Biography
Adam Thompson’s long-awaited debut solo album, Reconnected, is the captivating / multi-hued / constantly-surprising / absorbing product of six years of introspection following the break-up of his ARIA award-winning band, Chocolate Starfish. The self-penned songs spring from some soul-searching travel and confirm the evolution of a performer best described as anything but predictable.
Acclaimed for his powerful voice and potent lyrics, Adam also won regular praise as “the consummate rock ‘n’ roll front man”. “If there’s an audience he’ll play up to them, if there’s a balcony he’ll climb it, if there’s energy in the room, he’ll milk it,” wrote a critic for style magazine black + white.
Though proud of his stage presence, Adam believes Reconnected will alert listeners to a depth beyond the raw energy.
“After Chocolate Starfish I needed to find out what I felt about life,” explained Adam. “When you’re part of a successful juggernaut that steamrolls along it’s impossible not to be affected by media perceptions. When you remove yourself from that situation, you’re instantly confronted with all your complexities.
“The choice then is whether to let those complexities overtake your life, or work through the medium you know well (songwriting) and hopefully come out the other side as your own therapist.”
Adam’s personal ‘therapy’, much of which took place while based in Stockholm, has resulted in some of his most passionate and inspirational lyrics to date.
“I reached a point where I was so positive in my outlook and I wanted this to be reflected in my music,” recalled Adam. “It helped that the people I was working with in Sweden had no preconceived notions of me as a writer/performer. All the sessions were a genuine voyage of discovery, started on a blank canvas.”
In an industry so reliant on pigeon-holing and demographics, Adam continues to defy the rules by refusing to be neatly categorised. That way, he says, he gets to retain his sense of identity while simultaneously reaching a broader audience.
"When people ask me what kind of music I write and perform, I tell them it’s my audience’s favourite music,” he laughs. “I say, ‘buy the album and you tell me’.”
In all seriousness, though, he says that he writes what he likes and what moves him, hoping that it also moves whoever listens.
And then there’s the unmistakable voice.
“One of the hardest things for artists is to sound like themselves,” observes Adam. “By allowing my influences to be many and varied, I found my own voice.”
With its vast range, that voice is full of emotion and deep-seated passion, able to convey both heartbreaking tenderness and electrifying energy, often within the realms of one song.
“I was blown away,” proclaimed Australian music guru Molly Meldrum in TV Week. “Adam’s incredible voice and sense of theatrics make the songs work…”
Adam got a relatively late start in music after emerging from a small country town where musical influences were few and far between. After a chance encounter with an ambitious musician while at university in Geelong, he immediately knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
“I answered an ad in the local paper and after writing the first song I was hooked for life,” he recalls. “There was no looking back.”
From there he went on to form his first band, Show of Hands, which went on to represent Australia at the Battle of the Bands world finals in Japan. Impressive though his start was, it was but a small foretaste of the success to come.
In the early 90s, Adam formed what would be the early beginnings of Chocolate Starfish, a band that would pin its image on Adam’s often outrageous appearance and on-stage persona. Chocolate Starfish went on to have two top-10 singles, gold and platinum record sales, and claim an Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) award for “Most Popular Album”. Those years were a heady rush of instant success -their debut album entered the ARIA charts at #2 - nationwide recognition and non-stop touring (Chocolate Starfish was often referred to as “Australia’s hardest-working band”). The ride paused just long enough to write and record a second album before the juggernaut started all over again.
“It was everything you dream of when you write your first song,” says Adam. “It was a Kevin Costner (in Field of Dreams) scenario of ‘Build it and they will come’. We became everything we put out for, which is a great example of universal karma. Be careful what you wish for - it just may come true.”
After Chocolate Starfish disbanded in 1998, Adam began a solo journey that was both professional and personal. This period also endeared him to many fellow artists who, even if their style was different, respected Adam’s unique approach to music.
As The Seekers’ Judith Durham proclaimed on This is Your Life, “Adam is such a great writer and a great performer. I have learnt so much from him”.
While not always a darling of media critics when with Chocolate Starfish, reviewers nonetheless credited Adam with leaving an indelible impression on the local music industry.
“Always entertaining. Often misunderstood, but unmistakably the total performer. Adam Thompson never leaves you wanting more,” wrote one critic in The Adelaide Advertiser.
Reconnected arrives at a time when Adam’s personal journey is fanning out in numerous directions. Over the past six years he has worked as a motivational speaker and songwriting educator in schools. The immense satisfaction and sense of optimism he has derived from these pursuits infuse the songs on Reconnected.
“Precious soul, when you look for gold, you’ve already found the mother lode” sings Adam on the track You Can Shine.
Such sentiments have convinced Adam he is on the threshold of an exciting new phase in his music career, where the assured individual merges with the committed performer.
It has taken some years, but Adam Thompson is truly Reconnected.
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