Adam Lambert

Today, we complete the first fortnight of 21st century artists with a true superstar, Adam Lambert. There will naturally be more in the near future - there are many contemporary artists to choose from. Also, for today's entry, my sincere thanks to Snicks, who is the reigning Adam Lambert expert and a force to be reckoned with in the knowledge of Pop music. I asked him for some info on today's subject and he immediately came up with it. Thanks again, my friend! Now, on with Adam.

Adam Lambert was born in Indianapolis in 1982 and began performing from the age of nine. He left University in 2000, after only five weeks' attendance, to go to Los Angeles and try for a career in entertainment.

Over the next few years, he worked as a cruise ship entertainer, he performed in numerous musicals, briefly fronted an underground Rock band, as well as working as a demo singer and a session musician.

In 2009 he auditioned for the 8th season of American Idol, singing Rock With You and Bohemian Rhapsody. He finished second, behind Kris Allen. One of his more acclaimed performances from American Idol was Mad World, which peaked at #19 in the US Hot 100. Here it is:

Adam publicly came out in an interview for the Rolling Stone magazine in June 2009. "I don't think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I'm gay" he said and added "I'm proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It's just another part of me."

His debut studio album was released on November 2009, was called For Your Entertainment and peaked at #3 in the US Top 200. It went gold in the US, Malaysia and Finland and platinum in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. A lot of star songwriters and producers worked for this album: Pink, Lady Gaga, Linda Perry, Max Martin, Shellback, Dr. Luke, Ryan Tedder and others. The 2nd single off the album, Whataya Want from Me, was his most successful to date, hitting the Top 10 in the US, as well as in numerous other countries around the world. Here's the video:

‪In the same album, there's a song called Aftermath. It's a hymn of self-empowerment and quite appropriately Adam released it as a charity single, with the profits going to The Trevor Project (a non-profit organization focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQI youth. The single contained a remix of the song and that remix was more popular than the original album track. Here are some of the lyrics:

Wanna scream out, no more hiding

Don't be afraid of what's inside

Gonna tell ya you'll be alright

In the aftermath

Anytime anybody pulls you down

Anytime anybody says you're not allowed

Just remember you are not alone

In the aftermath

Here's the video of the remix, lyrics included:

And here's a live accoustic version:

His second studio album was called Trespassing (2012) and it went straight to #1 in the Billboard 200, making Adam the first out gay artist to top the US album charts. Adam had a hand in songwriting in most of the songs and once again he had star collaborators, like Pharrell Williams, Bruno Mars, Anne Preven and Dr. Luke.

Outlaws of Love was the closing track of the album. It's a beautiful song and the theme of self-empowerment is prevalent once more. Adam's voice has never been more expressive. The lyrics go:

Oh, nowhere left to go

Are we getting closer? Closer?

No, all we know is "No"

Nights are getting colder, colder

Hey, tears all fall the same

We all feel the rain

We can't change

Everywhere we go we're looking for the sun

Nowhere to grow old, we're always on the run

They say we'll rot in Hell, but I don't think we will

They've branded us enough outlaws of love.

Scars make us who we are

Hearts and homes are broken, broken

Far, we could go so far

With our minds wide open, open

Hey, tears all fall the same

We all feel the rain

We can't change

Everywhere we go we're looking for the sun

Nowhere to grow old, we're always on the run

They say we'll rot in Hell, but I don't think we will

They've branded us enough outlaws of love.

Here it is:

His last album so far, The Original High, was released last year. The lead single, Ghost Town, was both critically and commercially successful. It's an up-tempo song, name-dropping James Dean and Elvis in the lyrics and containing a massive earworm hook, in the form of an addictive whistle line.

Here's the cool b&w video:

Parallel to his solo career, Adam has collaborated with the Rock band Queen as lead vocalist since 2011. Here's a sample of their partnership: