June Valli born 30 June 1928

June Valli (June 30, 1928 – March 12, 1993), the stage name of June Foglia, was an American singer and television personality.

Born in Bronx County, New York, june took to music from an early age, she appeared on the famous Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts show and won the evening. This was a springboard for her in the music business and she soon had a recording contract with RCA Victor Records and also was signed on as a featured vocalist on the pop music television shows such as Jerry Lester's "Saturday Night Review," "Stop the Music" and "Your Hit Parade."

"Your Hit Parade" which was popular in the early 1950s featured the Raymond Scott Orchestra. Her first "Hit" to make the charts was "Strange Sensations" in 1952 which made the top 25, and later that year "A shoulder to cry on" also broke the top 25. At the start of the 1953–1954 season, she was replaced by singer Gisele MacKenzie.

Donald Swerdlow and his 12-year-old Bronx friends, students at Public School 6 were asked by June's manager to start a fan club for her. They did this and paraded in front of a TV studio carrying "picket signs" promoting her recordings of "Now Now Now" (an American version of the Israeli favorite, Hava Nagile, and the record's flip-side, "Always Always."

 

                             

She appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show broadcast from the deck of the Battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) on May 22, 1955. Valli recorded a number of hit songs, including "Strange Sensation" (1952), "A Shoulder to Cry On", "Crying in the Chapel", "Why Don't You Believe Me?" and "Unchained Melody".  In the summer of 1957, she began a long association with United Fruit Company as the singing voice for the Chiquita Bananna and also co-hosted "the Andy Williams & June Valli Show" during that year.

In the early 60s, Valli recorded three LPs: "Boy Meets Girl" with Mel Torme; "June Valli Today" for Audio Fidelity; and the "Do It Yourself Wedding Album" with violinist Florian Zabach for Mercury. Valli continued to perform in concerts throughout the country and the world and continued work in commercials.

June Valli met her second husband, Jimmy Merchant, in 1966 and they remained fast in love for 27 years. She had previously married Howard Miller, a Chicago disc jockey known as "the voice of the Chicago Bears," but that marriage was short-lived.

Throughout her career, she performed with and for such other notables as Dick Clark, Dion & the Belmonts, Mel Torme and Fats Domino. Her last hit, "Apple Green", recorded on Mercury Records, broke the top 30 on the charts in 1960. She was also a guest on "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson in June, 1970. In the 1980's, she was a frequent guest on nostalgia shows.

The nostalgia boom in the 1980s kept June busy at big band concerts and company conventions for Ford and General Motors, where she was a popular draw. In 1988, June even appeared at a pre-Super Bowl party held by then-NFL Commissioner Pete Roselle.

Sadly, in late 1991, June was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. At first, treatment seemed positive and June began making plans to perform again. But it was not to be, the cancer returned. She was only 64 when she died at her home in Fort Lee, New Jersey. March 12, 1993. Her husband Jimmy, said June kept singing until nearly the end. (Info edited from numerous sources) 

Little Eva born 29 June 1943

 

Eva Narcissus Boyd (June 29, 1943 – April 10, 2003), known by the stage name of Little Eva (after a character from Uncle Tom's Cabin), was an American pop singer. She is undoubtedly the most famous babysitter in the history of rock and roll. When her songwriting employers asked her to record one of their songs she had no idea how successful it would turn out to be.

Eva Narcissus Boyd was born in 1943 in Belhaven, North Carolina, and had fifteen brothers and sisters. She moved to New York City to complete her education. Eva became the regular babysitter for Louise Goffin, daughter of Brill Building songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Through that connection, she became a backup singer on Ben E. King's Don't Play That Song (You Lied) in 1962, along with the Cookies -- Earl-Jean McRea, Dorothy Jones, and Margaret Ross.

Carole King was working out a song on the piano one day when Eva began a dance step, giving Gerry Goffin the idea for some lyrics. The result was a dance song, The Loco-Motion. Goffin and King brought Eva to the studio to record the song, backed by the Cookies and some inspired saxophone music. The time was right for a rocking dance song, which was popular in the early 60's. Within weeks after Eva turned seventeen, The Loco-Motion entered the music charts and shot to the top of the pop music lists in the late summer of 1962.

 

Eva was hot. Recording on the Dimension label later in 1962, she followed up with another Goffin-King song, this time a non-dance number titled Keep Your Hands Off My Baby. It reached number 12. The following year Little Eva had another dance tune hit, Let's Turkey Trot. An answer song to The Loco-Motion was issued on Gone Records: Little Eva, by the Locomotions.

Eva had other minor hits, including Old Smokey Locomotion and a duet with Big Dee Irwin that was a cover of Bing Crosby's Swinging On A Star, both in 1963. Eva Boyd is a good singer. Just before her career began as a teenager she had no training or experience in singing outside of her church choir. She was able to handle many types of songs, although some were a little difficult for her.

The Cookies, meanwhile, went on to score with some hits of their own on the Dimension label, including Chains (later covered by the Beatles) and Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby). They also sang backup on some records recorded by Eydie Gorme. Eva's sister Idalia Boyd had a minor hit with Hula Hooping, a song about another fad.

The Beatles and other British groups had an enormous impact on popular music beginning in 1964, and Little Eva was one of many American artists who were victims of the changes that were taking place. She recorded for other labels such as Spring and Amy. In the 1970's, she left the music business. She eventually returned home to Bellhaven, North Carolina. Little Eva returned to performing on the oldies circuit in the 1990's.

Her song The Loco-Motion is identified with the pre-Beatles era of rock music and was a legitimate number one hit, typical of the Brill Building style of music that was so prominent in the early 60's. A version of the song recorded by Grand Funk Railroad reached number one in the 70's and another version by Kylie Minogue went to number three in the 80's. The song with the infectious beat that Little Eva brought to prominence in 1962 is remembered fondly by lovers of 60's rock-and-roll.

Eva Boyd battled cancer of the cervix for years in her later life. She performed up unil 2001 when her cancer became too much for her to continue. She lost her battle and died on April 9, 2003 at Lenoir Memorial Hospital in Kinston, North Carolina, leaving two daughters and a son.  (info Tom Simon)

Adrian Rollini born 28 June 1903

 

Adrian Francis Rollini (June 28, 1903 - May 15, 1956) was a multi-instrumentalist best known for his Jazz music. He played the bass saxophone, piano, xylophone, and many other instruments.

Rollini was born June 28, 1903 to Ferdinand Rollini and Adele Augenti Rollini.He was born in New York into a somewhat wealthy family and was the eldest of several children,  Growing up in Larchmont, New York, he began to take piano lessons on a miniature piano, at the age of 2 and was good enough to play for an audience - he gave a 15 minute Chopin recital at the Waldorf Astoria at the age of four.

He continued with music and by age 14 he was leading his own group comprised of neighborhood boys, in which he doubled on piano and xylophone. He gigged around and finally made his break in 1922, when he began to play for the California Ramblers. Originally intended to play piano for them, the manager, Ed Kirkeby, suggested to him that he learn the somewhat cumbersome bass saxophone as a possible tuba double. It only took him 2 weeks until he began playing and recording with the bass saxophone.

Over time, he developed a distinctive style. He cut many sides under the California Ramblers and formed two subgroups- The Little Ramblers (starting in 1924) and the Goofus Five (most prominently 1926-1927). During this time, he managed to lay down hundreds of sessions with names like Annette Hanshaw, Cliff Edwards (Ukelele Ike), Joe Venuti and his Blue Four, The University Six, Miff Mole, and Red Nichols to name a few. Some of his best work would include the Bix sides he cut. (Scattered throughout the 1920s, Rollini's great bass sax solos were on scores of records, and they usually outstanding.)

In 1927 Rollini went to England and played in Fred Elizade’s band until September of 1928, when he returned to New York, but the California Ramblers had pretty much folded.  He continued to work, recording with such artists as Lee Morse, The Dorsey Brothers, Ben Selvin and Jack Teagarden. The 1930s saw a shift in musical idea- away from the "hot" sound and towards a more centered, polished sound, and Rollini adapted. In 1932 he formed Adrian Rollini and his Orchestra (primarily a studio group assembled for recording), and they began to record in 1933, primarily for Vocalion and Banner.

 
His other groups would include the Adrian Rollini Quintette, The Adrian Rollini Trio (primarily late 1930s) and Adrian and his Tap Room Gang which was based in the Hotel President at 234 West 48th Street in New York City. He went on to play hotels, as well as arranging and writing songs behind the scenes, collaborating with such names as Vaughan Monroe but he never did any big recording once the big band era really got underway only appearing here
and there - his trio pretty much represents the last of his great work. He did a brief tour in the late 1940s in which he came to the Majestic Theater in downtown Dallas, as well as other cities.

Rollini settled in Florida where he last worked at the Eden Roc Hotel in September 1955. He also operated the Driftwood Lodge at Tavernier Key. He died May 15, 1956 at the age of 52 after an 18 day stay in the hospital following a severe trauma to his ankle suffered in the early morning hours (apparently from an auto-related accident)in the parking lot of The Green Turtle Inn at Islamorada Key.

According to the recent book, Jazz and Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats, the author, M.D. Frederick J. Spencer (also a coroner) analyzed Rollini’s death along with many other jazz greats, and discovered Rollini truly died of mercury poisoning. While in his 18-day stay, he had developed a resistance to feeding and so a glass tube had been inserted into his stomach. The tube was weighted with mercury and somehow the tube broke, exposing Rollini to mercury poisoning.

In 1998, Adrian Rollini was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. (edited mainly from Wikipedia)

Elton Britt born 27 June 1913

Elton Britt (June 27, 1913–June 23, 1972), born James Britt Baker, in Zack, Arizona, was a country music singer, songwriter, bandleader, radio and television performer and author who sang and played guitar since his mid-teens. Elton Britt's voice was a pleasant, easy tenor that could handle cowboy tunes and wistful ballads with equal facility. He embellished some of his songs with a high yodel that often reached a full octave above the melody, which became one of his trademarks

He began playing guitar and singing around his hometown while in his mid-teens. Baker's career was made in 1930 when the Beverly Hill Billies returned from California to their Arkansas home to recruit a new vocalist. He won the talent search, and after being renamed Elton Britt, spent three years performing and recording with the Hill Billies. Britt moved to New York in 1933, initially playing in a quartet named Pappy, Zeke, Ezra & Elton. He recorded later in the '30s, as a solo act and also with the Wenatchee Mountaineers, Zeke Manners' Gang, and the Rustic Rhythm Trio.

Britt began his period of fame in 1939, thanks to two circumstances: his signature on a contract for the discount label RCA Bluebird and — most importantly — his friendship with songwriter/producer Bob Miller. Miller wrote all of Elton Britt's greatest early hits, including "Chime Bells," "Rocky Mountain Lullaby," "Buddy Boy," "Driftwood on the River," and in 1942, "There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere." The latter was adopted as a symbol of the war effort by patriotic audiences — much as "Over There" had served World War I sympathizers. President Franklin Roosevelt even invited Britt — billed as "the World's Highest Yodeler" — to the White House in 1942 to perform the hit.

Britt appeared in at least two movies. His performances in The Last Dogie (1933) and in the Charles Starrett western Laramie (1949) did nothing to advance his career. He may also have appeared in Universal’s The Prodigal Son (1949), but there is no evidence it was ever released.

By the time the charts came into existence in 1944, though, Britt had peaked. He did hit the Country Top Ten 11 times during the last half of the '40s, but never topped the charts. "Someday" reached number two in 1946, and six other songs peaked in the Top Five, including the double-sided "Wave to Me, My Lady"/"Blueberry Lane," "Detour," "Gotta Get Together With My Gal," "Candy Kisses," and "Quicksilver." A re-recording of his early hit "Chime Bells" hit number six. Britt continued recording with RCA, eventually releasing over 50 albums until 1957, when he moved to ABC/Paramount. He recorded over 600 sides and 60 albums for RCA and other labels in more than a 30-year span.

During the 1950s, Britt made a habit of retiring and coming out of retirement. When he retired in 1960, it was to wage an unsuccessful campaign for president of the United States on the Democratic ticket. This was generally viewed as a publicity stunt dreamed up by Aubrey Mayhew, his sometime manager. Shortly afterwards, he returned to entertaining, and he had his last major hit with a seven-minute yodeling song, “The Jimmie Rodgers Blues,” in 1968.

During his stay with the Hill Billies, Britt entered into the first of his four marriages. In February 1934, he wed Margaret Scott, a fifteen-year-old relative of his brother Vernon’s wife. Seven months later, in September 1934, Margaret was killed in an automobile accident in Cleveland, Oklahoma. In l935, Britt married Jeannie Russell, a Canadian citizen who died two days after the birth of their second child on June 9, 1937. In 1942, he wed his third wife, Penny, a long-time Britt fan; this marriage lasted until 1958, when the couple divorced. Finally, he married Janet Counts, a woman twenty-five years his junior, staying with her until 1970. Britt had children by each wife except the first, but none followed him into the world of music.

On June 22, 1972, Britt suffered a heart attack while driving his car and died in a McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, hospital the next day. He was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Broad Top, Pennsylvania. Later, a monument listing many of his hit songs was erected over his grave. (Info edited from AMG; Wikipedia & Encyclopedia of Arkansas)

Teddy Grace born 26 June 1905

Teddy Grace (June 26, 1905, Arcadia, Louisiana – January 4, 1992, La Mirada, California) was an American female jazz singer.

She was born Stella Gloria Crowson, the penultimate of ten siblings: seven boys and three girls. Teddy always hated the name "Stella," and was only too happy to become Ted or Teddy when her baby brother couldn't manage her given name. Her father was a parish clerk, old-moneyed and important, and the inventor of a fraction-adding machine. Her mother was Frances James, a college graduate and dutiful wife. They lived on a forty-eight-acre pecan orchard.

Her older sister received classical training on the piano from a blind instructor named Elizabeth Garrett (the daughter of Pat Garrett, who shot Billy the Kid), and Teddy maintained to her dying day that big sis was the greatest pianist she had ever heard. One of her brothers played the trombone. While Teddy had no formal musical training, she could pick out songs by ear at a very young age, and she made good use of a ukulele given to her by an uncle. For her own instruction, she preferred to sneak out and climb to the roof of the barn, where she could hear the family of her father's "fetch and tote man," "Catlick" Johnson, sing black spirituals and the blues.

She married young and settled in Montgomery, Alabama and enjoyed the benefits of an initially successful domestic life. However as a result of an impromptu "party piece" song at a local country club she was bitten by the jazz bug. By 1933 she was widely heard on local radio stations and soon found herself singing in New York with some well regarded musicians. A contract with Mal Hallett, a successful New England based bandleader followed and helped spread her reputation via records and more radio exposure.

 

Her marriage had by this time foundered and as a result of the touring strain she decided to leave Hallett and try for domesticity once more. But as before the lure of the music drew her back to Hallett and a Decca Recording contract. Her vocal quality of earthy gruffness and effortless swing often caused listeners to imagine her as a "black" performer which was underlined by a series of recordings she made with Bobby Hackett, and a little later Jack Teagarden and Billy Kyle.

In the summer of 1939 she joined the Bob Crosby orchestra and enjoyed the musicianship of Irving Fazola, Eddie Miller and Billy Butterfield amongst others on her performances during this time. She only made another couple of sides in 1940 before suddenly joining the Woman's Army Corps. She decided she could best serve her country by performing at recruiting and bond drives. Sadly this put an even greater strain on her voice which gave out following an extended War Bond tour in 1944. She was unable to speak for years and was never again able to sing professionally again and disappeared into obscurity.

A dedicated fan David McCain subsequently tracked her down to LA Nursing home in 1991 where she was known by her fourth, final and sadly appropriate name - Stella Hurt. McCain prompted a reissue of her classic 30s recordings on two or three specialist labels. She died january 4, 1992 but not before she realised that there were people still listening to her songs.
(Info various sources mainly hepjazz.com)

Here's a one-reeler featuring the inimitable Teddy Grace, as featured in the 2007 Oxford American Music Issue.

Eddie Floyd born 25 June 1935

Eddie Floyd (born Eddie Lee Floyd, 25 June 1935, Montgomery, Alabama ) is a soul/R&B singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s.

Floyd was born in Alabama, but grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He founded The Falcons, which also featured "Sir" Mack Rice. They were forerunners to future Detroit vocal groups such as The 

Temptations and The Four Tops. Their 1959 hit "You're So Fine" has been said by some to have been the first true Soul song. Wilson Pickett was then recruited into the group and sang lead on the group's next success, "I Found a Love". Pickett then embarked on a solo career, and The Falcons disbanded.

Floyd signed on with the Memphis based Stax Records as a songwriter in 1965. He wrote a hit song, "Comfort Me" recorded by Carla Thomas. He then teamed with Stax's guitarist Steve Cropper to write songs for Wilson Pickett, now signed to Atlantic Records. Atlantic distributed Stax and Jerry Wexler brought Pickett down from New York to work with Booker T. & the MGs. The Pickett sessions were successful, yielding several pop and R&B hits, including the Floyd co-written "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" and "634-5789 (Soulsville USA)".
 

                            

In 1966, Floyd recorded a song intended for Otis Redding. Wexler convinced Stax president Jim Stewart to release Floyd's version. The Steve Cropper/Eddie Floyd "Knock On Wood" launched Floyd's solo career and has been cut by over a hundred

different artists from David Bowie to Count Basie. It became a disco hit for Amii Stewart in 1979.

Floyd was one of Stax's most consistent and versatile artists. He scored several more hits on his own, including "I Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)" and "Raise Your Hand", which was covered by both Janis Joplin and Bruce Springsteen.

The song "Big Bird" (featuring Booker T. Jones on organ, Steve Cropper on guitar, and Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass) was written while Floyd waited in a London airport for a plane back to the United States for Otis Redding's funeral. Although not a U.S. hit, it became an underground favorite in the United Kingdom, was covered by U.K. musical group, The Jam, and was featured on the video game, Test Drive Unlimited.

Floyd's career did not keep him from being one of the label's most productive writers. Virtually every Stax artist recorded Floyd material, often co-written with either Cropper or Jones, including Sam & Dave ("You Don't Know What You Mean to Me"), Rufus

Thomas ("The Breakdown"), Otis Redding ("I Love You More Than Words Can Say"), and Johnnie Taylor's "Just the One (I've Been Looking For)". The latter played during the opening credits of director Harold Ramis's film, Bedazzled.

He joined old Stax collaborators Cropper and Dunn, and fronted The Blues Brothers Band on a series of world tours, and in 1998, Floyd and former Falcon Wilson Pickett appeared on screen dueting on "634-5789" in Blues Brothers 2000.

As well as singing with The Blues Brothers Band, Floyd as been the special guest with former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings on several dates in the U.S. and the UK.

In 2008, Floyd returned to Stax Records which is now owned by Concord Music Group. While in his seventies, Floyd recorded the affirming Eddie Loves You, a project where he revisited some of his classic songs. 

The album was released in 2008 from a revitalized Stax Records, the perfect pairing of artist and label. (info mainly Wikipedia)

Here’s a clip of  Eddie Floyd performing "Knock On Wood" live at the Washington Convention Center for the Presidential Inaugural Concert in 1989. 

Phil Harris born 24 June 1904

Phil Harris (born Wonga Philip Harris) (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American singer, songwriter, jazz musician and comedian. Though successful as an orchestra leader, Harris is remembered today for his recordings as a vocalist, his voice work in animation and the radio situation comedy in which he co-starred with his second wife, singer-actress Alice Faye, for eight years.

Although he was born in Linton, Indiana, Harris actually grew up in Nashville, Tennessee and identified himself as a Southerner (his hallmark song was "That's What I Like About the South"). His upbringing accounted for both his trace of a Southern accent and, in later years, the self-deprecating Southern jokes of his radio character. Harris began his music career as a drummer in San Francisco, forming an orchestra with Carol Lofner in the latter 1920s and starting a long engagement at the St. Francis Hotel. The partnership ended by 1932, and Harris led and sang with his own band, now based in Los Angeles. On September 2, 1927, he was married to actress Marcia Ralston in Sydney, Australia. The couple adopted a son, Phil Harris, Jr. (b. 1935). They were divorced in September, 1940.

Harris married Alice Faye in 1941; it was a second marriage for both (Faye had been married briefly to singer-actor Tony Martin). The Faye-Harris marriage lasted 54 years, until Harris's death. In 1942, Harris and his entire band enlisted in the U.S. Navy and they served for the duration of World War II. By 1946 Faye had all but ended her film career. She drove off the 20th Century Fox lot after studio czar Darryl F. Zanuck reputedly edited her scenes out of Fallen Angel (1945) to pump up his protege Linda Darnell.

Harris and Faye were invited to join a radio program, The Fitch Bandwagon. Originally a vehicle for big bands, including Harris's own, the show became something else entirely when Harris and Faye became its breakout stars. Coinciding with their desire to settle in southern California and raise their children without touring heavily, Bandwagon evolved into The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, strictly a situation comedy with one music spot each for Harris and Faye.

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show debuted on NBC in 1948 and ran until 1954, by which time radio had all but succumbed to television. (Harris continued to appear on Jack Benny's show, along with his own, from 1948 to 1952.) Because the Harris show aired immediately after Benny's on a different network (Harris and Faye were still on NBC, whereas Benny jumped his show...including Phil Harris as his bandleader...over to CBS in 1949), Harris would only appear during the first half of Jack's show; he would then leave the CBS studio and walk approximately one block to his own studio down the street, arriving just in time for the start of his own program.

After the show ended, Harris revived his music career. He made numerous guest appearances on 1960s and 1970s TV shows, including the Kraft Music Hall, The Dean Martin Show, Hollywood Palace and other musical variety programs. He worked as a vocalist and voice actor for animated films, with performances in the Disney animated features The Jungle Book (1967) as Baloo the Bear, The Aristocats (1970) as Thomas O'Malley, and Robin Hood (1973) as Little John. 

                              

Song hits by Harris included the early 1950s novelty record, "The Thing." The song describes the hapless finder of a box with a mysterious secret and his efforts to rid himself of it. Harris also spent time in the 1970s and early 1980s leading a band that appeared often in Las Vegas, often on the same bill with swing era legend Harry James.

Harris was also a close friend and associate of Bing Crosby; in fact, after Crosby died, Harris sat in for his old friend doing color commentary for the telecast of the annual Bing Crosby Pro-Am Golf Tournament. An old episode of The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show began with Harris telling the story of how he once won the tournament.

Harris was a longtime resident and benefactor of Palm Springs, California, where Crosby also made his home. Harris was also a benefactor of his birthplace of Linton, Indiana, establishing scholarships in his honor for promising high school students, performing at the high school, and hosting a celebrity golf tournament in his honour every year. In due course, Harris and Faye donated most of their show business memorabilia and papers to Linton's public library.

Phil Harris died of a heart attack in Palm Springs 1995 at age 91. Alice Faye died of stomach cancer three years later. Two years before his death, Harris was inducted into the Indiana Hall of Fame. Both Harris and Faye are interred at Forest Lawn-Cathedral City in Riverside County, California. (edited from Wikipedia)

Adam Faith born 23 June 1940

Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith (23 June 1940 – 8 March 2003), was a British teen idol, singer, actor, and financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5. He was also one of the first UK acts to record original songs regularly.

He was born at 4 Churchfield Road, East Acton, West London, and was unaware that his real surname was Nelhams-Wright until he applied for a passport and obtained his birth certificate. He was known as Terry Nelhams in early life.

Faith made his first appearances in public at the legendary 21's Coffee Bar in London's Soho. He came to the attention of producer Jack Goode, which, in turn, introduced Faith to bandleader John Barry (the music director of Goode's music showcase series Oh Boy! and the music director of the Drumbeat series), which resulted in the invitation to audition for a role in Drumbeat. Faith first emerged on the music scene on the Top Rank and HMV labels, but he saw little chart success until Drumbeat came along in 1959.

Faith became an immediate star, with his matinee-idol looks and charismatic screen presence. He was signed to EMI's Parlophone label soon after he began work on Drumbeat. In November of 1959, he cut the single "What Do You Want," which soared to number one on the British charts in the course of a 19-week run. With a pleasing, upbeat arrangement built around pizzicato strings and a sort of peppy variation of Elvis' scowling, mumbling demeanor, Faith's career at this point was closer to teen pop than rock & roll, although his stuff is eminently listenable. His next single, "Poor Me," was a better song and also reached number one, while his third, "Somebody Else's Baby," got to number two. Although hardly cutting-edge rock & roll (especially the singles like "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"), it was all pleasant, rather reminiscent of Buddy Holly songs like "True Love Ways." The best of his singles was the John Barry co-authored "Made You," which owes a bit to songs like "Nervous Breakdown" -- it also showed what Faith could do with a real, straight-ahead rock & roll number.
 

Faith's brand of sometimes rather twee pop ("Lonely Pup (In a Christmas Shop)") became less popular through the 1960s in the face of competition from groups like The Beatles, and he began an alternative career as an actor. Despite his shortcomings as a rock & roller, Faith left the post-Beatles era with one major gift in the form of his superb backing band, the Roulettes -- featuring future Argent members Russ Ballard and Bob Henrit -- who recorded some of the best music of the early British Invasion era. While still a musician Faith had appeared in films such as Beat Girl (1961), but now he concentrated on acting in the theatre. In the 1970s, he went into music management, notably managing Leo Sayer among others.

He starred as the eponymous "hero" in the 1970s television series Budgie, about an ex-convict, but after a car accident as a result of which he almost lost a leg, his career suffered something of a decline. It restarted in 1975 when helanded a major role as the manipulative manager of rock star David Essex in the film 'Stardust'. In the early 1990s, Faith had another hit TV series in Love Hurts co-starring with Zoe Wanamaker.

In the 1980s, Adam Faith's interests moved from show business to finance, and he became an astute financial investments advisor. In 1986, he was hired as a financial journalist, by the Daily Mail and its sister paper the Mail on Sunday. He also had an involvement with the television Money Channel. But the channel proved to be an unsuccessful venture and closed down in 2001. Adam Faith was declared bankrupt owing a reported £32 million.

He had had heart problems since 1986 when he underwent open heart surgery. He became ill after his stage performance in Stoke-on-Trent on the Friday evening, and died in hospital of a heart attack early on Saturday morning, March 8, 2003.

Michael Caine (born Maurice Micklewhite) said that his mother worked with Adam's mother in their early days, but because each, of course, referred to her son by his real name, they never made the connection to each other's already well-known offspring. Friend and former BBC Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn described Faith as a kind and genuine person. Speaking on BBC News 24, he said: "He was a bit of a workaholic. He just put everything he had into what he was doing at the time. But the main thing I remember about him more than anything else is he was just so nice. There was no ego there. He was always very, very kind and he would always come over and he was the most friendly person I think I have ever known." (info from Wikipedia & AMG)  Website link http://www.adamfaith.org.uk