Bryan Adams kicks off season 5 of I Never Thought It Would Happen
The singer and Help Musicians Ambassador reveals the story behind his ‘first real six string’ in new podcast released today.
Bryan Adams has opened up about why lockdown was a ‘lifesaver’ for him and his family, as well as the experience of getting half his songs rejected for the musical Pretty Woman, in a new episode of our podcast, I Never Thought It Would Happen.
The Canadian music legend — who still holds the record for longest unbroken run at the top of the UK chart with ‘(Everything I do) I do it for you’ — also tells the incredible story of being reunited with his first ever guitar.
Adams’ semi-autobiographical song ‘Summer of 69’ famously opens with the line ‘I got my first real six string / bought it at the Five and Dime’. But the truth is a little closer to home for Brits. Rather than a mid-century American thrift store, he reveals his first real six string was actually purchased in a music shop in Reading, UK, when he was 12. And instead of the Summer of 69, he bought it in 1970.
Speaking to host Chris Difford for the first episode in the fifth series of the podcast, Adams tells the remarkable story of being reunited with the ‘imitation Stratocaster’ many years later.
He reveals that his family moved a lot as a child due to his father working for the Canadian embassy and after Reading, they moved to Israel. There he left the guitar with a neighbour — decades later, he got an email from someone saying they ‘had his first guitar’. He replied and never heard back but over ten years later someone walked up to him in a club in Berlin and said ‘I’ve got your first guitar’.
The stranger explained that he was the friend of the person who emailed Adams, but he unfortunately died in a plane crash. The guitar was left to him, and aware of his late friend’s desire to reunite it with Bryan, had tracked him down. He has owned it ever since.
Elsewhere in the episode, he also discusses his experience during the pandemic. He describes how it was a good time for his family because they were all together, but that he had serious concerns about his career.
I had convinced myself I was not going to work again, that the pandemic has kiboshed things for all musicians…we’re done. But then we did a show in Portugal, everyone was wearing masks. It was the strangest thing, because the sound [from the crowd] isn’t the same. It is muted.
We’re so pleased to bring together two of our brilliant ambassadors to start this new season of the podcast, uncovering more untold stories and hearing from two music legends.
You can listen to it in full below, along with all of our other episodes. Or search for I never Thought It Would Happen wherever you get your podcasts.