Adamski
Adam Paul Tinley (born December 4, 1967[2]), known professionally as Adamski, as well as Sonny Eriksson, is an English DJ, musician, singer and record producer, prominent at the time of acid house for his tracks "N-R-G" and "Killer", a collaboration with Seal.[3]
Adamski | |
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 Adamski in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Adam Paul Tinley |
| Also known as |
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| Born | 4 December 1967 Lymington, Hampshire, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | MCA[1] |
| Associated acts |
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| Website | adamskiofficial |
| Spouse(s) | Nana Tinley (born Klimek)
(m. 2017) |
| Children | Two |
Career
Tinley was born in Lymington, Hampshire, England. As a youngster, influenced by punk rock and John Peel, he formed his first band The Stupid Babies when he was 11 and living in New Forest in England. He persuaded his 5-year-old brother Dominic to sing while he strummed a small guitar, and sent a demo tape to the indie label Fast Product, run by The Human League's manager Bob Last. "Everyone thought that was a really precocious and strange thing for an 11 year-old to do," Adamski recalls "but I just thought that's what everybody did". The kiddie-punk tracks were released on a sampler. When alternative BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel started playing their song "Babysitters" the band caused quite a stir, receiving positive write-ups in music magazines like Smash Hits and Melody Maker.[4][5] He performed with his brother Mark Tinley, and Johnny Slut of the band Specimen, as Diskord Datkord. They released their only single in 1988, an electroid cover of "Identity" by punk band X-Ray Spex. It was single of the week in NME.
In March 1989, Adamski was booked for his first solo gig at Le Petit Prince Restaurant in Kentish Town, run by his manager Phil Smith. Lenny D, promoter of nightclub Heaven, happened to be walking past, and was convinced by Smith to book Adamski for an all-dayer at Heaven. He quickly catapulted into the upper echelons of the nascent rave scene. Within a few weeks, Adamski was playing to 8,000 people at Sunrise Festival at Santa Pod Raceway and, after a bidding war, signed to MCA Records, producing the first rave record on MCA called Liveandirect.
He had success with this first release, which was a collection of tracks recorded live at various raves. It contained a short, live version of his first single, "N-R-G", as well as "I Dream of You", which appeared on a free 4-track 7" vinyl single given away with the music paper Record Mirror in 1989.[6] The cover of the single "N-R-G" featured a mocked up Lucozade bottle with the word "Lucozade" replaced with "N-R-G".
Adamski toured many clubs with his portable keyboard set up, playing long sets, with an MC, Daddy Chester, and later with Seal. In front of his keyboard was a UK car number plate with the word ADAMSKI on it. Early versions of future singles "Killer" and "Future Love Paradise" were played on some of the Seal dates.
The album, Adamski's Thing, was issued in late 1998 on Trevor Horn's ZTT Records label, recorded at Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound studios. The style followed the trend started with his 1992 album Naughty, with guitars, strings, raw vocals and introspective lyrics, but maintaining a rhythmic dance sensibility. Adamski's Thing spawned two singles, "Intravenous Venus" and "One of the People" (a record featuring dance vocalist Gerideau, that got to No. 56 in the UK Singles Chart).[7][8]
As a producer, his songs at that time also included a collaboration with musician Danny Williams. In 2007, he released a remake of The Pop Group's 1979 single "We Are All Prostitutes" with Mark Stewart which appeared on a number of compilations. His single "ApeX" was released on Kitsuné Music in 2006. In 2009, he began to release more material on Shir Khan's record label.[9]
Discography
Albums
- Liveandirect (1989) – UK No. 47
- Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy (1990) – UK No. 8[10]
- Naughty (1992)
- Adamski's Thing (1998)
- Killer – The Best of Adamski (1999)
- Mutant Pop (1999)
- This is 3-Step EP (2014)
- Revolt (2015)
- The Sound of Sonny Eriksson (2017)
- The Spirit of Sonny Eriksson (EP) (2018)
- Re:nrgise (2019)
- Free to Kill Again (2020)
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [11] |
IRE | NED | BEL (FLA) |
GER [12] |
AUT | SWI | ITA [13] |
SWE | NZ | |||
| 1990 | "N-R-G" | 12 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy |
| "Killer" (featuring Seal) | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 15 | – | 5 | 29 | ||
| "The Space Jungle" | 7 | 13 | 20 | 24 | – | – | 25 | – | – | 21 | ||
| "Flashback Jack" | 46 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | ||
| 1991 | "Never Goin' Down! / Born to Be Alive!" (featuring Jimi Polo / Soho) | 51 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | Naughty |
| 1992 | "Get Your Body" (featuring Nina Hagen) | 68 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | |
| "Back to Front" | 63 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | ||
| 1993 | "Sleeping with an Angel" (with Transformer 2) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | Singles only |
| "Bastardo" (with Pizarro) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | ||
| 1998 | "One of the People" | 56 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | Adamski's Thing (as "Adamski's Thing") |
| "Intravenous Venus" | 165 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | ||
| 1999 | "In the City" (featuring Gerideau) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 24 | – | — | Mutant Pop (as "Adamski Products Inc.") |
| 2000 | "Take Me Away" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | |
| 2002 | "Already Out There" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | Singles only |
| 2012 | "I Like It" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | |
| 2012 | "Pawa 2 Da PPL" (with Gaudi) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | |
| 2015 | "Dazed 'n' Confused" (featuring Betty Adewole) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | Revolt |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. | ||||||||||||
Remixes
- Miss Kittin and The Hacker – "Stock Exchange" (2003)
- Mignon – "Demons of Love" (2004)
- ESKA – "She's in the Flowers" (2015)
References
- "Title Unknown". Archived from the original on 27 October 2009.
- Jörg Amtage, Matthias Müller: Alle Hits aus Deutschlands Charts 1954-2003, Pro Business, 2003, p. 20.
- Simpson, Dave, "How we made Killer, by Seal and Adamski". The Guardian. 11 March 2011
- September 1, Scott Adamski; at 01:31, 2015 (22 December 2014). "Adamski : my favourite 10 albums". Louderthanwar.com. Retrieved 5 May 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Adamski - N.R.G." Discogs.com. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
- https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4839/adamskis-thing/
- https://www.chartsurfer.de/artist/adamski-s-thing-feat-gerideau/one-of-the-people-song_ugpeh.html
- "Exploited singles credited to Adam Sky". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
- Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 15. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- "Official Charts Company: Adamski". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- "Adamski – German Chart". Charts.de. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- "Adamski – Italian Chart". Hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
External links
- Official website
- Adamski biography at Allmusic
- Adamski discography at Discogs
- ZTT Records official site
- Ian Peel: Warriors of pop, 21 years of ZTT Record Collector, September 2004 (copy at Zang Tuum Tumb and all that) Article about ZTT's history, contains info on Adamski
- Interview with Kool magazine
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