Adam Faith(1940-2003)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
In an interview in "Disc" magazine published in June 1959, following
the release of his third (and ultimately unsuccessful) single, Adam
Faith declared that his ambition was to become an actor/director--not a
singer. Nine years, 35 singles, 24 chart entries, 15 EPs and seven
albums later he finally decided to leave the record industry to
concentrate fully on fulfilling his thespian dream. Over the next 34
years Faith was to achieve at least the major part of this long-held
ambition by becoming one of Britain's most popular stars of stage and
screen. However, during his singing career with EMI, he vied with
Cliff Richard as the UK's most popular
male singer and pop idol.
Adam Faith was born Terry Nelhams in Acton, London, on June 23, 1940,
the third of five children. He attended John Perryn secondary modern
school in Acton and from the age of 12 was able to demonstrate his
entrepreneurial skills by means of a series of paper rounds, which
enabled him to finance his own clothes budget. This was augmented
further when he started selling papers from a pitch to enable him to
pay for more than 100 pounds worth of other "gear", including a record
player and an impressive bicycle, both costing around 28 pounds--a
large sum indeed by 1950s standards. All this was achieved before he
left school, at which point he embarked on his first full-time
employment as an odd job boy for a silk screen printer close to his
home.
After only a few weeks with this company he heard of a vacancy for a
messenger boy at Rank Screen Services and was taken on at the princely
sum of 3 pounds ten shillings per week, dedicating himself to the task
of obtaining a transfer to the studios. However, after a year elapsed
without any sign of his move, he left to join a company in Wardour
Street, Soho, known as TV Advertising Ltd. This was a period when he,
like many of his peers, was bitten by the skiffle bug which was then
sweeping Britain. His first great idol was
Lonnie Donegan, who inspired him to form
his first group with colleagues from work. They called themselves "The
Worried Men" after one of their most popular numbers, "Worried Man
Blues". According to Nelhams, they played all the local Soho expresso
coffee bars--Mars, The Cat's Whiskers, Orlando's, The Skiffle Cellar
and, of course, the famous Two Is, where they eventually became
resident.
Nelhams was becoming exhausted, which was not surprising in view of his
extra-curricular activities. He had been promoted to assistant cutter
at TV Advertising and not only did he combine evening performances with
his day job, but he also decided to take managerial responsibility for
the group's affairs. Jack Good's
Six-Five Special (1957) TV
program had a reputation for originality. One idea was to broadcast a
show direct from the Two Is. Naturally, as the resident band, The
Worried Men opened and closed the program--valuable exposure and,
ultimately, Nelham's first big break.
Good was impressed with Nelhams' performance but not necessarily with
the group as a whole. He invited Nelhams back on the show as a solo
singer, convinced of his potential as Britain's answer to
James Dean. Nelhams, encouraged by
this optimism, gave up his job as a film cutter and turned
professional. Good not only secured him a recording contract with EMI's
HMV label on the strength of the TV appearance, but also helped him
choose the now familiar name Adam Faith. Faith's debut disc combined
"(Got a) Heartsick Feeling" with "Brother Heartache & Sister Tears",
and was released in January 1958. It received very little publicity,
either in the form of music press coverage or from EMI's own
advertising department. Not surprisingly, it failed to make any
impression on the charts. Despite all Good's confidence in him, Faith
also failed to make any immediate impression on television, but Good
gave him another opportunity when he booked him to appear in his stage
show version of "Six Five Special" (The John Barry Seven were also on
the bill and this brief first meeting with composer
John Barry was later to prove of
vital importance). However, the stage show wasn't the success Good
envisaged, and after just four performances Faith found himself out of
work.
Faith, ever the survivor, swallowed his pride and made the painful
decision to abandon his show-biz career by returning to the film
cutting world. Despite this, HMV released his second single in December
of the same year, a cover of
Jerry Lee Lewis' "High School
Confidential", backed with "Country Music Holiday" Apart from scant
attention in the music press, mainly to the effect that he was covering
a Jerry Lee song, it attracted no publicity whatsoever. After a couple
of temporary jobs back in the business, he found a job as a cutter at
National Studios at Elstree. It was while he was there he received a
phone call from John Barry in March of 1959, inviting him to audition
for Drumbeat (1959). This new
program was an attempt by BBC Television to counter ATV's popular
Oh Boy! (1958) show. After
sufficiently impressing producer
Stewart Morris, Faith landed an
initial contract for three shows, which was later extended to the full
22-week run.
Fortune once again smiled on Faith when Barry introduced him to his own
manager, the redoubtable Eve Taylor. Taylor,
whose father was a show-business impresario of some renown, was steeped
in the tradition and was herself part of a comedy and tap-dancing act
during the 1930s. Since becoming an agent she had established a
reputation for never accepting anything less than the best for her
clients, and many an errant theater manager had experienced the lash of
her biting tongue! She readily agreed to take him on, and immediately
set about changing his image and appearance, securing him another
recording contract, initially with Top Rank.
His only record for them ("Ah, Poor Little Baby" / "Runk Bunk") was
released on June 6, with only the former side benefiting from an
arrangement and accompaniment by John Barry. Both sides, incidentally,
were produced by Tony Hatch, just prior to
his appointment as A&R manager at Pye/Piccadilly Records.
Unfortunately, this record also failed to attract the attention of pop
pundits, but on this occasion Faith was clearly hindered by a total
absence of publicity caused by the release date--unluckily coinciding
with a national printing strike! Despite the failure of his first three
records, Faith was becoming very well known and popular through his
'Drumbeat" appearances. Acting still had a hold on him, and in August
he announced his intention to take drama and elocution classes in order
to enhance his acting potential. It was about halfway through the
"Drumbeat" series when Faith attracted the attention of film producer
George Willoughby, who was
searching for a young pop singer to appear in his new film,
Wild for Kicks (1960), then in
pre-production. Although Faith had little record success up 'til then,
Willoughby was struck by the young man's stage presence and signed him
on the strength of this. The script called for Faith to sing only a
couple of songs. As Barry was by then arranging not only Faith's
recordings but also his live "Drumbeat" material, it came as no
surprise when the film company asked him to write the score to
accompany Faith's big-screen debut--Barry's own very first steps into
the world of film music composing.
Faith's success on "Drumbeat" enabled Eve Taylor to secure him another
recording contract, this time with Parlophone. The quest for suitable
material to launch the Parlophone debut began in earnest and was
eventually resolved out of a friendship built up on "Drumbeat". A study
of the "Drumbeat" scripts reveal how Faith had initially concentrated
on singing a large proportion of cover versions; the majority, up-tempo
slices of American rock
'n' roll. A significant turning point ensued
when he asked to perform his own version of the current
Cliff Richard
hit "Living Doll". It became apparent to Barry that Faith's vocal
delivery was more attractive in a gentler mode and, as a result of this
discovery, he decided to concentrate on delivering this kind of
material. Nevertheless, before this first Parlophone single was issued,
Faith made his label debut on the live "Drumbeat" album, recorded on
May 10 at Abbey Road Studios, London, and released two months later. On
this LP, the rock 'n' roll influence remained. Faith sang three
numbers--"Say Mama", "C'mon Everybody" and "Believe What You Say", all
accompanied by John Barry.
The "Drumbeat" LP also showcased the performing talents of one
Johnny Worth, a member of
Jackie and The Raindrops vocal
trio, better known as Johnny Worth (also known as Les Vandyke). Worth
was to become the final piece in the Parlophone backroom jigsaw that
catapulted Faith from contender to champion in the pop market place.
Worth, born in Battersea, London, on June 21, 1931, began working as a
draughtsman prior to his compulsory two-year hitch in the army. On
returning to civvy life he was determined to stay out of office work
and make his name as a singer. Like many singers, he also aspired
towards song writing, although his first three attempts were rejected
out of hand by music publishers. However, when Faith, striking up a
friendship with him on the "Drumbeat" set, asked if he had any material
suitable for recording, Worth approached JB7 pianist
Les Reed to help him arrange a demo of
one of these initial songs, "What Do You Want?". Barry has always been
credited with the idea of using pizzicato strings (inspired by
Buddy Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore")
but according to Worth, this was entirely his own brainchild. Because
he was still under contract to Oriole, Worth felt the need to adopt a
pseudonym while writing songs, and so was born Les Vandyke. This was
derived by combining Reed's own first name with Worth's London
telephone exchange!
Barry was impressed enough with the demo to commence working on an
arrangement for the song, using that same Buddy Holly-influenced
pizzicato style. According to Faith, the singing style he adopted for
this now legendary recording was based on coaching he received from Roy
Young, another "Drumbeat" cast member. Having heard Faith rehearsing it
during a shared car journey, Young made a number of suggestions, in
particular persuading him to alter his pronunciation of "baby" to
"bay-beh". "What Do You Want?" (b/w "From Now Until Forever") was
recorded at Abbey Road Studios on September 25, 1959, a mere month
after "Drumbeat" ended. At the same time Faith was also signed to
appear in an episode of Rediffusion's
No Hiding Place (1959) TV
series. Norman Newell, Faith and Barry's
A&R manager, was unable to produce the recording session. As a result,
assistant John Burgess took the helm in his absence, and was to do so
for the remainder of Faith's EMI career. According to Barry, on hearing
the record, Newell publicly declared his disapproval, vowing that Barry
would on no account ever be allowed to take part in any more sessions!
After the recording Barry admitted that both he and Faith were
despondent following previous commercial failures. This time they were
determined to impose their own personal tastes far more emphatically
than they had done previously, when the flavor of the day tended to
override aesthetic considerations.
Despite favorable reviews of "What Do You Want?", on its October 24
release date in both The New Musical Express and Disc, manager Eve
Taylor still insisted that Faith's future lay in acting. Keith Fordyce,
writing in the former, praised Barry's arrangement and choice of
instrumentation --Jack Good, columnist in its rival, applauded the
production, tipping chart success on both sides of the Atlantic. EMI,
perhaps scenting success, mounted a strong advertising campaign
promoting the single far more vigorously than either of Faith's first
two HMV releases.
In the following issue of "Disc", Eve Taylor, recognizing good copy
when she saw it, claimed Faith had definitely made his last record to
concentrate on acting, citing his appearance in a 90-minute drama for
Rediffusion TV at the end of year as evidence. Despite this, "What Do
You Want?" was given a considerable boost when it was played and voted
a unanimous hit on BBC TV's
Juke Box Jury (1959), and when
Faith sang it live on an edition of ATV's "Boy Meets Girl".
On November 14 the first tangible sign of chart recognition was
apparent when The Record Mirror's "British Only" chart listed "What Do
You Want?" as a new entry at #9. Clearly, interest was growing, to a
point when it entered the NME charts at #18 the following week. Adam
Faith, singer, had clearly arrived. His mentor, Jack Good, while
applauding his success, claimed his acting actually improved his
singing. He also mentioned that the song was initially rejected by
Johnny Kidd, although Worth denied
this, maintaining that he had refused permission for Kidd to use it
when the singer had wanted to give it a rock 'n' roll treatment.
Another surprise arrived with the revelation that the orchestral
backing consisted of just four strings, with two tenor saxes suggesting
the sound of a cello.
By December Faith was #1 in the NME charts. He confessed to being
terrified of becoming just another overnight sensation and was
therefore determined to continue to develop his acting skills by way of
special training at the Royal Court Theatre. He admitted to enjoying
Frank Sinatra,
Peter Gunn (1958),
Jean Sibelius' "1st Symphony" and playing
golf--tastes considered rather esoteric and sophisticated for a typical
teenager of the period! At this stage he still lived at home in Acton
with his parents, an older sister, a twin brother & sister, another
brother having already married and left the roost.
Any one-hit wonder will tell you of the problems associated with
finding an equally memorable follow-up. Not surprisingly, the Faith
management decided to rely on the Worth / Barry team for inspiration,
and this proved a wise move. At the recording session John Burgess
again took charge of production, since Norman Newell was afraid of
upsetting a winning formula. On January 15 "Poor Me" was released with
"WDYW" still at #2 on the charts! Faith had finished recording his
"Beat Girl" songs just three days previously and had signed to appear
in another film - "Moment Of Truth". The following day he received a
silver disc for "What Do You Want", awarded for sales of 250,000, and
appeared on BBC Radio's "Saturday Club", following this with a guest
appearance on the Beverley Sisters' TV show on January 25, where he
sang "Poor Me". This song, another originally rejected by several music
publishers in its original incarnation as "Poor Man", shot to #1 on the
UK charts.
After the success of "Poor Me", Faith--the "reluctant"
pop-singer--revealed how much he wanted to sustain his chart success.
His new film, now retitled
Never Let Go (1960), commenced
shooting on February 22, starring
Peter Sellers and
Richard Todd. With his newly
acquired wealth generated from two #1 singles, Faith announced his plan
to buy a new car, a new house for his parents and to invest the rest (a
significant move in light of his subsequent financial success).
Although his next record, "Big Time" / "Someone Else's Baby", released
on April 8 while "Poor Me" was still at #15 on the charts, just failed
to become his third consecutive #1 (it was beaten by
The Everly Brothers' "Cathy's
Clown"), during the next few years Faith went on to score many more
hits. His albums were successful, too. "Beat Girl", for example, issued
at a time when the film had yet to surface in the cinema, attracted
excellent reviews and reached the top ten in the UK album charts.
Though this was in the main a John Barry instrumental album, three
songs were sung by Faith and this fact alone could only have enhanced
sales. One of these songs, "The Beat Girl Song", written by Barry and
Trevor Peacock, failed to appear in the
film itself.
December brought two more significant events in the ever-changing world
of Adam Faith. First he bought a Hampton Court house for 6000 pounds,
where he moved with the rest of his family from the Acton council
house. Second, he was invited and agreed to appear on BBC TV's
controversial yet prestigious
Face to Face (1959)--a major
coup for Faith. Transmitted live on December 11, Faith surprised many a
viewer by dint of his resolution and alertness in the face of some
tough questioning from presenter
John Freeman.
Faith's third film, the comedy
What a Whopper (1961), premiered
during the summer, although the title song was not considered strong
enough for single release. Instead, he chose a song from the film,
entitled "The Time Has Come". written--as usual--by Johnny Worth. This
reached #4 on the charts and fared better than the film, which opened
at the Rialto, London, on September 28 to a terrible pasting from the
press.
In March of 1962 Faith undertook an 11-day nature cure at a Surrey rest
home. He had not stopped touring and recording for eight months and was
completely fatigued. At the Surrey retreat he read the script for his
next film project,
Mix Me a Person (1962), which was
due to start filming immediately after this short period of
recuperation. August dawned with good reviews for the film, which
opened in London. This, his fourth picture, 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".
One of the biggest news items in the music industry that autumn stemmed
from the surprise decision from the Barry and Faith camp to sever
musical links--a purely amicable arrangement designed to enable both
parties to develop alternative projects. Barry explained the motives
behind this move more fully in an interview with Record Mirror's Peter
Jones: "In the early days Johnny Worth, Adam and I were concentrating
on one thing, Adam's records. We were after bread. We were all starting
in the business and we were all ambitious. But towards one end only. We
were all in the same boat but eventually you reach a climax in all that
channeled activity. I'd say it is impossible for three people to stick
together permanently in this way. You are bound to develop into
different adult channels. We wanted financial gains. When you've got
those, you can relax and choose your work. It's a matter of sitting
back and considering precisely what you want to do in your career. Do
you want to be tied by the boundaries of pop music? Do you want to
include all kinds of music? Or all art forms? As an artist, a musician,
you can learn something from all forms . . . From literature, films and
comedy. So no, it wasn't a surprise I left. But you might say it was a
surprise I stayed so long."
Initially the hits continued almost unabated, first with Johnny Keating
taking over as arranger and accompanying Faith with his orchestra, and
then accompanied by a new group,
The Roulettes.
Faith flew to Australia in October with John Leyton for an 18-day tour
that also encompassed New Zealand and Hong Kong, returning to his new
home in Esher, Surrey, a "manor-type" house set in an acre of
landscaped garden. The house itself included a ground floor-billiards
room and a blue-carpeted bedroom housing a white, silk-covered
king-sized bed--with an adjoining wardroom. What's more, he employed a
butler, maid, gardener and valet! How times had changed from those
childhood days in Acton.
However, the hits eventually began to dry up. In 1967 his biggest "hit"
was his marriage to former dancer Jackie Irving. Quite possibly his
biggest commercial coup was in persuading
Sandie Shaw to perform and record "Puppet On
A String", a decision she was later to regret. Not only did it become
the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, but it also reached #1 in
the UK and in many other European countries. Faith convinced her it was
in her best interests to sing it, after she had fallen out with their
mutual manager over its merits as a song. Her gratitude to Faith for
his advice was somewhat tempered, however, when Taylor revealed much
later that he had a financial interest in her and the song's
publishers! Clearly Faith's aptitude for spotting an investment
opportunity had not diminished.
Adam Faith released his last single for EMI in 1968, "You Make My Life
Worthwhile". Arranged and conducted by Ken Woodman, it was an excellent
recording that deserved a better fate than it got, but with Faith
opting to make his stage debut playing Feste in
William Shakespeare's
"Twelfth Night", he was in no position to promote it. In view of this,
both he and EMI decided to part company; Faith, the actor, was
consigning Faith, the pop star, to the annals of music history.
Faith's success on stage and screen was hardly unexpected, given his
thirst for knowledge and capacity for hard work. He decided to learn
stagecraft from first principles in repertory theatre, out of which a
number of small parts initially emanated. This stood him in good stead,
when he was given a more substantial role in "Night Must Fall", playing
opposite Dame Sybil Thorndike. In
effect, this amounted to his big break; his stage equivalent of
appearing on "Drumbeat"! In autumn of 1969 he took the lead in a
touring version of "Billy Liar", and 18 months later found renewed
television fame in the title role of
Budgie (1971).
Apart from one comeback album for Warner Bros in 1974 (borne, one
suspects, out of a desire to celebrate in song his full recovery from a
near-fatal car crash a year earlier) and an original cast recording he
made of the musical version of "Budgie" in 1988, Faith concentrated
almost solely on acting and went a considerable way to achieving his
ambition expressed so lucidly back in 1959, prior to his 19th birthday.
During the 1970s he impressed both moviegoers and critics alike with
convincing performances in
Stardust (1974),
Foxes (1980) and
McVicar (1980), and also found time to
immerse himself in the management side of the rock industry. Budding
agent and song-writer
Dave Courtney (who Faith knew as a
result of his association with The Roulettes) introduced him to former
busker Leo Sayer. Instantly impressed by
Sayer's vocal prowess and songwriting ability, Faith immediately set
out a strategy for launching his protégée, and as a direct spin-off,
also produced a solo album for The Who's
Roger Daltrey, which contained a selection
of Sayer/Courtney songs.
The 1980s saw Faith once again reinvent himself in the public eye, this
time in the form of a self-appointed financial guru; he even wrote a
column for "The Mail On Sunday", aptly titled "Faith In The City",
which epitomized the "get-rich-quick" philosophy espoused in that
Margaret Thatcher-drenched decade. It
ended on something of a sour note when he was prevented from issuing a
free fact sheet that promised to make its recipients millionaires! This
was also a period when Faith was often heard to be scathing about his
own recording legacy, holding it chiefly responsible for scuppering his
attempts at securing a lasting acting career. As guest at a dinner
party where his old hits were being played, he was chastised by the
host for criticizing them so harshly, for rubbishing the very music he
had enjoyed as a youth. Faith was rather taken aback by this accusation
and was forced to re-appraise his feelings for his pop career.
Judging from subsequent comments made in the media, he has clearly done
so. On the eve of the release of a brand-new album, "Midnight
Postcards" (released in November '93), he told "The Daily Mail" that he
was no longer dismissive about his pop star roots and saw no
incongruency in combining an acting with a singing career. "I retired
from singing 20 years ago so I could be an actor. I had begun to hate
my pop association because I so wanted to act. In those days you
couldn't really do both. Now I realize that the two things I do best
are singing and acting. I'm only sorry that it has taken me so long to
combine the two."
On stage for some years he performed the title role in "Alfie" around
the provinces, played the narrator in "A Chorus Line" and toured the UK
in "Love & Marriage". Often in demand for television, following his
initial success with "Budgie", in the 1990s he starred in the highly
successful BBC TV drama
Love Hurts (1992), with
Zoë Wanamaker; and in 2002 made the less
popular
The House That Jack Built (2002),
also for the BBC.
He had a heart bypass operation in the mid-'80s, but had enjoyed
reasonable health from then onwards. However, the failure of his cable
TV channel, The Money Channel, a couple of years ago resulted in his
bankruptcy, and may have taken a toll on his health. He was planning a
one-man stage performance tour of Britain the next year, in which he
would act out his career, including some of the songs that launched it.
He died at the age of 62 from a heart attack, a few hours after
finishing a performance of "Love & Marriage".
the release of his third (and ultimately unsuccessful) single, Adam
Faith declared that his ambition was to become an actor/director--not a
singer. Nine years, 35 singles, 24 chart entries, 15 EPs and seven
albums later he finally decided to leave the record industry to
concentrate fully on fulfilling his thespian dream. Over the next 34
years Faith was to achieve at least the major part of this long-held
ambition by becoming one of Britain's most popular stars of stage and
screen. However, during his singing career with EMI, he vied with
Cliff Richard as the UK's most popular
male singer and pop idol.
Adam Faith was born Terry Nelhams in Acton, London, on June 23, 1940,
the third of five children. He attended John Perryn secondary modern
school in Acton and from the age of 12 was able to demonstrate his
entrepreneurial skills by means of a series of paper rounds, which
enabled him to finance his own clothes budget. This was augmented
further when he started selling papers from a pitch to enable him to
pay for more than 100 pounds worth of other "gear", including a record
player and an impressive bicycle, both costing around 28 pounds--a
large sum indeed by 1950s standards. All this was achieved before he
left school, at which point he embarked on his first full-time
employment as an odd job boy for a silk screen printer close to his
home.
After only a few weeks with this company he heard of a vacancy for a
messenger boy at Rank Screen Services and was taken on at the princely
sum of 3 pounds ten shillings per week, dedicating himself to the task
of obtaining a transfer to the studios. However, after a year elapsed
without any sign of his move, he left to join a company in Wardour
Street, Soho, known as TV Advertising Ltd. This was a period when he,
like many of his peers, was bitten by the skiffle bug which was then
sweeping Britain. His first great idol was
Lonnie Donegan, who inspired him to form
his first group with colleagues from work. They called themselves "The
Worried Men" after one of their most popular numbers, "Worried Man
Blues". According to Nelhams, they played all the local Soho expresso
coffee bars--Mars, The Cat's Whiskers, Orlando's, The Skiffle Cellar
and, of course, the famous Two Is, where they eventually became
resident.
Nelhams was becoming exhausted, which was not surprising in view of his
extra-curricular activities. He had been promoted to assistant cutter
at TV Advertising and not only did he combine evening performances with
his day job, but he also decided to take managerial responsibility for
the group's affairs. Jack Good's
Six-Five Special (1957) TV
program had a reputation for originality. One idea was to broadcast a
show direct from the Two Is. Naturally, as the resident band, The
Worried Men opened and closed the program--valuable exposure and,
ultimately, Nelham's first big break.
Good was impressed with Nelhams' performance but not necessarily with
the group as a whole. He invited Nelhams back on the show as a solo
singer, convinced of his potential as Britain's answer to
James Dean. Nelhams, encouraged by
this optimism, gave up his job as a film cutter and turned
professional. Good not only secured him a recording contract with EMI's
HMV label on the strength of the TV appearance, but also helped him
choose the now familiar name Adam Faith. Faith's debut disc combined
"(Got a) Heartsick Feeling" with "Brother Heartache & Sister Tears",
and was released in January 1958. It received very little publicity,
either in the form of music press coverage or from EMI's own
advertising department. Not surprisingly, it failed to make any
impression on the charts. Despite all Good's confidence in him, Faith
also failed to make any immediate impression on television, but Good
gave him another opportunity when he booked him to appear in his stage
show version of "Six Five Special" (The John Barry Seven were also on
the bill and this brief first meeting with composer
John Barry was later to prove of
vital importance). However, the stage show wasn't the success Good
envisaged, and after just four performances Faith found himself out of
work.
Faith, ever the survivor, swallowed his pride and made the painful
decision to abandon his show-biz career by returning to the film
cutting world. Despite this, HMV released his second single in December
of the same year, a cover of
Jerry Lee Lewis' "High School
Confidential", backed with "Country Music Holiday" Apart from scant
attention in the music press, mainly to the effect that he was covering
a Jerry Lee song, it attracted no publicity whatsoever. After a couple
of temporary jobs back in the business, he found a job as a cutter at
National Studios at Elstree. It was while he was there he received a
phone call from John Barry in March of 1959, inviting him to audition
for Drumbeat (1959). This new
program was an attempt by BBC Television to counter ATV's popular
Oh Boy! (1958) show. After
sufficiently impressing producer
Stewart Morris, Faith landed an
initial contract for three shows, which was later extended to the full
22-week run.
Fortune once again smiled on Faith when Barry introduced him to his own
manager, the redoubtable Eve Taylor. Taylor,
whose father was a show-business impresario of some renown, was steeped
in the tradition and was herself part of a comedy and tap-dancing act
during the 1930s. Since becoming an agent she had established a
reputation for never accepting anything less than the best for her
clients, and many an errant theater manager had experienced the lash of
her biting tongue! She readily agreed to take him on, and immediately
set about changing his image and appearance, securing him another
recording contract, initially with Top Rank.
His only record for them ("Ah, Poor Little Baby" / "Runk Bunk") was
released on June 6, with only the former side benefiting from an
arrangement and accompaniment by John Barry. Both sides, incidentally,
were produced by Tony Hatch, just prior to
his appointment as A&R manager at Pye/Piccadilly Records.
Unfortunately, this record also failed to attract the attention of pop
pundits, but on this occasion Faith was clearly hindered by a total
absence of publicity caused by the release date--unluckily coinciding
with a national printing strike! Despite the failure of his first three
records, Faith was becoming very well known and popular through his
'Drumbeat" appearances. Acting still had a hold on him, and in August
he announced his intention to take drama and elocution classes in order
to enhance his acting potential. It was about halfway through the
"Drumbeat" series when Faith attracted the attention of film producer
George Willoughby, who was
searching for a young pop singer to appear in his new film,
Wild for Kicks (1960), then in
pre-production. Although Faith had little record success up 'til then,
Willoughby was struck by the young man's stage presence and signed him
on the strength of this. The script called for Faith to sing only a
couple of songs. As Barry was by then arranging not only Faith's
recordings but also his live "Drumbeat" material, it came as no
surprise when the film company asked him to write the score to
accompany Faith's big-screen debut--Barry's own very first steps into
the world of film music composing.
Faith's success on "Drumbeat" enabled Eve Taylor to secure him another
recording contract, this time with Parlophone. The quest for suitable
material to launch the Parlophone debut began in earnest and was
eventually resolved out of a friendship built up on "Drumbeat". A study
of the "Drumbeat" scripts reveal how Faith had initially concentrated
on singing a large proportion of cover versions; the majority, up-tempo
slices of American rock
'n' roll. A significant turning point ensued
when he asked to perform his own version of the current
Cliff Richard
hit "Living Doll". It became apparent to Barry that Faith's vocal
delivery was more attractive in a gentler mode and, as a result of this
discovery, he decided to concentrate on delivering this kind of
material. Nevertheless, before this first Parlophone single was issued,
Faith made his label debut on the live "Drumbeat" album, recorded on
May 10 at Abbey Road Studios, London, and released two months later. On
this LP, the rock 'n' roll influence remained. Faith sang three
numbers--"Say Mama", "C'mon Everybody" and "Believe What You Say", all
accompanied by John Barry.
The "Drumbeat" LP also showcased the performing talents of one
Johnny Worth, a member of
Jackie and The Raindrops vocal
trio, better known as Johnny Worth (also known as Les Vandyke). Worth
was to become the final piece in the Parlophone backroom jigsaw that
catapulted Faith from contender to champion in the pop market place.
Worth, born in Battersea, London, on June 21, 1931, began working as a
draughtsman prior to his compulsory two-year hitch in the army. On
returning to civvy life he was determined to stay out of office work
and make his name as a singer. Like many singers, he also aspired
towards song writing, although his first three attempts were rejected
out of hand by music publishers. However, when Faith, striking up a
friendship with him on the "Drumbeat" set, asked if he had any material
suitable for recording, Worth approached JB7 pianist
Les Reed to help him arrange a demo of
one of these initial songs, "What Do You Want?". Barry has always been
credited with the idea of using pizzicato strings (inspired by
Buddy Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore")
but according to Worth, this was entirely his own brainchild. Because
he was still under contract to Oriole, Worth felt the need to adopt a
pseudonym while writing songs, and so was born Les Vandyke. This was
derived by combining Reed's own first name with Worth's London
telephone exchange!
Barry was impressed enough with the demo to commence working on an
arrangement for the song, using that same Buddy Holly-influenced
pizzicato style. According to Faith, the singing style he adopted for
this now legendary recording was based on coaching he received from Roy
Young, another "Drumbeat" cast member. Having heard Faith rehearsing it
during a shared car journey, Young made a number of suggestions, in
particular persuading him to alter his pronunciation of "baby" to
"bay-beh". "What Do You Want?" (b/w "From Now Until Forever") was
recorded at Abbey Road Studios on September 25, 1959, a mere month
after "Drumbeat" ended. At the same time Faith was also signed to
appear in an episode of Rediffusion's
No Hiding Place (1959) TV
series. Norman Newell, Faith and Barry's
A&R manager, was unable to produce the recording session. As a result,
assistant John Burgess took the helm in his absence, and was to do so
for the remainder of Faith's EMI career. According to Barry, on hearing
the record, Newell publicly declared his disapproval, vowing that Barry
would on no account ever be allowed to take part in any more sessions!
After the recording Barry admitted that both he and Faith were
despondent following previous commercial failures. This time they were
determined to impose their own personal tastes far more emphatically
than they had done previously, when the flavor of the day tended to
override aesthetic considerations.
Despite favorable reviews of "What Do You Want?", on its October 24
release date in both The New Musical Express and Disc, manager Eve
Taylor still insisted that Faith's future lay in acting. Keith Fordyce,
writing in the former, praised Barry's arrangement and choice of
instrumentation --Jack Good, columnist in its rival, applauded the
production, tipping chart success on both sides of the Atlantic. EMI,
perhaps scenting success, mounted a strong advertising campaign
promoting the single far more vigorously than either of Faith's first
two HMV releases.
In the following issue of "Disc", Eve Taylor, recognizing good copy
when she saw it, claimed Faith had definitely made his last record to
concentrate on acting, citing his appearance in a 90-minute drama for
Rediffusion TV at the end of year as evidence. Despite this, "What Do
You Want?" was given a considerable boost when it was played and voted
a unanimous hit on BBC TV's
Juke Box Jury (1959), and when
Faith sang it live on an edition of ATV's "Boy Meets Girl".
On November 14 the first tangible sign of chart recognition was
apparent when The Record Mirror's "British Only" chart listed "What Do
You Want?" as a new entry at #9. Clearly, interest was growing, to a
point when it entered the NME charts at #18 the following week. Adam
Faith, singer, had clearly arrived. His mentor, Jack Good, while
applauding his success, claimed his acting actually improved his
singing. He also mentioned that the song was initially rejected by
Johnny Kidd, although Worth denied
this, maintaining that he had refused permission for Kidd to use it
when the singer had wanted to give it a rock 'n' roll treatment.
Another surprise arrived with the revelation that the orchestral
backing consisted of just four strings, with two tenor saxes suggesting
the sound of a cello.
By December Faith was #1 in the NME charts. He confessed to being
terrified of becoming just another overnight sensation and was
therefore determined to continue to develop his acting skills by way of
special training at the Royal Court Theatre. He admitted to enjoying
Frank Sinatra,
Peter Gunn (1958),
Jean Sibelius' "1st Symphony" and playing
golf--tastes considered rather esoteric and sophisticated for a typical
teenager of the period! At this stage he still lived at home in Acton
with his parents, an older sister, a twin brother & sister, another
brother having already married and left the roost.
Any one-hit wonder will tell you of the problems associated with
finding an equally memorable follow-up. Not surprisingly, the Faith
management decided to rely on the Worth / Barry team for inspiration,
and this proved a wise move. At the recording session John Burgess
again took charge of production, since Norman Newell was afraid of
upsetting a winning formula. On January 15 "Poor Me" was released with
"WDYW" still at #2 on the charts! Faith had finished recording his
"Beat Girl" songs just three days previously and had signed to appear
in another film - "Moment Of Truth". The following day he received a
silver disc for "What Do You Want", awarded for sales of 250,000, and
appeared on BBC Radio's "Saturday Club", following this with a guest
appearance on the Beverley Sisters' TV show on January 25, where he
sang "Poor Me". This song, another originally rejected by several music
publishers in its original incarnation as "Poor Man", shot to #1 on the
UK charts.
After the success of "Poor Me", Faith--the "reluctant"
pop-singer--revealed how much he wanted to sustain his chart success.
His new film, now retitled
Never Let Go (1960), commenced
shooting on February 22, starring
Peter Sellers and
Richard Todd. With his newly
acquired wealth generated from two #1 singles, Faith announced his plan
to buy a new car, a new house for his parents and to invest the rest (a
significant move in light of his subsequent financial success).
Although his next record, "Big Time" / "Someone Else's Baby", released
on April 8 while "Poor Me" was still at #15 on the charts, just failed
to become his third consecutive #1 (it was beaten by
The Everly Brothers' "Cathy's
Clown"), during the next few years Faith went on to score many more
hits. His albums were successful, too. "Beat Girl", for example, issued
at a time when the film had yet to surface in the cinema, attracted
excellent reviews and reached the top ten in the UK album charts.
Though this was in the main a John Barry instrumental album, three
songs were sung by Faith and this fact alone could only have enhanced
sales. One of these songs, "The Beat Girl Song", written by Barry and
Trevor Peacock, failed to appear in the
film itself.
December brought two more significant events in the ever-changing world
of Adam Faith. First he bought a Hampton Court house for 6000 pounds,
where he moved with the rest of his family from the Acton council
house. Second, he was invited and agreed to appear on BBC TV's
controversial yet prestigious
Face to Face (1959)--a major
coup for Faith. Transmitted live on December 11, Faith surprised many a
viewer by dint of his resolution and alertness in the face of some
tough questioning from presenter
John Freeman.
Faith's third film, the comedy
What a Whopper (1961), premiered
during the summer, although the title song was not considered strong
enough for single release. Instead, he chose a song from the film,
entitled "The Time Has Come". written--as usual--by Johnny Worth. This
reached #4 on the charts and fared better than the film, which opened
at the Rialto, London, on September 28 to a terrible pasting from the
press.
In March of 1962 Faith undertook an 11-day nature cure at a Surrey rest
home. He had not stopped touring and recording for eight months and was
completely fatigued. At the Surrey retreat he read the script for his
next film project,
Mix Me a Person (1962), which was
due to start filming immediately after this short period of
recuperation. August dawned with good reviews for the film, which
opened in London. This, his fourth picture, 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".
One of the biggest news items in the music industry that autumn stemmed
from the surprise decision from the Barry and Faith camp to sever
musical links--a purely amicable arrangement designed to enable both
parties to develop alternative projects. Barry explained the motives
behind this move more fully in an interview with Record Mirror's Peter
Jones: "In the early days Johnny Worth, Adam and I were concentrating
on one thing, Adam's records. We were after bread. We were all starting
in the business and we were all ambitious. But towards one end only. We
were all in the same boat but eventually you reach a climax in all that
channeled activity. I'd say it is impossible for three people to stick
together permanently in this way. You are bound to develop into
different adult channels. We wanted financial gains. When you've got
those, you can relax and choose your work. It's a matter of sitting
back and considering precisely what you want to do in your career. Do
you want to be tied by the boundaries of pop music? Do you want to
include all kinds of music? Or all art forms? As an artist, a musician,
you can learn something from all forms . . . From literature, films and
comedy. So no, it wasn't a surprise I left. But you might say it was a
surprise I stayed so long."
Initially the hits continued almost unabated, first with Johnny Keating
taking over as arranger and accompanying Faith with his orchestra, and
then accompanied by a new group,
The Roulettes.
Faith flew to Australia in October with John Leyton for an 18-day tour
that also encompassed New Zealand and Hong Kong, returning to his new
home in Esher, Surrey, a "manor-type" house set in an acre of
landscaped garden. The house itself included a ground floor-billiards
room and a blue-carpeted bedroom housing a white, silk-covered
king-sized bed--with an adjoining wardroom. What's more, he employed a
butler, maid, gardener and valet! How times had changed from those
childhood days in Acton.
However, the hits eventually began to dry up. In 1967 his biggest "hit"
was his marriage to former dancer Jackie Irving. Quite possibly his
biggest commercial coup was in persuading
Sandie Shaw to perform and record "Puppet On
A String", a decision she was later to regret. Not only did it become
the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, but it also reached #1 in
the UK and in many other European countries. Faith convinced her it was
in her best interests to sing it, after she had fallen out with their
mutual manager over its merits as a song. Her gratitude to Faith for
his advice was somewhat tempered, however, when Taylor revealed much
later that he had a financial interest in her and the song's
publishers! Clearly Faith's aptitude for spotting an investment
opportunity had not diminished.
Adam Faith released his last single for EMI in 1968, "You Make My Life
Worthwhile". Arranged and conducted by Ken Woodman, it was an excellent
recording that deserved a better fate than it got, but with Faith
opting to make his stage debut playing Feste in
William Shakespeare's
"Twelfth Night", he was in no position to promote it. In view of this,
both he and EMI decided to part company; Faith, the actor, was
consigning Faith, the pop star, to the annals of music history.
Faith's success on stage and screen was hardly unexpected, given his
thirst for knowledge and capacity for hard work. He decided to learn
stagecraft from first principles in repertory theatre, out of which a
number of small parts initially emanated. This stood him in good stead,
when he was given a more substantial role in "Night Must Fall", playing
opposite Dame Sybil Thorndike. In
effect, this amounted to his big break; his stage equivalent of
appearing on "Drumbeat"! In autumn of 1969 he took the lead in a
touring version of "Billy Liar", and 18 months later found renewed
television fame in the title role of
Budgie (1971).
Apart from one comeback album for Warner Bros in 1974 (borne, one
suspects, out of a desire to celebrate in song his full recovery from a
near-fatal car crash a year earlier) and an original cast recording he
made of the musical version of "Budgie" in 1988, Faith concentrated
almost solely on acting and went a considerable way to achieving his
ambition expressed so lucidly back in 1959, prior to his 19th birthday.
During the 1970s he impressed both moviegoers and critics alike with
convincing performances in
Stardust (1974),
Foxes (1980) and
McVicar (1980), and also found time to
immerse himself in the management side of the rock industry. Budding
agent and song-writer
Dave Courtney (who Faith knew as a
result of his association with The Roulettes) introduced him to former
busker Leo Sayer. Instantly impressed by
Sayer's vocal prowess and songwriting ability, Faith immediately set
out a strategy for launching his protégée, and as a direct spin-off,
also produced a solo album for The Who's
Roger Daltrey, which contained a selection
of Sayer/Courtney songs.
The 1980s saw Faith once again reinvent himself in the public eye, this
time in the form of a self-appointed financial guru; he even wrote a
column for "The Mail On Sunday", aptly titled "Faith In The City",
which epitomized the "get-rich-quick" philosophy espoused in that
Margaret Thatcher-drenched decade. It
ended on something of a sour note when he was prevented from issuing a
free fact sheet that promised to make its recipients millionaires! This
was also a period when Faith was often heard to be scathing about his
own recording legacy, holding it chiefly responsible for scuppering his
attempts at securing a lasting acting career. As guest at a dinner
party where his old hits were being played, he was chastised by the
host for criticizing them so harshly, for rubbishing the very music he
had enjoyed as a youth. Faith was rather taken aback by this accusation
and was forced to re-appraise his feelings for his pop career.
Judging from subsequent comments made in the media, he has clearly done
so. On the eve of the release of a brand-new album, "Midnight
Postcards" (released in November '93), he told "The Daily Mail" that he
was no longer dismissive about his pop star roots and saw no
incongruency in combining an acting with a singing career. "I retired
from singing 20 years ago so I could be an actor. I had begun to hate
my pop association because I so wanted to act. In those days you
couldn't really do both. Now I realize that the two things I do best
are singing and acting. I'm only sorry that it has taken me so long to
combine the two."
On stage for some years he performed the title role in "Alfie" around
the provinces, played the narrator in "A Chorus Line" and toured the UK
in "Love & Marriage". Often in demand for television, following his
initial success with "Budgie", in the 1990s he starred in the highly
successful BBC TV drama
Love Hurts (1992), with
Zoë Wanamaker; and in 2002 made the less
popular
The House That Jack Built (2002),
also for the BBC.
He had a heart bypass operation in the mid-'80s, but had enjoyed
reasonable health from then onwards. However, the failure of his cable
TV channel, The Money Channel, a couple of years ago resulted in his
bankruptcy, and may have taken a toll on his health. He was planning a
one-man stage performance tour of Britain the next year, in which he
would act out his career, including some of the songs that launched it.
He died at the age of 62 from a heart attack, a few hours after
finishing a performance of "Love & Marriage".