 1990s he founded alternative country rock act The Raphaels. He was once described by DJ John Peel as "the new Jimi Hendrix".
Stuart adamson remembrance video
Early life
Adamson was born in Manchester. Both his parents were Scottish, and when he was four, his family moved to Fife and settled in a small mining town, Crossgates, about a mile to the east of Dunfermline.
Adamson founded his first two bands in Dunfermline and they both started out playing Dunfermline and across the Firth of Forth in Edinburgh. He went to school with Ian Rankin, who was two years younger and went on to become a fan of Skids. Adamson was a lifelong supporter of Dunfermline Athletic Football Club.
Adamson's father was in the fishing industry and traveled the world. He encouraged Stuart to read literature, and both parents shared an interest in folk music. Adamson founded his first band, Tattoo, in 1976 after seeing The Damned play in Edinburgh. Besides Adamson, Tattoo included his friend William Simpson, who would also play bass guitar for his next band, Skids.
Skids
Adamson founded Skids in 1977 when he was 18. Adamson and Simpson first recruited drummer Thomas Kellichan. They played as a trio around Dunfermline and Edinburgh until meeting 16-year-old Richard Jobson. Jobson was recruited as a frontman; Adamson and Jobson both wrote songs for the band.
Skids' biggest success was the single "Into the Valley" in 1979, which reached number 10 in the UK charts. The band had four chart singles in the UK that year. Adamson was involved with three of their four albums, leaving in 1980 before Joy. Jobson's influence had increased in the band, which led to the increasing disputes between the two musicians. Jobson later said "This was a guy who had a mortgage, a wife, and a family when we were all trying to live some mythic punk lifestyle. He seemed level-headed, grounded."
Big Country
Adamson came to greater international prominence with Big Country. He constructed the band with friend and fellow guitarist Bruce Watson, then employed as a cleaner on submarines at Rosyth naval base, and a rhythm section of studio musicians Mark Brzezicki and Tony Butler, whom he found with the help of his record company.
Big Country's first hit, 1983's "Fields of Fire", reached the UK's Top 10, and was rapidly followed by the album The Crossing. The album was a big hit in the United States powered by the single "In a Big Country", which was performed on Saturday Night Live and the Grammy Awards. The video for "In a Big Country" received frequent airplay on MTV and featured the band riding all terrain vehicles in the countryside.
Their second album Steeltown appeared in 1984. The band's third album was The Seer. The first two albums were produced by Steve Lillywhite. The band continued to record studio albums and to tour until 1999. Adamson supplied much of the distinctive guitar work, as well as being the lead singer and main songwriter (both music and lyrics). The band's lineup never underwent changes, the exception being a brief departure of drummer Mark Brzezicki in the early 1990s and his temporary replacement by Pat Ahern.
Adamson was also a keen motorcyclist and regularly purchased new machines for riding around Fife. His interest extended to the race track where he sponsored British Championship rider Iain Duffus in the late 1980s.
Final years and death
Adamson was married twice. He had two children with his first wife Sandra in 1982 and 1985. His son Callum Adamson is the guitarist of British band Ahab. In 1996, Adamson split with Sandra and moved to Nashville. There he married his second wife, Melanie Shelly, and founded his final band, the alternative country band The Raphaels, a duo of Adamson and Nashville songwriter Marcus Hummon.
On 26 November 2001, Adamson was reported missing by his wife Melanie. At the time, the couple had been estranged for six weeks, and Melanie filed for divorce on the day he disappeared. Adamson had been due to face drunk-driving charges in March 2002 and had been ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. He was an alcoholic and had resumed drinking, after having been sober for over a decade. On 16 December 2001, his body was found in a closet in his room at the Best Western Plaza Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii. According to police, Adamson had hanged himself with an electrical cord from a pole in the wardrobe. An empty wine bottle was found in the room. At the time of his death, Adamson had a blood-alcohol content of 0.279%.
U2's The Edge delivered the eulogy at Adamson's funeral which was held at Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline. He told the mourners that Big Country wrote the songs that he wished U2 could write.
In 2006, U2 and Green Day covered "The Saints Are Coming" by Skids as a charity single.