Adam Faith

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  - which was 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 Six 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 Four 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. 

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 8 March 2003.