Patrick Adams

Patrick Adams

                 Pop | Disco 

                 Producer/arranger/songwriter Patrick Adams' career spans more than 30 years. His plentiful resume includes
                 work with Sister Sledge (their 1974 debut LP on Atco/Atlantic? Circle of Love), Loleatta Holloway, Coolio, Herbie Mann
                 ("Superman," number 26 pop, early 1979, from the 1978 Atlantic LP Super Mann), Bumblebee Unlimited (the 1979
                 RCA LP Sting Like a Bee), Universal Robot Band (Dance and Shake Your Tambourine), Narada Michael Walden (I
                 Don't Want Nobody Else, Love Me Only, and the radio-aired LP track "Give Your Love a Chance" from his 1979
                 Atlantic LP Awakening), and Musique ("In the Bush," number 29 R&B, fall 1978), among many others. Born
                 Patrick Peter Owen Adams on March 17, 1950, in New York City, Adams' childhood was spent singing in
                 choirs and attending concerts at the legendary Apollo Theater. When he was a preteen, Adams' father bought
                 him a trumpet. In his teens, Adams began playing guitar and writing songs. He honed his arranging skills by
                 dissecting the song structure and arrangement patterns of the records he heard on the radio. To build his audio
                 engineering skills, he'd go to recording studios and observe how recordings were created. At 16, he was asked
                 to join the Sparks, who he appeared with in the 1967 Warner Bros. movie Up the Down Staircase starring Sandy
                 Dennis. Soon afterwards they were signed to Curb/MGM and the single "Cool It" b/w "Woe, Woe" was released.
                 They began playing shows with Jerry Butler, the Rascals, and the Commodores. In 1970, Adams was hired as
                 the vice president of A&R for NY-based Perception/Today? Records, discovering and signing the teenage vocal
                 trio Black Ivory. The group's lineup was lead singer Leroy Burgess, Stuart Bascombe, and Russell Patterson.
                 Their first single, Adams' ballad "Don't Turn Around," went to number 38 on Billboard's R&B chart in late 1971.
                 Their first three singles and a Burgess song, the hopeful "If I Could Be a Mirror," were included on the Don't
                 Turn Around LP, issued February 1972. They had two more charting singles on Today: "Time Is Love" b/w a
                 credible cover of Michael Jackson's "Got to Be There" from the Don't Turn Around LP (number 35 R&B, early
                 1973) and "Spinning Around" b/w "Find the One Who Loves You" (number 45 R&B, summer 1973). In 1974,
                 Adams left Perception/Today? Records and started his own production company, PAPMUS (Patrick Adams
                 Productions Music). One of Adams' best known recordings is Inner Life's "I'm Caught Up (In a One Night Love
                 Affair)." First released as a 12" single by Greg Carmichael on TCT Records, it was picked up by Prelude
                 Records and went to number 22 R&B, late 1979. Adams and Carmichael produced many dance classics over
                 their eight-year collaboration, including sides by Donna McGhee?, Universal Robot Band, Bumblebee Unlimited, and
                 Fonda Rae's original version of "Touch Me (All Night Long)." Cathy Dennis' remake of the Adams/Carmichael? song
                 held the number two pop spot for two weeks in spring 1991. Adams has won the ASCAP Songwriter of the
                 Year Award three times, including a 1992 award for "Touch Me (All Night Long)." Other Adams-related releases
                 are Eddie Kendricks's Arista LP Vintage '78 (reissued in 1997 by Razor & Tie), Kendricks' 1979 Arista LP Something
                 More, the 1997 two-CD set Salsoul Essentials from U.K. label Charly Records, the CD reissue of Candi
                 Station's 1976 Young Hearts Run Free, Debbie Taylor's 1997 Sequel CD Still Comin' Down on Ya, the Unidisc
                 CD reissue of Musique's 1979 LP Keep on Jumpin', the Unidisc reissue of the Kay Gees' 1979 LP Burn Me Up,
                 Rainbow Brown's 'Til You Surrender with Fonda Rae on Vanguard Records, Shannon's 1986 Atlantic LP Love Goes
                 All The Way, the Main Ingredient featuring Cuba Gooding's 1981 RCA LP I Only Have Eyes for You, and sides by
                 Gladys Knight, Ace Spectrum, Rick James, Jeanie Tracy, and Bruni Pagan. His engineering credits include Make It Last
                 Forever by Keith Sweat, Follow the Leader & Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em by Eric B & Rakim, Rakim's The 18th
                 Letter/Book? of Life, Salt-N-Pepa's Hot, Cool & Vicious, and James Moody's Heritage Hum/The? Teacher on Collectables.
                 ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide