Oleta Adams

Biography

Oleta Angela Adams (born May 4, 1953) is an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. She found limited success during the early 1980s, before gaining fame via her contributions to Tears for Fears' international chart-topping album The Seeds of Love (1989). Her albums Circle of One×Circle of One19 June 1990 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Rhythm of Life4:232Get Here4:373Circle of One3:554You've Got to Give Me Room5:175I've Got to Sing My Song4:016I've Got a Right4:007Will We Ever Learn5:158Everything Must Change6:539Don't Look Too Closely4:26 (1991) and Evolution×Evolution15 August 1993 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1My Heart Won't Lie4:432Hold Me for a While5:113Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight4:454When Love Comes to the Rescue5:165I Just Had to Hear Your Voice3:386Come When You Call4:147Easier to Say (Goodbye)6:348Lover's Holiday4:109The Day I Stop Loving You5:0410New York State of Mind5:3311Evolution3:4212Window of Hope4:22 (1993) were top 10 hits in the UK; the former yielded a Grammy-nominated cover of Brenda Russell's "Get Here×Get Here1991 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1Rhythm of Live (Full Mega)8:032Watch What Happens4:203Get Here4:364Think Again4:305Rhythm of Live (Gospella)4:206Birdland3:147I’ve Got to Sing My Song (live)4:328Rhythm of Live (7″)4:10", which was a top 5 hit in both the UK and the U.S. Adams has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, as well as two Soul Train Music Awards.

Biography

Oleta Angela Adams was born the daughter of a preacher and was raised listening to gospel music. In her youth, her family moved to Yakima, Washington, which is sometimes shown as her place of birth. She got her musical start in the church.
Before gaining her opportunity to perform, Adams faced a great deal of rejection. In the 1970s, she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she recorded a demo tape. However, many music executives were exclusively interested in disco music rather than Adams' preferred style.
On the advice of her singing coach, Lee Farrell, Adams moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where she did a variety of local gigs. She started her career in the early 1980s with two self-financed albums, which had limited success.
Oleta Adams sang the National Anthem prior to Game Two of the 1984 American League Championship Series.

Collaboration with Tears for Fears

In June 1985, while performing at the Peppercorn Duck Club in the Hyatt Hotel in Kansas City, Adams was heard by Ian Stanley (keyboardist of the British band Tears for Fears) while they were on a two-night stopover in Kansas City midway through their "Big Chair Tour". The next night Stanley, Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal had dinner at the club where Adams was again performing, and they collectively decided that they would approach her with an offer for her to work on their next album, The Seeds of Love. Adams accepted the offer, and two years later Orzabal and Smith got in contact with her again to invite her to join the band as a singer and pianist.
In 1989, the album was released and the single "Woman in Chains", sung as a duet by Adams and Orzabal and with Manu Katche & Phil Collins on drums, became her first hit. Adams embarked on a world tour with Tears for Fears in 1990, performing by herself as the supporting artist at the start of each show, and remaining onstage throughout the Tears for Fears set where she would provide piano and vocals.

1990s

Following her work with Tears for Fears, Adams was offered a recording contract by their label, Fontana Records, and restarted her solo career in 1990. After meeting a number of producers, she worked with Roland Orzabal, who co-produced her new album, Circle of One×Circle of One19 June 1990 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Rhythm of Life4:232Get Here4:373Circle of One3:554You've Got to Give Me Room5:175I've Got to Sing My Song4:016I've Got a Right4:007Will We Ever Learn5:158Everything Must Change6:539Don't Look Too Closely4:26. The album received acclaim, and eventually peaked at No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart in 1991, after she scored her biggest hit to date with a Grammy-nominated cover of Brenda Russell's "Get Here×Get Here1991 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1Rhythm of Live (Full Mega)8:032Watch What Happens4:203Get Here4:364Think Again4:305Rhythm of Live (Gospella)4:206Birdland3:147I’ve Got to Sing My Song (live)4:328Rhythm of Live (7″)4:10". The song reached the UK and U.S. top 5 and became popular during the 1991 Gulf War conflict, as families of deployed troops in the region embraced the tune as a theme song.
1991 also saw Adams sign to independent music publisher Fairwood Music, and contribute to the Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute album Two Rooms, on which appeared her version of John's 1974 hit "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me×Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me1991 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me5:572I've Got to Sing My Song4:043Get Here4:35". Adams' version became another top 40 hit in the UK.
Her next album, Evolution×Evolution15 August 1993 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1My Heart Won't Lie4:432Hold Me for a While5:113Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight4:454When Love Comes to the Rescue5:165I Just Had to Hear Your Voice3:386Come When You Call4:147Easier to Say (Goodbye)6:348Lover's Holiday4:109The Day I Stop Loving You5:0410New York State of Mind5:3311Evolution3:4212Window of Hope4:22 (1993), was also a commercial success, making the UK top 10. It also featured her self-penned adult contemporary single "Window of Hope×Window of Hope1993 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Window of Hope4:242You Won't Get Away5:573Oh Me, Oh My (I'm a Fool for You, Baby)4:424I Believe You4:13". Her 1995 release, Moving On, saw Adams move more in the direction of R&B. She reunited with Orzabal for the duet "Me and My Big Ideas", on the Tears for Fears album, Raoul and the Kings of Spain, the same year. Two years later, she released the Christian themed album Come Walk with Me×Come Walk With Me17 June 1997 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Holy Is the Lamb4:412I Will Love You5:313What Price7:044Come and Walk With Me6:075If You're Willing4:406This Love Won't Fail5:357Wash, O God, Our Sons & Daughters3:308The Captain of My Ship5:399Never Far Away6:2910Beams of Heaven5:06, where she received a nomination for a Grammy Award for "Holy Is the Lamb" in 1997.
In 1998, she toured as a guest vocalist on Phil Collins's Big Band Jazz Tour.

2000s

In 2001, Adams released her sixth album, All the Love×All the Love2001 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Sweet Side of Live4:392All the Love4:243I Can't Live a Day Without You3:474I Hope You Can Dance4:215Love Was Spoken Here3:546In the Beginning4:527Bump in the Road5:258When You Walked Into My Life4:179The Power of Sacrifice5:2010Learning to Love You More4:2411Look What Love Has Done4:4212Just Before I Go to Sleep4:55, a return to an R&B/Adult contemporary sound. The album was re-released in 2004 in Germany with a different title I Can't Live a Day without You.
In 2004, Adams reunited with Tears for Fears once again as she made a surprise guest appearance onstage at their Kansas City concert, performing "Woman in Chains".
On October 3, 2006, Adams released her first Christmas album, entitled Christmas Time with Oleta×Christmas Time With Oleta2006 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Of the Father's Love Begotten4:032Alleluia, Alleluia (Peace on Earth)3:523Christmas Time Is Here4:054I Wonder as I Wander4:515Breath of Heaven5:446Winter Wonderland4:237There's Still My Joy4:218Let It Snow3:399Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas4:3410Silent Night3:55.
On April 21, 2009, Adams released her eighth album entitled Let's Stay Here×Let's Stay Here24 April 2009 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Feelin' Good4:532Picture You the Way That I Do4:393We Can't Stay Here5:364No Way to Love Me5:595Another Day Has Come and Gone5:056Best That I Can Do4:297Let's Stay Here5:418Don't Explain5:379Yesterday5:0810Act of Forgiveness7:29.

2010s

On February 10, 2017, Adams released her ninth album, her first album in eight years, entitled Third Set×Third Set10 February 2017 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1It's Alright With Me9:022Only the Lonely7:203Don't Interrupt the Sorrow4:584River6:365Do I Move You6:046Evolution (acoustic)6:007Rhythm of Life (acoustic)3:438Blowin' in the Wind6:199Wilted Roses6:5610His Loving Eyes3:47.

Personal life

In 1994, Adams married drummer John Cushon at a United Methodist church in Kansas City, where they both taught Sunday School. They met in 1980 while working on a demo tape for Adams. Adams stated that she never had a passion to get married but on January 17, 1994 she and Cushon were involved in the Los Angeles earthquake. Adams referred to this as a sign from God that she was ready to get married.