Adam Faith
 Adam
Faith was born Terence Nelhams in Acton, London in June 1940, and left
school wanting to enter the film world. The desire led him to Rank
Screen Services where he started at the very bottom as a messenger boy
(he would eventually progress to Assistant Film Editor). When the
Skiffle craze hit England in the 1950s, Terence began to play with
some fellow workers in a Skiffle group called The Worried Men,
securing a residency at the 2I's coffee bar in London's Soho.
During an edition
of the show 6.5 Special
broadcast live from the 2I's, the
show's director Jack Good noted Nelhams and suggested he would succeed
better as a solo artist. The name Adam Faith was chosen from a book of
boys (Adam) and girls (Faith) names, and after a solo appearance on
6.5 Special he was signed to EMI Records. Two failed single
releases saw Faith dropped from the label and temporarily abandoning
his musical career to concentrate on film-editing.
A stroke of luck
in 1959 saw Faith invited to appear as a regular on a new TV show
called Drumbeat, performing mainly covers of popular American
hits for the duration of the 22 week run. While appearing on the show
he was approached by songwriter Johnny Worth who believed he was the
right artist to record one of his compositions - a track called
What Do You Want?
The single hit
the Number One spot on the UK charts in only its third week in
December 1959, providing Parlophone with their first Number 1. A clone of
the single was immediately released (Poor Me) and Faith quickly
became the UK's second biggest teen idol (after
Cliff Richard).
In April 1960,
Faith appeared in his first movie, the controversial (and X Rated)
Beat Girl (released in the USA as Wild For Kicks). Faith
also sang three songs in the film. His second film (in June) was
Never Let Go - a crime thriller starring Richard Todd and Peter
Sellers. Meanwhile, Faith's debut album, Adam, went to Number 6
and stayed in the UK Top 20 for 36 weeks. His recording and movie
career continued with success in 1961, with Faith appearing in What
A Whopper! - a low budget British comedy about a Loch Ness Monster
hoax. The song The Time Has Come from the movie took him to
Number 4 in November 1961.
By the end of
1962, with 13 consecutive UK Top 20 singles and a handful of movie
credits under his belt, Adam released Baby Take A Bow (which
reached Number 22) and opened in pantomime in the title role of
Aladdin at the Pavilion in Bournemouth, Dorset.
The onslaught of
Merseybeat caused his subsequent releases to suffer a poor chart
placing so Faith decided to put together a backing band to provide a
hard, beat-group edge to his vocal sound. The band were called The
Roulettes and comprised Russ Ballard (lead guitar), Pete Salt (rhythm
guitar), John Rodgers (bass) and Bob Henrit (drums).
By the end of the
60s, Faith had given up live appearances and ceased recording,
determined to take up acting full time. From 1967 to 1970 he worked
from the bottom-up in repertory theatre around the UK, progressing to
the lead in a touring revival of Billy Liar and the part of
Feste in Twelfth Night.
In 1971, Faith
took the title role in the ITV drama series
Budgie, playing a
constantly-stymied working class small-time crook and opportunist. The
series was a critical and ratings success. By 1973 Faith had also
discovered (and begun managing) Leo Sayer, and had produced the first
solo album by Roger Daltrey of The Who. Unfortunately, a near-fatal
car accident took him out of action until February 1974 when he began
work on Stardust with
David Essex. Adam Faith took the rock
star's manager role, played by Ringo Starr in the previous movie,
That'll Be The Day.
After seven years
without recording, 1974 also saw the release of an album and two
singles which (although rated by the critics) failed to revive his
chart career. Faith retired once more to concentrate on acting,
management and production. He eventually became an increasingly
successful financial advisor (through his own Faith Corporation) and
in the 80s and early 90s wrote a weekly investment advice column
called Faith In The City for a UK newspaper.
From 1992 to 1994, Faith appeared in another hit TV series, Love
Hurts (co-starring Zoë Wanamaker), and in 2002 he also appeared in
the BBC series, The House That Jack Built. He became ill after
a stage performance in the touring production of Love And Marriage
at Stoke-on-Trent on a Friday evening and died in hospital of a heart
attack early on the morning of Saturday March 8th, 2003.
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