Stuart Adamson
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Stuart Adamson (April 11, 1958 – December 16, 2001), was a British rock musician, who founded The Skids and later Big Country, as well as the 90s alternative country rock act, The Raphaels.
Born William Stuart Adamson in Manchester, he is best known for his distinctive guitar work, which made the harmonics of two electric guitars sound somewhat like a bagpipe; Adamson, along with Big Country's other guitarist, Bruce Watson, achieved this with a combination of various guitar effects and heavy use of reverb. The often quoted "bagpipe" sound was actually probably more to do with the phrasing of Big Country's guitar work as it often loosely followed traditional Scottish pipe band arrangements and rhythms. Also adding to the distinctive Big Country guitar sound was the use of the e-bow, a device that provided a haunting strings type effect in Big Country's music. Along with Bill Nelson (also an accomplished rock guitarist, with Be Bop Deluxe and solo), Adamson's use of the e-bow helped popularize the device.
[edit] The Skids
Adamson was a founding member of The Skids in 1977. Their biggest success was the single Into the Valley in 1979, which did well in the UK charts, and still regularly appears in anthologies. He was involved with three of their four albums, leaving before Joy (which many fans considered "non-canonical", though Adamson did play guitar on one memorable song of the album, 'Iona'). As with Big Country, Adamson was a large part of the group's sound, which set it apart from many of the punk/New Wave bands of the period, including slow riffs, as opposed to speedily played ones, which anticipated Black Flag and Grunge's "slow punk".
In 2006, Adamson's music achieved an unexpected success when U2 and Green Day covered The Saints are Coming as a charity single. This has led to a revival of interest in Adamson's earlier material. Richard Jobson in an interview with the Sunday Post, said that he was upset Adamson had not been alive to see it.
[edit] Big Country
Stuart Adamson's guitar playing first came to international prominence in Big Country's first hit, 1983's "Fields of Fire", which reached the UK's Top Ten, and was rapidly followed by the album The Crossing. The album was a crossover hit in the United States, powered by the single "In a Big Country". They were sometimes considered a one-hit wonder in the USA, but clearly they were more than that worldwide due to their popularity in the UK and Europe, and the band still have a devout following in their homebase of Scotland.
Their second album Steeltown appeared in 1984, and was again a success with both fans and critics, although not quite to the same heights as their debut. The band's third album "The Seer" continued along somewhat familiar territory, but did veer towards album oriented rock. The first two albums were produced by Steve Lillywhite. The band continued to record studio albums, and to tour until 1999. In many ways, Adamson was the sound of Big Country, supplying much of its distinctive guitar work, as well as being lead singer and main songwriter (both music and lyrics). In terms of being an instrumentalist, a vocalist, and a prolific songwriter, he is matched by very few contemporaries, such as Paul Weller (The Jam, Style Council, solo). The band's lineup never really underwent changes, the exception being a brief departure of drummer Mark Brzezicki.
In 1999 Stuart Adamson disappeared for a time before resurfacing, stating that he had needed some time off. There were also reports of battles with alcohol. In November 2001 he disappeared once again. On December 16, 2001 he was found dead, hanging from a rope, in a room at the Best Western Plaza Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, having commited suicide.
