Right from the first day I was impressed with Bryan. It was obvious he had enormous talent coupled with extraordinary drive.  In fact, he was confident and tenacious to the point of being abrasive, not exactly undesirable traits for an aspiring rock star.

Still, I didn't quite know what to do with his voice. He was still a teenager and his vocal cords were still changing. He sang like a choir-boy, with little evidence of the gravelly vocal style that would emerge in the next year or two.   There were other high-pitched singers I enjoyed, like Roger Hodgson (Supertramp) and Jon Anderson (Yes) ... so I naturally assumed that was the direction I'd have to take with Bryan.  

Fortunately, by the time we recorded his first album Bryan had adopted a more hard-edged vocal style. He'd always been a fan of singers like Rod Stewart, Paul Rodgers and Steve Marriott ... but more than anything I believe it was Don Henley's vocals on "The Long Run" album (The Eagle's, 1979) that inspired Bryan to find his true voice.

	With Bryan Adams and publisher Lance Freed, Marina del Rey, California, 1983.

In 1979, age 19, after being turned down by every label in the country, Bryan Adams signed a recording contract with A&M Records Canada. In fact, A&M had initially turned him down too. It was A&M publisher Brian Chater who first recognized Bryan's talent and offered him a contract.

Chater was president of Almo-Irving Music, A&M Canada's publishing division. A full year before Bryan signed with A&M Records, Chater signed Bryan (and me) to a publishing deal. He also underwrote the cost of recording Bryan's first single.

Despite emigrating to Canada from England in 1966, Brian Chater retained a British accent that was thick as chowder. In fact I occasionally had trouble understanding him. He was an affable fellow, impossible to dislike. I have fond memories of nights out in Toronto with Adams and Chater, seeing who could consume the most Heinekens and still remain standing.

Over the years our paths continued to cross, and it was always a pleasure seeing him.

Sadly, Brian Chater passed away in September 2013.

"Stay" was one of the songs Bryan and I wrote in January or February 1978, shortly after we'd first met. The song was basically a chorus of mine married to a verse of Bryan's. I don't have a copy of the recorded version, but I remember it being quite good -- at least as good as anything else on the album. It even had a string quartet, arranged by Eric Robertson and recorded in Toronto at considerable expense. But for some reason Bryan decided to leave that song off the album. 

"Stay" was eventually recorded by the Canadian group "Prism", and also by Quebec artist Peter Pringle, who sang a French translation of the song (re-titled "Tu N'as Pas Changé").

Another song that was recorded but not included on the first album was "Hold Me Once", written by Bryan and our friend Eric Kagna (Eric was Bryan's lawyer for a while in 1978-79). We did a huge production on that one as well, with stacks of violins, violas and and cellos from the Vancouver Symphony, arranged and conducted by Bob Buckley (another expensive session). I thought the song was a definite contender for the album -- but even though we were desperately short of material Bryan decided to nix that one too! ("Hold Me Once" was recorded and released by Florence Warner a few years later, in 1981.)

We flew back to Vancouver on November 30 and spent a day at Pinewood Studios taping (among other things) Fred Turner's backing vocals on "Don't Ya Say It". On December 4th we flew to Los Angeles for additional recording and mixing at Sunset Sound with engineer Bobby Shaper and assistant Gene Meros.

After a month in chilly Toronto, Los Angeles was tropical by comparison. Adams and I checked into "Le Parc" hotel in West Hollywood and rented matching Volkswagen Beetle convertibles for our 2-week stay. I remember Bryan and I driving down Fountain Avenue late one night after a long day in the studio. The evening air was warm and I recall thinking "Wow, life is good". And it was.

Bryan was still signed to A&M Canada at the time, so A&M USA didn't have a direct interest in the album. Regardless, A&R executive David Kershenbaum dropped by Sunset Sound one day to have a listen (David was a respected music industry figure, having produced albums for Cat Stevens, Tracy Chapman, Duran Duran, etc).

David didn't have much to say after hearing the tracks we'd recorded.  Nor did he look particularly impressed. He did, however, comment on how short the album was: only four songs per side. He strongly recommended we record additional material.

	Me on drums. Manta Studios, Nov. '79 (photo by Bryan)

We quickly recorded a version of "Wastin' Time" (a song Bryan had contributed to BTO's "Rock 'N Roll Nights" album, which I'd produced the year before). Bryan played guitars, I played drums, and David Hungate (Toto) played bass. The rejected songs "Stay" and "Hold Me Once" would have made a significant difference at this point in time, but for reasons that still baffle me, Bryan chose not to include them.

Despite his apparent lack of enthusiasm Kershenbaum must have sensed Bryan's potential, because David is the one responsible for hooking Bryan up with producer Bob Clearmountain for album #2 ("You Want It You Got It"). Bryan continues to work with Clearmountain to this day, and I believe the introduction to Bob is one of the single most significant occurrence in Bryan's career.

Even if the finished product failed to capture the public's attention, Adams and I had a lot of fun recording his first album. In fact, we could hardly believe our good fortune:  a "real" recording budget, including travel and meal expenses ... we were like kids in a candy store!  We worked hard, the days were long, but it wasn't without it's diversions.  

Bryan would frequently entertain Hayward and I with his spot-on "Derek and Clive" impersonations, and we'd all be rolling on the floor, laughing 'til we cried.

One night (November 16, 1979) we took a break from recording and went to see a new young band from England perform for a few hundred fans at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall. This new young band was "The Police", and they were amazing!

Three or four evenings a week we ate at Le Chaumière, a small French restaurant near our hotel. It was a few notches above what we could afford at the time, were it not for A&M picking up the tab!

For the most part we were given complete creative freedom during the recording, except for one particular episode ...

A&M Canada decided to inject some "social science" into the production process. They hired a consulting firm who assembled a "random group of young males and females" to preview the album-in-progress and respond to a questionnaire. The results were analyzed and the consultants reported back to us.

Among other things, this "random group" recommended adding a keyboard to this song, a guitar to that song, a harmony here, a tambourine there. It was an insulting and completely unnecessary exercise ... and probably quite expensive (eventually billed back to the artist, of course). We viewed the entire thing as a load of crap and we ignored the recommendations.

Initially the album artwork was also disappointing, in particular the text for the credits which was nearly impossible to read (miniature black print set against a purple background). Bryan insisted A&M stop production and change it ... although the final version is still somewhat blurry.

In addition, the first vinyl pressings didn't sound as good as they might have. Bryan was so concerned that he phoned A&R man Michael Godin at home at two o'clock in the morning. That got fixed too!

Bryan was obsessed with "quality control", even at that early stage of his career. I don't think the record company knew what to make of this cocky teenager telling music industry veterans how the album should look and sound. The truth is, Bryan knew! Despite his lack of experience, he had an innate sense of things, and he was usually right!