title: Shinto

text: Shrines are often set within gardens or wooded groves called "chinju no mori" ("forest of the tutelary kami"), which vary in size from just a few trees to sizeable areas of woodland. Large lanterns, known as "tōrō", are often found within these precincts. Shrines often have an office, known as a "shamusho", a "saikan" where priests undergo forms of abstinence and purification prior to conducting rituals, and other buildings such as a priests' quarters and a storehouse. Various kiosks often sell amulets to visitors. Since the late 1940s, shrines have had to be financially self-sufficient, relying on the donations of worshippers and visitors. These funds are used to pay the wages of the priests, to finance the upkeep of the buildings, to cover the shrine's membership fees of various regional and national Shinto groups, and to contribute to disaster relief funds.


title: Shinto

text: In Shinto, it is seen as important that the places in which kami are venerated be kept clean and not neglected. Through to the Edo period, it was common for kami shrines to be demolished and rebuilt at a nearby location in order to remove any pollutants and ensure purity. This has continued into recent times at certain sites, such as the Ise Grand Shrine, which is moved to an adjacent site every two decades. Separate shrines can also be merged in a process known as "jinja gappei", while the act of transferring the kami from one building to another is called "sengu". Shrines may have legends about their foundation, which are known as "en-gi". These sometimes also record miracles associated with the shrine. From the Heian period on, the "en-gi" were often retold on picture scrolls known as "emakimono".


title: Shinto

text: Shrines may be cared for by priests, by local communities, or by families on whose property the shrine is found. Shinto priests are known in Japanese as , meaning "proprietor of ", or alternatively as or . Many kannushi take on the role in a line of hereditary succession traced down specific families. In contemporary Japan, there are two main training universities for those wishing to become , at Kokugakuin University in Tokyo and at Kogakkan University in Mie Prefecture. Priests can rise through the ranks over the course of their careers. The number of priests at a particular shrine can vary; some shrines can have dozens, and others have none, instead being administered by local lay volunteers. Some priests administer to multiple small shrines, sometimes over ten.


title: Shinto

text: Priestly costume is largely based on the clothes worn at the imperial court during the Heian period. It includes a tall, rounded hat known as an , and black lacquered wooden clogs known as . The outer garment worn by a priest, usually colored black, red, or light blue, is the , or the . A white silk version of the , used for formal occasions, is known as the . Another priestly robe is the , which is modelled on Heian-style hunting garments. Also part of standard priestly attire is a fan, while during rituals, priests carry a flat piece of wood known as a . This costume is generally more ornate than the sombre garments worn by Japanese Buddhist monks.


title: Shinto

text: The chief priest at a shrine is the . Larger shrines may also have an assistant head priest, the . As with teachers, instructors, and Buddhist clergy, Shinto priests are often referred to as by lay practitioners. Historically, there were female priests although they were largely pushed out of their positions in 1868. During the Second World War, women were again allowed to become priests to fill the void caused by large numbers of men being enlisted in the military. By the late 1990s, around 90% of priests were male, 10% female, contributing to accusations that Shinto discriminates against women. Priests are free to marry and have children. At smaller shrines, priests often have other full-time jobs, and serve only as priests during special occasions.


title: Shinto

text: Before certain major festivals, priests may undergo a period of abstinence from sexual relations. Some of those involved in festivals also abstain from a range of other things, such as consuming tea, coffee, or alcohol, immediately prior to the events.


title: Shinto

text: The priests are assisted by , sometimes referred to as "shrine-maidens" in English. These are typically unmarried, although not necessarily virgins. In many cases they are the daughters of a priest or a practitioner. They are subordinate to the priests in the shrine hierarchy. Their most important role is in the dance, known as . receive only a small salary but gain respect from members of the local community and learn skills such as cooking, calligraphy, painting, and etiquette which can benefit them when later searching for employment or a marriage partner. They generally do not live at the shrines. Sometimes they fill other roles, such as being secretaries in the shrine offices or clerks at the information desks, or as waitresses at the feasts. They also assist in ceremonial rites.


title: Shinto

text: Visits to the shrine are termed , or . Some individuals visit the shrines daily, often on their morning route to work; they typically take only a few minutes. Usually, a worshipper will approach the honden, placing a monetary offering in a box and then ringing a bell to call the 's attention. Then, they bow, clap, and stand while silently offering a prayer. The clapping is known as or ; the prayers or supplications as . This individual worship is known as . More broadly, ritual prayers to the are called , while the coins offered are . At the shrine, individuals offering prayers are not necessarily praying to a specific . A worshipper may not know the name of a residing at the shrine nor how many are believed to dwell there. Unlike in certain other religions, Shinto shrines do not have weekly services that practitioners are expected to attend.


title: Shinto

text: Some Shinto practitioners do not offer their prayers to the directly, but rather request that a priest offer them on their behalf; these prayers are known as "kitō". Many individuals approach the asking for pragmatic requests. Requests for rain, known as ("rain-soliciting") have been found across Japan, with Inari a popular choice for such requests.


title: Shinto

text: Other prayers reflect more contemporary concerns. For instance, people may ask that the priest approaches the so as to purify their car in the hope that this will prevent it from being involved in an accident; the "kotsu anzen harai" ("purification for road safety"). Similarly, transport companies often request purification rites for new buses or airplanes which are about to go into service. Before a building is constructed, it is common for either private individuals or the construction company to employ a Shinto priest to come to the land being developed and perform the , or earth sanctification ritual. This purifies the site and asks the to bless it.


title: Shinto

text: People often ask the to help offset inauspicious events that may affect them. For instance, in Japanese culture, the age 33 is seen as being unlucky for women and the age 42 for men, and thus people can ask the to offset any ill-fortune associated with being this age. Certain directions can also be seen as being inauspicious for certain people at certain times and thus people can approach the asking them to offset this problem if they have to travel in one of these unlucky directions.


title: Shinto

text: Pilgrimage has long been important in Japanese religion, with pilgrimages to Shinto shrines called . A round of pilgrimages, whereby individuals visit a series of shrines and other sacred sites that are part of an established circuit, is known as a . An individual leading these pilgrims, is sometimes termed a . For many centuries, people have also visited the shrines for primarily cultural and recreational reasons, as opposed to spiritual ones. Many of the shrines are recognised as sites of historical importance and some are classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Shrines such as Shimogamo Jinja and Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, Meiji Jingū in Tokyo, and Atsuta Jingū in Nagoya are among Japan's most popular tourist sites. Many shrines have a unique rubber-stamp seal which visitors can get printed into their or stamp book, demonstrating the different shrines they have visited.


title: Shinto

text: Shinto rituals begin with a process of purification, or . Using fresh water or salt water, this is known as . At shrines, this entails sprinkling this water onto the face and hands, a procedure known as , using a font known as a . Another form of purification at the start of a Shinto rite entails waving a white paper streamer or wand known as the . When not in use, the is usually kept in a stand. The priest waves the horizontally over a person or object being purified in a movement known as ("left-right-left"). Sometimes, instead of a , the purification is carried out with an , a branch of evergreen to which strips of paper have been attached. The waving of the is often followed by an additional act of purification, the , in which the priest sprinkles water, salt, or brine over those assembled from a wooden box called the or .


title: Shinto

text: The acts of purification accomplished, petitions known as are spoken to the . This is followed by an appearance by the , who commence in a slow circular motion before the main altar. Offerings are then presented to the by being placed on a table. This act is known as ; the offerings themselves as or . Historically, the offerings given the included food, cloth, swords, and horses. In the contemporary period, lay worshippers usually give gifts of money to the while priests generally offer them food, drink, and sprigs of the sacred tree. Animal sacrifices are not considered appropriate offerings, as the shedding of blood is seen as a polluting act that necessitates purification. The offerings presented are sometimes simple and sometimes more elaborate; at the Grand Shrine of Ise, for instance, 100 styles of food are laid out as offerings. The choice of offerings will often be tailored to the specific and occasion.


title: Shinto

text: Sake, or rice wine, is a very common offering to the . After the offerings have been given, people often sip rice wine known as . Drinking the wine is seen as a form of communion with the . On important occasions, a feast is then held, known as , inside a banquet hall attached to the shrine complex.


title: Shinto

text: The are believed to enjoy music. One style of music performed at shrines is . Instruments used include three reeds (, , and ), the , and the "three drums" (, , and ). Other musical styles performed at shrines can have a more limited focus. At shrines such as Ōharano Shrine in Kyoto, ("eastern entertainment") music is performed on April 8. Also in Kyoto, various festivals make use of the style of music and dance, which originated from rice-planting songs. During rituals, people visiting the shrine are expected to sit in the style, with their legs tucked beneath their bottom. To avoid cramps, individuals who hold this position for a lengthy period of time may periodically move their legs and flex their heels.


title: Shinto

text: Having seen their popularity increase in the Meiji era, many Shinto practitioners also have a family shrine, or ("kami shelf"), in their home. These usually consist of shelves placed at an elevated position in the living room. can also be found in workplaces, restaurants, shops, and ocean-going ships. Some public shrines sell entire .


title: Shinto

text: Along with the , many Japanese households also have , Buddhist altars enshrining the ancestors of the family; ancestral reverence remains an important aspect of Japanese religious tradition. In the rare instances where Japanese individuals are given a Shinto funeral rather than a Buddhist one, a , , or shrine may be erected in the home in place of a . This will be typically placed below the and include symbols of the resident ancestral spirit, for instance a mirror or a scroll.


title: Shinto

text: Household Shinto can focus attention on the , who are perceived to be ancestral to the or extended kinship group. A small shrine for the ancestors of a household are known as . Small village shrines containing the tutelary kami of an extended family are known as . In addition to the temple shrines and the household shrines, Shinto also features small wayside shrines known as . Other open spaces used for the worship of kami are , an area surrounded by sacred rocks.


title: Shinto

text: A common feature of Shinto shrines is the provision of , small wooden plaques onto which practitioners will write a wish or desire that they would like to see fulfilled. The practitioner's message is written on one side of the plaque, while on the other is usually a printed picture or pattern related to the shrine itself. are provided both at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan; unlike most amulets, which are taken away from the shrine, the are typically left there as a message for the resident . Those administering the shrine will then often burn all of the collected at new year.


title: Shinto

text: Divination is the focus of many Shinto rituals, with various forms of divination used by its practitioners, some introduced from China. Among the ancient forms of divination found in Japan are and . Several forms of divination entailing archery are also practiced in Shintō, known as , , and . Kitagawa stated that there could be "no doubt" that various types of "shamanic diviners" played a role in early Japanese religion. A form of divination previously common in Japan was or , which often used tortoise shells; it is still used in some places.


title: Shinto

text: A form of divination that is popular at Shinto shrines are the . These are small slips of paper which are obtained from the shrine (for a donation) and which are then read to reveal a prediction for the future. Those who receive a bad prediction often then tie the to a nearby tree or frame set up for the purpose. This act is seen as rejecting the prediction, a process called , and thus avoiding the misfortune it predicted.


title: Shinto

text: The use of amulets are widely sanctioned and popular in Japan. These may be made of paper, wood, cloth, metal, or plastic.


title: Shinto

text: At new year, many shrines sell (an "evil-destroying arrows"), which people can purchase and keep in their home over the coming year to bring good luck.


title: Shinto

text: A is a round, paper doll of the Indian monk, Bodhidharma. The recipient makes a wish and paints one eye; when the goal is accomplished, the recipient paints the other eye. While this is a Buddhist practice, darumas can be found at shrines, as well. These dolls are very common.


title: Shinto

text: Other protective items include , which are earthenware bells that are used to pray for good fortune. These bells are usually in the shapes of the zodiacal animals. are paper dogs that are used to induce and to bless good births. Collectively, these talismans through which home to manipulate events and influence spirits, as well as related mantras and rites for the same purpose, are known as .


title: Shinto

text: describes the music and dance performed for the ; the term may have originally derived from ("seat of the "). Throughout Japanese history, dance has played an important culture role and in Shinto it is regarded as having the capacity to pacify . There is a mythological tale of how dance came into existence. According to the "Kojiki" and the "Nihon Shoki", Ame-no-Uzume performed a dance to entice Amaterasu out of the cave in which she had hidden herself.


title: Shinto

text: There are two broad types of kagura. One is Imperial kagura, also known as . This style was developed in the imperial court and is still performed on imperial grounds every December. It is also performed at the Imperial harvest festival and at major shrines such as Ise, Kamo, and Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū. It is performed by singers and musicians using wooden clappers, a , a flute, and a six-stringed zither. The other main type is , descended from and performed at shrines across Japan. Depending on the style, it is performed by or by actors wearing masks to portray various mythological figures. These actors are accompanied by a band using flutes and drums. There are also other, regional types of kagura.


title: Shinto

text: Public festivals are commonly termed , although this term has varied meanings—"festival," "worship," "celebration," "rite," or "prayer"—and no direct translation into English. Picken suggested that the festival was "the central act of Shinto worship" because Shinto was a "community- and family-based" religion. Most mark the seasons of the agricultural year and involve offerings being directed to the in thanks. According to a traditional lunar calendar, Shinto shrines should hold their festival celebrations on or "clear" days", the days of the new, full, and half moons. Other days, known as , were generally avoided for festivities. However, since the late 20th century, many shrines have held their festival celebrations on the Saturday or Sunday closest to the date so that fewer individuals will be working and will be able to attend. Each town or village often has its own festival, centred on a local shrine. For instance, the Aoi Matsuri festival, held on 15 May to pray for an abundant grain harvest, takes place at shrines in Kyoto, while the Chichibu Yo-Matsuri takes place on 2–3 December in Chichibu.


title: Shinto

text: Spring festivals are called and often incorporate prayers for a good harvest. They sometimes involve ceremonies, in which rice is ritually planted. Summer festivals are termed and are usually focused on protecting the crops against pests and other threats. Autumn festivals are known as and primarily focus on thanking the for the rice or other harvest. The , or festival of new rice, is held across many Shinto shrines on 23 November. The emperor also conducts a ceremony to mark this festival, at which he presents the first fruits of the harvest to the at midnight. Winter festivals, called often feature on welcoming in the spring, expelling evil, and calling in good influences for the future. There is little difference between winter festivals and specific new year festivals.


title: Shinto

text: The season of the new year is called . On the last day of the year (31 December), , practitioners usually clean their household shrines in preparation for New Year's Day (1 January), . Many people visit public shrines to celebrate new year; this "first visit" of the year is known as or . There, they buy amulets and talismans to bring them good fortune over the coming year. To celebrate this festival, many Japanese put up rope known as on their homes and places of business. Some also put up ("gateway pine"), an arrangement of pine branches, plum tree, and bamboo sticks. Also displayed are , which are smaller and more colourful; their purpose is to keep away misfortune and attract good fortune. In many places, new year celebrations incorporate ("naked festivals") in which men dressed only in a loincloth engage in a particular activity, such as fighting over a specific object or immersing themselves in a river.


title: Shinto

text: A common feature of festivals are processions or parades known as . These can be raucous, with many participants being drunk; Breen and Teeuwen characterised them as having a "carnivalesque atmosphere". They are often understood as having a regenerative effect on both the participants and the community. During these processions, the travel in portable shrines known as . In various cases the undergo ("going down to the beach"), a process by which they are carried to the sea shore and sometimes into the sea, either by bearers or a boat. For instance, in the Okunchi festival held in the southwestern city of Nagasaki, the of the Suwa Shrine are paraded down to Ohato, where they are placed in a shrine there for several days before being paraded back to Suwa. These sort of celebrations are often organized largely by members of the local community rather than by the priests themselves.


title: Shinto

text: The formal recognition of events is given great importance in Japanese culture. A common ritual, the , entails a child's first visit to a Shinto shrine. A tradition holds that, if a boy he should be brought to the shrine on the thirty-second day after birth, and if a girl she should be brought on the thirty-third day. Historically, the child was commonly brought to the shrine not by the mother, who was considered impure after birth, but by another female relative; since the late 20th century it has been more common for the mother to do so. Another rite of passage, the or , is a coming of age ritual marking the transition to adulthood and occurs when an individual is around twenty. Wedding ceremonies are often carried out at Shinto shrines; these are called ("a wedding before the "). Prior to the Meiji period, weddings were commonly performed in the home, although shrines now regard them as an important source of income.


title: Shinto

text: In Japan, funerals tend to take place at Buddhist temples and involve cremation, with Shinto funerals being rare. Bocking noted that most Japanese people are "still 'born Shinto' yet 'die Buddhist'." In Shinto thought, contact with death is seen as imparting impurity (); the period following this contact is known as and is associated with various taboos. In cases when dead humans are enshrined as , the physical remains of the dead are not stored at the shrine. Although not common, there have been examples of funerals conducted through Shinto rites. The earliest examples are known from the mid-17th century; these occurred in certain areas of Japan and had the support of the local authorities.


title: Shinto

text: Following the Meiji Restoration, in 1868 the government recognised specifically Shinto funerals for Shinto priests. Five years later, this was extended to cover the entire Japanese population. Despite this Meiji promotion of Shinto funerals, the majority of the population continued to have Buddhist funeral rites. In recent decades, Shinto funerals have usually been reserved for Shinto priests and for members of certain Shinto sects. After cremation, the normal funerary process in Japan, the ashes of a priest may be interred near to the shrine, but not inside its precincts.


title: Shinto

text: Ancestral reverence remains an important part of Japanese religious custom. The invocation of the dead, and especially the war dead, is known as . Various rites reference this. For instance, at the largely Buddhist festival of Bon, the souls of the ancestors are believed to visit the living, and are then sent away in a ritual called , by which lanterns are inserted into small boats, often made of paper, and placed in a river to float downstream.


title: Shinto

text: Shinto practitioners believe that the "kami" can possess a human being and then speak through them, a process known as . Several new religious movements drawing upon Shinto, such as Tenrikyo and Oomoto, were founded by individuals claiming to be guided by a possessing kami. The is an oracle that is passed from the via the medium.


title: Shinto

text: The and are blind women who train to become spiritual mediums, traditionally in Japan's northern Tohoku region. train under other from childhood, memorialising sacred texts and prayers, fasting, and undertaking acts of severe asceticism, through which they are believed to cultivate supernatural powers. In an initiation ceremony, a kami is believed to possess the young woman, and the two are then ritually "married". After this, the kami becomes her tutelary spirit and she will henceforth be able to call upon it, and a range of other spirits, in the future. Through contacting these spirits, she is able to convey their messages to the living. usually carry out their rituals independent of the shrine system. Japanese culture also includes spiritual healers known as whose work involves invoking both kami and Buddhas.


title: Shinto

text: Earhart commented that Shinto ultimately "emerged from the beliefs and practices of prehistoric Japan", although Kitagawa noted that it was questionable whether prehistoric Japanese religions could be accurately termed "early Shinto". It was the Yayoi period of Japanese prehistory which first left traces of material and iconography prefiguring that later included in Shinto. were worshipped at various landscape features during this period; at this point, their worship consisted largely of beseeching and placating them, with little evidence that they were viewed as compassionate entities. Archaeological evidence suggests that bronze bells, bronze weapons, and metal mirrors played an important role in -based ritual during the Yayoi period.


title: Shinto

text: In this early period, Japan was not a unified state; by the Kofun period it was divided among (clans), each with their own tutelary , the . Korean migration during the Kofun period brought Confucianism and Buddhism to Japan. Buddhism had a particular impact on the cults. Migrant groups and Japanese who increasingly aligned with these foreign influences built Buddhist temples in various parts of the Japanese islands. Several rival clans who were more hostile to these foreign influences began adapting the shrines of their to more closely resemble the new Buddhist structures. In the late 5th century, the Yamato clan leader Yūryaku declared himself "daiō" ("great king") and established hegemony over much of Japan. From the early 6th century CE, the style of ritual favored by the Yamato began spreading to other shrines around Japan as the Yamato extended their territorial influence. Buddhism was also growing. According to the "Nihon Shoki", in 587 Emperor Yōmei converted to Buddhism and under his sponsorship Buddhism spread.


title: Shinto

text: In the mid-7th century, a legal code called was adopted to establish a Chinese-style centralised government. As part of this, the Jingikan ("Council of ") was created to conduct rites of state and coordinate provincial ritual with that in the capital. This was done according to a code of law called the "Jingiryō", itself modelled on the Chinese "Book of Rites". The Jingikan was located in the palace precincts and maintained a register of shrines and priests. An annual calendar of state rites were introduced to help unify Japan through worship. These legally mandated rites were outlined in the Yōrō Code of 718, and expanded in the "Jogan Gishiki" of circa 872 and the "Engi Shiki" of 927. Under the Jingikan, some shrines were designated as ("official shrines") and given specific privileges and responsibilities. Hardacre saw the Jingikan as "the institutional origin of Shinto".


title: Shinto

text: In the early 8th century, the Emperor Tenmu commissioned a compilation of the legends and genealogies of Japan's clans, resulting in the completion of the "Kojiki" in 712. Designed to legitimate the ruling dynasty, this text created a fixed version of various stories previously circulating in oral tradition. The "Kojiki" omits any reference to Buddhism, in part because it sought to ignore foreign influences and emphasise a narrative stressing indigenous elements of Japanese culture. Several years later, the "Nihon shoki" was written. Unlike the "Kojiki", this made various references to Buddhism, and was aimed at a foreign audience. Both of these texts sought to establish the imperial clan's descent from the sun Amaterasu, although there were many differences in the cosmogonic narrative they provided. Quickly, the "Nihon shoki" eclipsed the "Kojiki" in terms of its influence. Other texts written at this time also drew on oral traditions regarding the . The "Sendari kuji hongi" for example was probably composed by the Mononobe clan while the "Kogoshui" was probably put together for the Imbe clan, and in both cases they were designed to highlight the divine origins of these respective lineages. A government order in 713 called on each region to produce "fudoki", records of local geography, products, and stories, with the latter revealing more traditions about the which were present at this time.


title: Shinto

text: From the 8th century, worship and Buddhism were thoroughly intertwined in Japanese society. While the emperor and court performed Buddhist rites, they also performed others to honor the . Tenmu for example appointed a virginal imperial princess to serve as the , a form of priestess, at the Ise Shrine on his behalf, a tradition continued by subsequent emperors. From the 8th century onward up until the Meiji era, the were incorporated into a Buddhist cosmology in various ways. One view is that the realised that like all other life-forms, they too were trapped in the cycle of samsara (rebirth) and that to escape this they had to follow Buddhist teachings. Alternative approaches viewed the as benevolent entities who protected Buddhism, or that the were themselves Buddhas, or beings who had achieved enlightenment. In this, they could be either , the pure spirits of the Buddhas, or , transformations of the Buddhas in their attempt to help all sentient beings.


title: Shinto

text: This period hosted many changes to the country, government, and religion. The capital is moved again to Heijō-kyō (modern-day Nara), in AD 710 by Empress Genmei due to the death of the emperor. This practice was necessary due to the Shinto belief in the impurity of death and the need to avoid this pollution. However, this practice of moving the capital due to "death impurity" is then abolished by the Taihō Code and rise in Buddhist influence. The establishment of the imperial city in partnership with Taihō Code is important to Shinto as the office of the Shinto rites becomes more powerful in assimilating local clan shrines into the imperial fold. New shrines are built and assimilated each time the city is moved. All of the grand shrines are regulated under Taihō and are required to account for incomes, priests, and practices due to their national contributions.


title: Shinto

text: Breen and Teeuwen characterise the period between 1868 and 1915, during the Meiji era, as being the "formative years" of modern Shinto. It is in this period that various scholars have argued that Shinto was essentially "invented".


title: Shinto

text: Fridell argues that scholars call the period from 1868 to 1945 the "State Shinto period" because, "during these decades, Shinto elements came under a great deal of overt state influence and control as the Japanese government systematically utilized shrine worship as a major force for mobilizing imperial loyalties on behalf of modern nation-building." However, the government had already been treating shrines as an extension of government before Meiji; see for example the Tenpō Reforms. Moreover, according to the scholar Jason Ānanda Josephson, It is inaccurate to describe shrines as constituting a "state religion" or a "theocracy" during this period since they had neither organization, nor doctrine, and were uninterested in conversion.


title: Shinto

text: The Meiji Restoration of 1868 was fuelled by a renewal of Confucian ethics and imperial patriotism among Japan's ruling class. Among these reformers, Buddhism was seen as a corrupting influence that had undermined what they envisioned as Japan's original purity and greatness. They wanted to place a renewed emphasis on worship as an indigenous form of ritual, an attitude that was also fuelled by anxieties about Western expansionism and fear that Christianity would take hold in Japan.


title: Shinto

text: In 1868, all shrine priests were placed under the authority of the new Jingikan, or Council of Kami Affairs. A project of forcibly separating worship from Buddhism was implemented, with Buddhist monks, deities, buildings, and rituals banned from shrines. Much Buddhist material was destroyed. In 1871, a new hierarchy of shrines was introduced, with imperial and national shrines at the top. Hereditary priesthoods were abolished and a new state-sanctioned system for appointing priests was introduced.


title: Shinto

text: In 1872, the Jingikan was replaced with the Kyobusho, or Ministry of Edification. This coordinated a campaign whereby ("national evangelists") were sent through the country to promote Japan's "Great Teaching," which included respect for the and obedience to the emperor. This campaign was discontinued in 1884. In 1906, thousands of village shrines were merged so that most small communities had only a single shrine, where rites in honor of the emperor could be held. Shinto effectively became the state cult, one promoted with growing zeal in the build-up to the Second World War.


title: Shinto

text: In 1882, the Meiji government designated 13 religious movements that were neither Buddhist nor Christian to be forms of "Sect Shinto". The number and name of the sects given this formal designation varied; often they merged ideas with Shinto from Buddhism, Christian, Confucian, Daoist, and Western esoteric traditions. In the Meiji period, many local traditions died out and were replaced by nationally standardised practices encouraged from Tokyo.


title: Shinto

text: During the U.S. occupation, a new Japanese constitution was drawn up. This enshrined freedom of religion and separated religion from the state, a measure designed to eradicate State Shinto. The emperor declared that he was not a ; Shinto rituals performed by the imperial family became their own private affair. This disestablishment ended government subsidies to shrines and gave them renewed freedom to organise their own affairs. In 1946 many shrines formed a voluntary organisation, the Association of Shinto Shrines (). In 1956 the association issued a creedal statement, the ("general characteristics of a life lived in reverence of the "), to summarise what they regarded as Shinto's principles. By the late 1990s around 80% of Japan's Shinto shrines were part of this association.


title: Shinto

text: In the post-war decades, many Japanese blamed Shinto for encouraging the militarism which had led to defeat and occupation. Others remained nostalgic for State Shinto, and concerns were repeatedly expressed that sectors of Japanese society were conspiring to restore it. Various legal debates revolved around the involvement of public officials in Shinto. In 1965, for instance, the city of Tsu, Mie Prefecture paid four Shinto priests to purify the site where the municipal athletic hall was to be built. Critics brought the case to court, claiming it contravened the constitutional separation of religion and state; in 1971 the high court ruled that the city administration's act had been unconstitutional, although this was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1977.


title: Shinto

text: During the post-war period, Shinto themes often blended into Japanese new religious movements. Of the Sect Shinto groups, Tenrikyo was probably the most successful, although in 1970 it repudiated its Shinto identity. Shinto perspectives also influenced popular culture. The film director Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli for instance acknowledged Shinto influences on his films such as "Spirited Away". Shinto also spread abroad through both emigration and conversion by non-Japanese. The Tsubaki Grand Shrine in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, was the first to establish a branch abroad: the Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America, initially located in California and then moved to Granite Falls, Washington.


title: Shinto

text: During the 20th century, most academic research on Shinto was conducted by Shinto theologians, often priests, bringing accusations that it often blurred theology with historical analysis. From the 1980s onward, there was a renewed academic interest in Shinto both in Japan and abroad.


title: Shinto

text: Most Japanese participate in several religious traditions, with Breen and Teeuwen noting that, "with few exceptions", it is not possible to differentiate between Shintoists and Buddhists in Japan. The main exceptions are members of minority religious groups, including Christianity, which promote exclusivist worldviews. Determining the proportions of the country's population who engage in Shinto activity is hindered by the fact that, if asked, Japanese people will often say "I have no religion". Many Japanese avoid the term "religion", in part because they dislike the connotations of the word which most closely matches it in the Japanese language, . The latter term derives from ("sect") and ("doctrine").


title: Shinto

text: Official statistics show Shinto to be Japan's largest religion, with over 80 percent of its population engaging in Shinto activities. Conversely, in questionnaires only a small minority of Japanese describe themselves as "Shintoists." This indicates that a far larger number of people engage in Shinto activities than cite Shinto as their religious identity. There are no formal rituals to become a practitioner of "folk Shinto". Thus, "Shinto membership" is often estimated counting only those who do join organised Shinto sects. Shinto has about 81,000 shrines and about 85,000 priests in the country. According to surveys carried out in 2006 and 2008, less than 40% of the population of Japan identifies with an organised religion: around 35% are Buddhists, 30% to 40% are members of Shinto sects and derived religions. In 2008, 26% of the participants reported often visiting Shinto shrines, while only 16.2% expressed belief in the existence of in general.


title: Shinto

text: Shinto is primarily found in Japan, although has spread abroad through imperial conquest and emigration. outside Japan are termed ("overseas shrines"), a term coined by Ogasawara Shōzō. When the Japanese Empire collapsed in the 1940s, there were over 600 within its conquered territories, many of which were later disbanded. Japanese migrants have also established in countries like Brazil, while Shinto's lack of doctrinal focus has attracted interest from non-Japanese; in the United States, for example, European Americans have played a significant role in introducing Shinto.


title: Rob Reiner

text: Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom "All in the Family" (1971–1979), a performance that earned him two Primetime Emmy Awards.


title: Rob Reiner

text: As a director, Reiner was recognized by the Directors Guild of America Awards with nominations for the coming of age drama "Stand by Me" (1986), the romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally..." (1989), and the military courtroom drama "A Few Good Men" (1992), the last of which also earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture. He has also received four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director.


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner's other major directorial film credits include the heavy metal mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984), the romantic comedy fantasy adventure "The Princess Bride" (1987), the psychological horror-thriller "Misery" (1990), the romantic comedy-drama "The American President" (1995), the buddy comedy-drama "The Bucket List" (2007), and the biographical political drama "LBJ" (2016).


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner also appeared in a number of his films and various others, including "Throw Momma from the Train" (1987), "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993), "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994), "The First Wives Club" (1996), "Primary Colors" (1998), "EDtv" (1999), and "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013).


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner was born into a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York, on March 6, 1947. His parents were Estelle Reiner (née Lebost; 1914–2008), an actress, and Carl Reiner (1922–2020), a renowned comedian, actor, writer, producer and director. As a child, Reiner lived at 48 Bonnie Meadow Road in New Rochelle, New York; the home of the fictional Petrie family in "The Dick Van Dyke Show", created by Rob's father, was 148 Bonnie Meadow Lane. He studied at the UCLA Film School.


title: Rob Reiner

text: In the early 1960s Reiner served as a trainee/apprentice at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA. In the late 1960s, Reiner acted in bit roles in several television shows including "Batman", "That Girl","The Andy Griffith Show", "Room 222", "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." and "The Beverly Hillbillies". During this time he also appeared in several films, including some by his father such as "Where's Poppa?" (1970). He began his career writing for the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" in 1968 and 1969, with Steve Martin as his writing partner as the two youngest writers on the show.


title: Rob Reiner

text: Two years later, Reiner became famous playing Michael Stivic, Archie Bunker's liberal son-in-law, on Norman Lear's 1970s situation comedy "All in the Family", which was the most-watched television program in the United States for five seasons (1971–1976). The character's nickname, "Meathead", (given to him by his cantankerous father-in-law Archie) became closely associated with him, even after he had left the role and went on to build a career as a director. Reiner has stated, "I could win the Nobel Prize and they'd write 'Meathead wins the Nobel Prize'." For his performance, Reiner won two Emmy Awards, in addition to three other nominations, and five Golden Globe nominations. After an extended absence, Reiner returned to television acting with a recurring role on "New Girl" (2012–2018).


title: Rob Reiner

text: In 1971 on "The Partridge Family" S02, E03 A man called Snake; which aired Oct 08, 1971, he played the character Snake. In 1972, Reiner, Phil Mishkin, and Gerry Isenberg created the situation comedy "The Super" for ABC. Starring Richard S. Castellano, the show depicted the life of the harried Italian American superintendent of a New York City apartment building and ran for 10 episodes in the summer of 1972. Reiner and Mishkin co-wrote the premiere episode.


title: Rob Reiner

text: Beginning in the 1980s, Reiner became known as a director of several successful Hollywood films that spanned many different genres. Some of his earlier films include cult classics such as the rock-band mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984) and the comedic fantasy film "The Princess Bride" (1987), as well as his period piece coming of age tale "Stand by Me" (1986). He often collaborates with film editor Robert Leighton, whom he also shares with fellow director-actor Christopher Guest as their go-to editor.


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner has gone on to direct other critically and commercially successful films with his own company, Castle Rock Entertainment. These include the romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally..." (1989), which has been critically ranked among the all-time best of its genre, the tense thriller "Misery" (1990), for which Kathy Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and his most commercially successful work, the military courtroom drama "A Few Good Men" (1992), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Subsequent films directed by Reiner include the political romance "The American President" (1995), the courtroom drama "Ghosts of Mississippi" (1996), and the uplifting comedy "The Bucket List" (2007).


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner has continued to act in supporting roles in a number of films and television shows, including "Throw Momma from the Train" (1987), "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993), "Bullets over Broadway" (1994), "The First Wives Club" (1996), "Primary Colors" (1998), "EDtv" (1999), "New Girl" (2012–2018), and "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013). He has also parodied himself with cameos in works such as "" (2003) and "30 Rock" (2010).


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner has devoted considerable time and energy to liberal activism. His lobbying as an anti-smoking advocate, in particular, prompted his likeness to be used in a satirical role in a "South Park" episode titled "Butt Out".


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner is a co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which initiated the court challenge against California Proposition 8 that banned same-sex marriage in the state.


title: Rob Reiner

text: In 1998, Reiner chaired the campaign to pass Prop 10, the California Children and Families Initiative, which created First 5 California, a program of early childhood development services, funded by a tax on tobacco products. He served as the first chairman of First 5 California, from 1999 to 2006. Reiner came under criticism for campaigning for a ballot measure (Prop 82) to fund state-run preschools while still chair of the First Five Commission, causing him to resign from his position on March 29, 2006. An audit was conducted, and it concluded that the state commission did not violate state law and that it had clear legal authority to conduct its public advertising campaigns related to preschool. Prop 82 failed to win approval, garnering only 39.1% support.


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner is a member of the Social Responsibility Task Force, an organization advocating moderation where social issues (such as violence and tobacco use) and the entertainment industry meet. He is also active in environmental issues, and he successfully led the effort to establish California's Ahmanson Ranch as a state park and wildlife refuge rather than as a commercial real estate development. He introduced Spinal Tap at the London Live Earth concert in July 2007.


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner was mentioned as a possible candidate to run against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 but decided not to run for personal reasons. He campaigned extensively for Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election, and he campaigned in Iowa for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean just before the 2004 Iowa caucuses. He endorsed Hillary Clinton for president for the 2008 election. In 2015, he donated US$10,000 to Correct the Record, a political action committee that supported Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Since the 2016 election, he has continued to campaign against Donald Trump, calling him racist, sexist, anti-gay, and anti-Semitic, and he compared him to the Nazi police at Auschwitz. Reiner said that Harvey Weinstein is a "bad guy" but Trump is "also an abuser".


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner serves on the advisory board of the "Committee to Investigate Russia". He and David Frum launched the site in September 2017 with Morgan Freeman warning people that "We are at war" and that Russia has attacked the United States. Others on the committee's advisory board at the time of launch included James Clapper, Max Boot, Charles Sykes, and Norman Ornstein. Additionally, in early November 2020, the advisory board included Evelyn Farkas, Michael Hayden, Michael Morrell, Leon Panetta, and Clint Watts.


title: Rob Reiner

text: In June 2021, Reiner said that he was working on 10 to 13 episode TV project covering the relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The project, he said, would cover the leaders' childhoods up until the point where their lives cross. Reiner said he's working with writer Ward Parry on the project, which he is calling "The Spy and the Asset."


title: Rob Reiner

text: Rob Reiner married actress/director Penny Marshall in 1971. He adopted Marshall's daughter, actress Tracy Reiner ("A League of Their Own"), from a previous marriage to Michael Henry. Reiner and Marshall divorced in 1981.


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner was introduced to his future wife, photographer Michele Singer, while directing "When Harry Met Sally". The meeting not only resulted in his decision to change the ending of that film, but he also married Singer in 1989. They have three children, Jake (born 1991), Nick (born 1993), and Romy (born 1997). In 1997, Reiner and Singer founded the "I Am Your Child Foundation," and in 2004, they founded the "Parents' Action for Children," a non-profit organization with a dual purpose: a) to raise awareness of the importance of a child's early years by producing and distributing celebrity-hosted educational videos for parents, and b) to advance public policy through parental education and advocacy.


title: Rob Reiner

text: Reiner has stated that his childhood home was not observantly Jewish, although he did have a Bar Mitzvah ceremony; Reiner's father Carl acknowledged that he himself had become an atheist as the Holocaust progressed. Rob identified himself as having no religious affiliation on the January 13, 2012, episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher" and as an atheist. Reiner later told Huffington Post contributor Debra Oliver that while he rejected organized religion, he was sympathetic to the ideas of Buddhism.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian singer, guitarist, songwriter, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and more than 100 million records and singles worldwide. Adams was the most played artist on Canadian radio in the 2010s and has had 25 top-15 singles in Canada and a dozen or more in each of the US, UK, and Australia.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams joined his first band at age 15, and at age 20 his eponymous debut album was released. He rose to fame in North America with the 1983 top ten album "Cuts Like a Knife", featuring its title track and the ballad "Straight From the Heart", his first US top ten hit. His 1984 Canadian and US number one album, "Reckless" (which became the first album by a Canadian to be certified diamond in Canada), made him a global star with tracks like "Run to You" and "Summer of '69", both top ten hits in the US and Canada, and the power ballad "Heaven", a US number one hit. His 1987 album "Into the Fire", with its US and Canadian top ten song, "Heat of the Night", rose to number two in Canada and the top ten in the US and several other countries.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In 1991, Adams released "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", which went to number one in at least 19 countries, including for 16 and 18 straight weeks in the UK, and Europe overall, both records. It is one of the best-selling singles of all time, having sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. The song was included on Adams' "Waking Up the Neighbours" (1991), a worldwide number one album that sold 16 million copies, including being certified diamond in Canada. Another major hit off the album was the Canadian number one and US number two hit "Can't Stop This Thing We Started", which also went top ten in several other countries. Beginning in 1993, Adams' hits were mostly ballads, including the worldwide number one or two hits "Please Forgive Me" (1993); "All for Love" (1993); and "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" (1995), the latter two topping the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100. Adam's 1993 greatest hits compilation album, "So Far So Good", topped the charts in numerous countries selling 13 million copies worldwide, including being certified 6× platinum in the US and 11× platinum in Australia.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In 1996, Adams' "18 til I Die" was a top five album in many countries, but only reached number 31 in the US. He did duets with Barbra Streisand ("I Finally Found Someone" (1996), his last US top ten hit) and Melanie C ("When You're Gone" (1998), an international top five hit). In the 1990s, Adams had six European Radio Airplay number one songs for 32 weeks, the fourth and third most, respectively; and three number one songs on the European Sales Chart for 29 weeks total, the most weeks of any artist. Since 1999, Adams released eight albums, three reaching number one in Canada, and the last three reaching the top three in the UK, Germany and elsewhere in Europe.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In 2008, Adams was ranked 38th on the list of all-time top artists on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Adams has won 20 Juno Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television amongst 16 Grammy nominations, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and three Academy Awards for his songwriting for films. Adams has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Canada's Walk of Fame, the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. On 1 May 2010, Adams received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for his 30 years of contributions to the arts.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Bryan Adams was born on 5 November 1959, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, to Elizabeth Jane (née Watson) and Captain Conrad J. Adams, who emigrated to Canada from Plymouth, England in the 1950s. Adams' father, a Sandhurst officer in the British Army, joined the Canadian Army and later worked as a United Nations peacekeeping observer and as a Canadian foreign service diplomat. Adams travelled with his parents to diplomatic postings in Lisbon, Portugal (where he attended the American International School of Lisbon) and Vienna, Austria (where he attended the American International School of Vienna), during the 1960s, and to Tel Aviv, Israel during the early 1970s.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Raised in Ottawa, Adams attended Colonel By Secondary School in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood of East Ottawa. In 1974, Adams, his mother, and younger brother Bruce moved to North Vancouver, while his father was posted abroad. While there, he attended Argyle Secondary School and Sutherland Secondary School.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams bought his first electric guitar at the age of 12 in Reading, an Italian brand from Gherson, based on a Fender stratocaster. In an interview with music magazine "Guitar World", Adams said: "I bought an imitation Les Paul at a Five and Dime store in Ottawa, Canada, in 1971," Adams recalled. "Before that, I had an imitation Strat which I bought in Reading, England in 1970."


title: Bryan Adams

text: It felt real at the time to have a Les Paul, even though I'm a massive Ritchie Blackmore fan - still am. I was heavily into Humble Pie's "Rockin' the Fillmore" album at the time, and both Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott were on Les Pauls. It's rock guitar heaven, that album." He left school to play in a group called "Shock" and used the funds his parents had saved for his college education to buy an Estey grand piano to tinker with. At one point he sold pet food and worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant, which paid the rent. He got into different bands such as CCR and Deep Purple, and attended concerts by Led Zeppelin, T. Rex, Elton John, and Tina Turner. He started working in the Vancouver music scene with bands and as a studio session singer. At the age of 15, he became the vocalist for a pub band, Sweeney Todd.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Later in 1978, Adams signed to A&M records for one dollar. A&M remixed one of Adams' demos as a disco song "Let Me Take You Dancing", featuring Adams' vocals sped up to meet the 122 BPM dance tempo. The song made the Canadian "RPM" chart in March 1979 along with its B-side "Don't Turn Me Away". In 1979, he made an agreement with Canadian manager Bruce Allen, who at that time also worked for Bachman–Turner Overdrive and Loverboy; to this day Allen is still his manager.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams's self-titled debut album, mostly co-written with Jim Vallance, was released in February 1980. With the exception of "Remember" and "Wastin' Time", most of the album was recorded in October and November 1979 at Manta Studios and co-produced by Adams and Vallance. The album was certified gold in Canada in 1986. Singles released from it included "Give Me Your Love", "Remember" and "Hidin' from Love", with the latter having the most success, reaching number 64 on the Canadian RPM Current Hit Radio chart; none reached the US Billboard Hot 100.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams's second album, "You Want It You Got It", was released in 1981 and contained the FM album-oriented rock radio hit, "Lonely Nights", which reached number three on the US Album Rock Tracks chart. The same song was reinterpreted by Uriah Heep for the album "Head First", released in 1983. The most successful song off the album in Canada was "Fits Ya Good" which reached the top 30 on the RPM Top 40 Chart; it also reached number 15 on the US Album Rock Tracks chart. From January to May 1982, Adams spent months traveling on his "You Want It You Got It Tour"; within a few months the album had been picked up across the United States and Adams was soon on tour doing clubs and noon hour concerts for radio stations, as well as support to such acts as The Kinks and Foreigner.


title: Bryan Adams

text: "Cuts Like a Knife", which was released in January 1983, was Adams's breakout album. "Straight from the Heart" was the first single released from the album; it reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 20 on the Canadian RPM Top 40 chart, and number one on the Canadian Adult Contemporary Chart. In September 1983, Bonnie Tyler released her version for the studio album "Faster Than the Speed of Night". The second single, "Cuts Like a Knife", rose to number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, number six on the US Album Rock Tracks Chart, and number 12 on the Canadian RPM Top 40 Chart. The third single, "This Time", was also a top 30 hit in the US and Canada. Overseas, the latter two singles were both Top 20 hits in New Zealand, but there was little success in any other countries, aside from "Straight From the Heart" and "This Time" reaching the top 50 in the UK. Three other tracks, "Take Me Back", "I'm Ready" and "The Only One", also received substantial airplay on North American rock radio stations, each making the US Album Rock Tracks chart. The album peaked at number eight on both the "Billboard" 200 album chart and in Canada, achieving three times platinum status in Canada, platinum status in the United States and gold status in Australia. In August, Adams began recording his third album at Vancouver's Little Mountain Sound Studios.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In October, Adams joined Jim Vallance at the Yamaha Music Festival in Japan. In December 1982, Captain Annan, Bryan Adams, and Loverboy played at Los Angeles Forum in California. Music Express the national popular opinion poll voted him Canada's best male singer for 1982. In March 1983, Adams travelled to America, opening for Journey and performing on over 100 dates in five months. Adams featured on "American Bandstand". In April 1983, a breather in the program is used to shoot a video for the third single "This Time" at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The video is directed by Steve Barron with photography by László Kovács. In May 1983, he briefly interrupted the tour with Journey to direct the club The Bottom Line in New York City. In the audience were Mick Jagger, Nils Lofgren, Rick Nielson (Cheap Trick), Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and John McEnroe. Paul Dean of Loverboy, John Waite and Rick Derringer joined him on stage. On 30 July 1983, he performed at Day on the Green, sharing the stage with Journey, Triumph, Eddie Money and Night Ranger.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In August 1983, Adams's tour with Journey concluded, and in September 1983 Adams performed with Supertramp in front of a crowd of over 30,000 Vancouver fans at BC Place. In the following months he performed in eleven countries on a six-week solo tour of Europe. While in Germany, he records the popular rock TV show "Rockpalast". In November 1983, Adams is on tour in Japan and by the end of the year he had performed 283 concerts. A&M released the film soundtrack of the album "A Night in Heaven", with the power ballad "Heaven", on it. "Heaven" reached number nine on the US AOR Rock Tracks chart and became the title of a "SOR" tour of Western Canada. In December 1983, his numerous music industry awards for the year include Best Selling New Artist (The National Association of Record Merchandisers), number two Male AOR Artist (The Album Network) and number three most played album AOR (Radio & Records), as well as the Juno Awards for the best male singer. In January 1984, Adams and Vallance began writing for the next album, while in February 1984 Adams toured Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii with The Police.


title: Bryan Adams

text: The album "Reckless" was released in late 1984, and peaked at number one on both the "Billboard" 200 and the Canadian Album Chart, while reaching number two in Australia and number seven in the UK. The album featured six singles: "Run to You", "Somebody", "Heaven", "Summer of '69", "One Night Love Affair", and "It's Only Love", a duet with the female star and "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll" Tina Turner. All six singles peaked in the Top 15 of the US Billboard Hot 100, only the third album to achieve this with the rockers "Run to You" (number six) and "Summer of '69" (number five) peaking in the top ten, and the ballad "Heaven" reaching number one. "Run To You" was the most successful single at album-oriented rock stations in the US, as it spent four weeks at the top of the mainstream rock tracks chart; "Somebody" reached number one for a single week on that chart; while "It's Only Love" and "One Light Love Affair" each rose to number 7. "Summer of '69" had gotten a minor amount of airplay upon the initial release of the album, making it ineligible to re-chart on the mainstream rock track chart when it was released as single in summer 1985.


title: Bryan Adams

text: "Run To You" was the biggest hit off "Reckless" in Canada reaching number four, with "Summer of '69" and "Heaven" both peaking at number 11, "Somebody" peaking at number 13, "It's Only Love" hitting number 14, and "One Night Love Affair" reaching number 19. "Summer of 69" also reached the top ten in New Zealand and Norway, and the Top 20 in Sweden, Australia and Austria, but only peaked at number 42 in the UK and number 62 in West Germany. Adams has stated that "Summer of '69" was not a success when initially released in the UK because British radio stations did not add it to their play lists like they had "Run To You". However, it gained popularity over time and was certified Platinum (600,000) in sales in the UK in 2019, and its Spotify streams were at 280 million as of 2019, twice that of "(Everything I Do) I Do For You." In the Low Countries it achieved its maximum popularity in 1990 when it peaked at number 4 in 17 weeks on the Netherlands' singles chart, and reached number 8 on the Belgium chart.


title: Bryan Adams

text: "It's Only Love" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group in 1986. In 1986, the song won an MTV award for Best Stage Performance. "Reckless" also earned Adams a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Performance. In December 1984, Adams embarked on a two-year world tour to launch the album starting in Canada and United States, then into Japan, Australia, back to the UK, where for dates he supported Tina Turner for her Private Dancer Tour, and again to Canada. After winning four Juno Awards, he headed south towards the American West Coast, culminating with two dates at the Paladium in Los Angeles. "Reckless" eventually went Diamond in sales in Canada, the first album by a Canadian artist to do so, while reaching 5× and 3× Platinum in the US and UK. "Reckless" has sold over 12 million copies worldwide, and won the Juno Award for Album of the Year.


title: Bryan Adams

text: 1985 was an intense and demanding year. On 10 February, he recorded the Northern Lights single "Tears Are Not Enough", an improvised supergroup with Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and other Canadian artists. Adams was the author of the lyrics and the album, the mission was to raise funds to help the 1983-85 famine in Ethiopia. The song was issued as a single by Columbia Records in March of that year, and quickly reached number one on the Canadian Top 40 chart. It also finished number one on the year-end Canadian charts for 1985. The song's video also received extensive airplay on MuchMusic. Participation was incredible: the single went triple platinum immediately, although independently recorded by the USA for Africa project, it was included in the full-length "We Are the World" album. On 13 July, Adams attended the Live Aid concert, from Philadelphia. He took the stage at JFK Stadium in front of over 100,000 people and the band played "Kids Wanna Rock", "Summer Of '69" and "Cuts Like A Knife", before concluding with "Tears Are Not Enough". Bryan Adams sang a small passage of this song on Live 8 in Barrie during All For Love.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In September 1985, Adams worked on Roger Daltrey's sixth solo album "Under a Raging Moon". The album was a tribute to The Who's drummer Keith Moon, who died in 1978. Adams co-wrote two tracks for the album: "Let Me Down Easy" and "Rebel". The track "Let Me Down Easy" was a Top 15 Hit on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks. Nearly 30 years later, Adams would release his own version of "Let Me Down Easy" on a 30-year anniversary version of "Reckless".


title: Bryan Adams

text: In January 1986, Adams provided the ending background vocals to the song "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" by Canadian rock band Glass Tiger for their debut album "The Thin Red Line". It reached number one in Canada and number two in the United States.


title: Bryan Adams

text: His follow-up album to "Reckless" was "Into the Fire" (1987). This album contained the hit songs "Heat of the Night", which went to the top ten in both Canada and the US, and "Hearts on Fire". In December 1987, Adams contributed the song "Run Rudolph Run" to the album "A Very Special Christmas", which benefited the Special Olympics. The album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipment of four million copies in the United States, is the 19th best-selling Christmas/holiday album in the United States during the SoundScan era are 2,520,000 copies sold. In May 1988, Tommy Mandel joined the Adams band as new keyboardist. A last-minute hometown gig was scheduled for 86 Street Music Hall on 24 and tickets sell out within 7 minutes of going on sale. Jon Bon Jovi and David Bryan joined in on stage, together playing "Born to Be Wild". Adams donated the entire proceeds to leukemia research at a presentation at British Columbia Children's Hospital. In June 1989, teams up with famed producer/composer Robert John "Mutt" Lange at London's Olympic Studios to write more material for the upcoming LP. Bryan attended a press conference on 8 June to launch the North American release of Rainbow Warriors, and also joined artists to re-record the classic Deep Purple hit "Smoke On The Water" in aid of Armenian earthquake victims. In July 1989, Adams returned to Vancouver's Little Mountain Sound Studios to record more songs for the lp with Bob Clearmountain. Adams and Keith Scott attended the David Foster celebrity softball tournament banquet in Victoria, B.C. – an annual fundraiser for kidney research. In August 1989, he recorded the backup vocals for the Belinda Carlisle song "Whatever It Takes" from the "Runaway Horses" album. Also during that time, Adams contributed to Mötley Crüe's work on the album "Dr. Feelgood", doing the backing vocals of "Sticky Sweet" and Charlie Sexton doing the backing vocals of "Don't Look Back" from the "Charlie Sexton" album. In October 1989, Adams performed two club benefit concerts at 86 Street Music Hall in Vancouver on 18 & 19. "A Night for the Environment" raised $40,000.00 for four local environmental groups. Bryan is nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Performance (Music) for CBS's "Live In Belgium" television special. In November 1989, Adams flew to London, England on the 18th for press interviews for the upcoming shows of New Year's Eve in Japan. He resumes writing material for the album with Mutt Lange and attends Tina Turner's 50th birthday party at London's prestigious Reform Club.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In December 1989, the long-awaited first live LP was released. Entitled "Live! Live! Live!", it was recorded live at the Rock Werchter festival on 3 July 1988, in Werchter, Belgium. Adams returned to Little Mountain Sound Studios mid-month to record even more material for the next album. The release date was tentatively scheduled for April 1990.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams, along with Don Henley, Huey Lewis, Michael Monroe and Loudness kicked off the 90s with two New Year's Eve shows on 31 December and 1 January at the 70,000-seat Japanese Tokyo Dome. He promptly headed back to the London studios for continuous album production and optimistically anticipated a very busy new decade. In February 1990, Adams and his guitarist and Keith Scott flew to Los Angeles on 21 February to take part in Grammy Week Live – a collection of 15 radio stations broadcast live from the Roosevelt Hotel. On the 23rd, Bryan performed a special show on stage at A&M Charlie Chapman for radio Pollack Media Convention executives.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In the spring of 1990, Adams presented "Album of the Year" to Alannah Myles at the Canadian Juno Awards in Toronto on the 18th. He returned to London and joined Eric Carmen in the studio to record the backing vocals for "Feels Like Forever", a song written by Adams for Eric's then-upcoming LP. Production of the Adams project continued with Mutt Lange in England for the next two months. In June 1990, he received the prestigious "Order Of British Columbia Award" at a ceremony in Victoria on the 21st. He starred in two European festivals in Midfyns and Rosskilde, Denmark, on 28 June. Other top performers included fellow Canadian Jeff Healey, Little Feat and Bob Dylan. Adams added vocal tracks on the melody of David Foster's "River Of Love" in his home studio in Vancouver. On 21 July 1990, Adams took part in Roger Waters's concert production of "The Wall - Live In Berlin", to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall eight months earlier. Adams performed the Pink Floyd track "Young Lust." A live album and video of the concert was released in August 1990.


title: Bryan Adams

text: On 17 August 1990, Adams headlined "Live At The Park", an outdoor festival in Calgary, Alberta. Also on the bill were The Pursuit of Happiness and Paul Laine from Vancouver. Over 27,000 fans attended the festival. Tour photographer Andrew Catlin was in town for photo sessions with Bryan and the band for the next album and Much Music interviews him for a special Artist of the Decade. On the international front, the 1985 LP "Reckless" and the single "Summer of '69" climbed the charts in the Netherlands to number 10 and number 4 respectively.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In September 1990, Adams sang the national anthem to officially kick off the first race Molson Indy Vancouver of Vancouver held on 2 September. He received Humanitarian Award of the Year from Local Maple Ridge Hospital Foundation, but was unable to attend the 29th awards gala as Adams and the band were on their way to South America for a three-day freedom celebration. They performed on 28 September in Chile in the huge 55,000-seat Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos in Santiago, then headed to Buenos Aires, in Argentina, the next day to perform alongside David Bowie and Mick Taylor at Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti. The local press hailed his performance as a classic punchy rock & roll show. It has conquered a relatively unknown market. In December 1990, recording continued in England for most of the month. Adams returned home for vacation with family and friends. "Live! Live! Live!" was certified gold in Japan, commemorating the sale of over 50,000 units.


title: Bryan Adams

text: At the beginning of 1991, Adams returned to London on the sixth to start mixing with Mutt Lange. The release date for "Waking Up The Neighbors" was scheduled for the end of April. European festival dates were announced with ZZ Top in June. In the months of February and March 1991, the recording and mixing continued in London. The Law recorded 'Nature Of The Beast' – a melody written by Adams and Vallance. Adams joins them in the studio to lend vocals and guitar tracks. In April 1991, Adams and Mutt Lange wrote and recorded "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" for the "" soundtrack. In May 1991, directed by Julien Temple, the video for the song was shot in Sheffield, England on 17 and 18 May. Rehearsals for the next European tour began with ZZ Top. In June 1991, a video was shot for the first single album "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" 'directed by Kevin Godley at Pinewood Studios in London. On the eighth, Adams kicked off the headlining tour at the "Jubeck Festival" in Germany. On the 17th, he performed a private show for a personal service recently returned from the Gulf War at the Canadian Armed Forces base in Baden Baden, Germany.


title: Bryan Adams

text: On 24 September 1991, the album "Waking Up the Neighbours" was released. Co-produced by Adams and Robert John "Mutt" Lange, it topped the charts around the world, including in the UK, Canada, Australia and Germany and reached number six on the "Billboard" 200. It became Adams's second album to be certified Diamond in sales in Canada while being certified 5× platinum in the US. It went on to sell 16 million copies worldwide. "Waking up the Neighbors" became the first album by a Canadian since Neil Young's 1972 "Harvest" to reach the top of the album charts in the United Kingdom. Ironically, however, the album was launched in Canada amidst a storm of controversy. The album is also known to have caused controversy in Canada due to the Canadian content system. This indicated that a certain percentage must be broadcast by Canadian music on Canadian radio and television broadcasts. Since "Waking Up the Neighbors" was largely recorded in England and co-produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange (originally from Zambia), the album and its songs, under the rules in effect until 1991, were not considered purely Canadian productions. The album managed to reach the top of the Canadian charts. Following Adams' complaints, in September of that year, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced that the Canadian content rules would be expanded. The regulation at that time considered collaborative writing between Canadians and non-Canadians to be "Canadian" only where the lyricist and musical composer worked separately and at least one was Canadian. In protest, Adams briefly threatened to boycott Canada's annual Juno Awards, where his album was eventually almost completely ignored by the awards committee. He did end up winning the Juno International Achievement Award, Canadian Entertainer of the Year (voted on by the public) and Producer of the Year Award. In September 1991, the regulation was amended to recognize collaborations in which two (or more) contributors each contributed to both lyrics and music, as was the case with Adams and Lange.


title: Bryan Adams

text: The album's first single was the world-wide number one song, the six-and-a-half-minute "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", which was featured in the motion picture "". "Everything I Do" was released internationally on 12 June, days after the film's premiere, with the initial shipment of 385,000 copies being the largest single shipment in the history of A&M Records. While the film recorded the eighth best debut weekend in film history, the single debuted at number one in all radio formats, from rock to contemporary hits. This rock ballad spent a record 16 consecutive weeks at Number One on the UK Singles Chart, ten weeks on top of the Australian singles chart, nine weeks at the top of the Canadian Singles Chart, and seven weeks at the "Billboard" singles chart's summit, his second number one on that chart. The song also gave him his first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Song from a Motion Picture. Subsequent singles were the mid-tempo "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" which peaked at number two in the US, the ballad "Do I Have to Say the Words?" which reached number 11 in the US, and in the UK, "Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven" was the second most successful single as it peaked at number 8. In Canada, the first three of these singles each reached number one on the Canadian Singles Chart while the latter and the rocker "There Will Never Be Another Tonight" peaked at number 2. The album won many awards including a Grammy Award in 1991 for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television. In July 1992, Adams performed at Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 fans, the largest audience on his tour, with Little Angels and Extreme serving as opening acts. Adams performed for the first time ever in Hungary and Turkey. Part of the video for "Do I Have To Say The Words" directed by Anton Corbijn, was shot at İnönü Stadium, where the first concert in the history of the stadium was held, with a crowd of over 40,000 people, in the city of Istanbul and in Iceland.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In 1993, Adams collaborated with Rod Stewart and Sting for the single "All for Love" co-written by Adams for the soundtrack of the film "The Three Musketeers". The single topped the charts worldwide. On 15 June 1993, along with some rock and blues legends such as Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald, Adams took the stage of the Apollo Theater in Harlem for a tribute to the great master of soul Sam Cooke. During the gala, he was joined on stage by Smokey Robinson for a duet of Bring It On Home to Me. In November 1993, Adams released a compilation album entitled "So Far So Good", that again topped the charts in numerous countries such as the UK, Canada, Germany and Australia. It was certified 6×, 3×, 6× and 11× Platinum, respectively, in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. It included a new song called "Please Forgive Me", that became another number one single in Australia, Canada and the UK, as well as reaching number seven in the US (although it reached number one on the Adult Contemporary Chart).


title: Bryan Adams

text: In 1994, Adams embarked on a long tour that takes him to Southeast Asia, during which he became the first Western artist to perform in Vietnam since James Brown played there in 1971 at the end of the Vietnam War. Adams was also invited to participate in another important musical event: the Elvis Aaron Presley – The Tribute concert, held in Memphis in homage to the king of rock 'n' roll Elvis Presley. During the evening, which included dozens of exponents of the most varied musical genres, including Jeff Beck, Jerry Lee Lewis, Michael Bolton, Paul Rodgers, Melissa Etheridge, he sang one of his favorite songs: "Hound Dog". In September 1994, he was invited by Luciano Pavarotti to participate in the benefit concert Pavarotti & Friends. The concert took place in Modena at the "Parco di Piazza D'Armi Novi Sad". They performed with Andreas Vollenweider, Nancy Gustafson, Giorgia and Andrea Bocelli. A compilation album and DVD were released under London Records (now Decca Records) and have sold around 1 million copies worldwide. Adams on that occasion sang songs from his repertoire "Please Forgive Me", "All for Love" featuring Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Nancy Gustafson, and Giorgia Todrani. Michael Kamen, who co-wrote the song with Adams, conducted the orchestra, engaging in a duet with "Maestro Pavarotti", singing in Neapolitan "'O sole mio", to conclude the concert with "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" with all the artists and singers present at the evening.


title: Bryan Adams

text: It was followed in 1995 by "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?". It was a number one in the US, Canada and Australia, as well as a top five hit in the UK and Germany. The single was nominated for the Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In June 1996, the album "18 til I Die" was released. It contained three singles (including two UK top ten singles): "The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You", "Let's Make a Night to Remember" (both reached number one in Canada), and "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?". The album features the single "Star". The song is included in the soundtrack of the film "Jack"; directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with Robin Williams. The film co-stars Diane Lane, Jennifer Lopez, Fran Drescher, Bill Cosby and Brian Kerwin. The album reached the top spot on the UK charts for Adams's third UK number one studio album in a row while also reaching the top ten in several other countries, such as number two in Australia and number four in Canada. The album was less successful in the US only reaching number 31 on the "Billboard" 200, but was certified platinum in the United States by the RIAA. "18 til I Die" was certified three times platinum in Canada and Australia and two times platinum in the UK.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In November 1996, "I Finally Found Someone" was released is a song recorded by Bryan Adams and the American singer Barbra Streisand. The song was part of the soundtrack of Streisand's self-directed film "The Mirror Has Two Faces" and was nominated for an Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In November 1997, he participated in writing the song "Let's Talk About Love" by Celine Dion, which became one of the best-selling albums in history. The song is by the French singer-songwriter and record producer of 1987's Jean-Jacques Goldman "Puisque tu pars", the song was recorded with English lyrics by Adams and Eliot Kennedy as "Let's Talk About Love". In 1999, a demo version of Adams' translation appeared on the single CD "Cloud Number Nine" in 1999. In December 1997, Adams released "MTV Unplugged" with three new tracks: "Back to You", "A Little Love" and "When You Love Someone". "Back to You" was the first single, followed by "I'm Ready", an acoustic version of the song from the album "Cuts Like A Knife". The album was a top ten success in Germany while both singles reached the top 20 in the UK.


title: Bryan Adams

text: "On a Day Like Today" was released in 1998 and the release coincided with his contract being sold to Interscope Records. "On a Day Like Today" enjoyed success internationally, entering the top five in Germany and Canada and was certified platinum in the UK. It generated two British top ten singles: "Cloud Number Nine" and "When You're Gone", which featured Melanie C of the Spice Girls and peaked at number 3. The song has sold 830,000 combined equivalent-sales in the UK as of May 2019.


title: Bryan Adams

text: To commemorate the millennium, Adams released "The Best of Me", his most comprehensive collection of songs at that time, which included two new songs, the title track "The Best of Me" and the UK number one track "Don't Give Up". The album reached the top ten in Germany and was certified three times platinum in Canada and Platinum in the UK. The single from the album, "The Best of Me" was a successful hit with the exception of the US, where neither the single or the album were released by Interscope Records, the single peaked at 10 on the Canadian Singles Chart on 24 January 2000. On 26 November 1999, he participated as a guest in the celebration of Tina Turner's 60th birthday. It was recorded in London and after 14 years, Turner once again performed with Adams the songs "It's Only Love" and the new song "Without You" on Tina's album "Twenty Four Seven", Adams guests on both the title track and "Without You". A DVD Celebrate! Of the evening was released 21 November 2000 "Celebrate! - 60th Birthday Special". On the night between 31 December 1999, and 1 January 2000, at Bell Center in Montreal in front of 20,000 people, Adams participated in Celine Dion's "Millennium Concert", to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium. In the evening, at the entrance to the stage he sang "Summer of '69", then he duetted with Celine Dion on the songs "It's Only Love", "When You're Gone" and concluded with" (Everything I Do) I Do It for You ".


title: Bryan Adams

text: In October 2000, Adams participated at Madison Square Garden in the concert of Elton John from which the CD and DVD "Elton John One Night Only – The Greatest Hits" was released. The album, the result of performances over two evenings (in spite of the title "One Night Only"), contains the most popular songs by Elton John performed live, chosen from those performed during the two concerts (therefore it does not contain the full track-list). Many of these are actually duets between the rock star and other famous names in the world music scene: Adams duets with Elton John on the track Sad Songs. On 26 August 2000, he performed at the Slane Festival in front of over 70,000 people, with special appearances by Melanie C, Chicane and Davy Spillane. The concert was also released on CD/DVD. On 27 November of the same year, Adams took part in the benefit concert organized by The Who (but also open to several other artists), singing a song by the English band, Behind Blue Eyes and See Me, Feel Me with Eddie Vedder. The concert was also released on CD as "Live at the Royal Albert Hall". Adams co-wrote and performed the songs for the DreamWorks animated film "" in 2002. The songs were included on the . The most successful single from the soundtrack was "Here I Am", a British top five and German Top 20 hit. The song also gave him his fourth Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Song from a Motion Picture.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In 2004, ARC Weekly released its chart of top pop artists since the last 25 years and Adams came up at number 13 in the chart with four number-one singles, ten top five hits and 17 Top-10 hits. Six years after the release of "On a Day Like Today", "Room Service" was released in September 2004. It topped the charts in Germany and Switzerland and peaked at number four in the UK, selling 440,000 copies in its first week in Europe and thus debuted at number one on "Billboard"'s European album chart. The single, "Open Road", was the most successful single from the album and peaked at number one in Canada and number twenty-one in the UK. In May 2008, the album was also released in the US but charted only at number 134 on the "Billboard" 200. While touring in North America to promote the album, Adams shared the stage for about 25 concert tours with Def Leppard, giving a completely new meaning to the phrase "take me out to the ball game" as co-headliner of the Rock 'N Roll Double-Header Tour. He joined for the first time and performed at 26 minor league baseball parks.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In 2006, Adams co-wrote and performed the theme song "Never Let Go" which was featured in the closing credits of the film "The Guardian". In April 2006, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Also in 2006, Adams co-wrote the Grammy Award-winning gospel song "Never Gonna Break My Faith" for Aretha Franklin. It was featured in the film "Bobby" as a duet by Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige with the Boys Choir of Harlem and earned him a Golden Globe Nomination in 2007. On 31 July of the same year, together with Billy Joel, he performed in a free concert with an estimated crowd of over 500,000 people in Rome at Via dei Fori Imperiali, with the Colosseum as a background. Adams opened the concert with "So Far So Good", then after about an hour it was Joel's turn to take the stage. At the end the two artists gave the audience three encores, performing "You May Be Right", "Cuts Like a Knife" and "Piano Man" together for the first time.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In May 2007, on the occasion of his 25th concert at the Wembley Arena, he received the "Wembley Square Of Fame" at the plaque in the Square of Fame. A bronze plaque engraved with the name and handprints was unveiled. The place to celebrate the most famous and beloved artists who have made their mark on stage here over the years is located at Wembley Park in London. Adams has performed on several occasions at Wembley Park, 4 times at Wembley Stadium in 1988 (Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute), 1992 (Waking Up the World Tour), 1996 (18 til I Die Tour), and 1999 (NetAid). At Wembley Arena he has performed 28 times, first on 14 March 1985, in support of Tina Turner. To date, 32 dates have taken place between "Wembley Stadium" and" Wembley Arena".


title: Bryan Adams

text: In 2007, he co-wrote two songs "A Place for Us" and "Another Layer" for the Disney film "Bridge to Terabithia".


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams released his eleventh album, "11", internationally on 17 March 2008. The album was released in the US at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club retail stores on 13 May 2008. The first single released from the album was "I Thought I'd Seen Everything". Adams did an 11-day, 11-country European acoustic promotional tour to kick off the release of the album. The album debuted at number one in Canada (making it his first album to reach that position since "Waking Up the Neighbours" in 1991) as well as reaching number two in Germany. In the United States, the album charted at number 80. Following the release of the album, the full-band tour started during the summer; on some dates in the United States he shared the stage with the rock band Foreigner and on others with his friend Rod Stewart.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams was one of four musicians who were pictured on the second series of the Canadian Recording Artist Series to be issued by Canada Post stamps on 2 July 2009, with estimated one and one-half million Adams stamps printed.


title: Bryan Adams

text: On 26 June 2009, he performed on an episode of "CMT Crossroads" with Jason Aldean, among the song repertoire of the two singers: "Heaven", "Summer of '69", "Johnny Cash", "She's Country", "Hicktown", "Run to You" to name a few. One of the many highlights from the concert was "Heaven". Aldean poured his heart out singing lead on the song and Adams supported on harmonies during the chorus.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In December 2009, he co-wrote, produced, and performed the song "You've Been a Friend to Me" for the film "Old Dogs".


title: Bryan Adams

text: In February 2010, Adams released "One World, One Flame". On 12 February 2010, Adams performed a duet with Nelly Furtado. The song was called "Bang the Drum" and was co-written with Jim Vallance for the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. The ceremony was held indoors at BC Place Stadium.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams was one of several Canadian musicians to visit Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at his official residence. Originally, the visit was meant to be Adams's plea to the Prime Minister to change copyright laws; instead, Harper turned it into an informal "jam session".


title: Bryan Adams

text: In November 2010, Adams released the acoustic album "Bare Bones". It is a live project consisting of twenty songs, to celebrate thirty years of career. The album is the result of two and a half years of acoustic concerts all sold out, offered mainly in many US city theaters in 2010. The booklet shows the recordings made on the dates of Concord, Providence, Binghamton, Orono and Williamsport. To accompany the singer-songwriter on the piano, appears the member of his band Gary Breit. Following the acoustic album, a long tour entitled "The Bare Bones Tour" is organized; has continuity with the previous 11 Tour/Acoustic Show took place in territories around the world, which began in February 2010 and ended in October 2014 for a total of 326 dates. It was certified gold in India a year later.


title: Bryan Adams

text: On 19 February 2011, Adams and his band played in Kathmandu, which was organized by ODC Network and made him the first international artist to perform in Nepal. He performed at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup on 17 February 2011, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. and also performed in a solo concert in the next day. In August 2013, "Live at Sydney Opera House" was released; it was recorded during one of the 3 nights at Sydney Opera House, in August 2011, during "The Bare Bones Tour". It is available as a CD / DVD set or separately as a CD, DVD or Blu-ray. In April 2013, To Be Loved, the new album by Michael Bublé, is released. The tracklist includes "After All", one of four original tracks, written by Bryan Adams, Alan Chang, Steven Sater and Jim Vallance, which sees the crooner duet with Adams, his countryman as well as an idol since childhood.


title: Bryan Adams

text: In an interview on 18 March 2014, Adams revealed that he has signed a contract with Verve Records in the US. With one album celebrating the 30th Anniversary of "Reckless", a new album of covers. On 30 September 2014, Adams released a new album titled "Tracks of My Years". The album reached number one on the Canadian album chart. The album contains cover songs and one original song co-written with Jim Vallance. In July 2014, Adams filmed "Bryan Adams in Concert" for the American program "Great Performances" on PBS. It was recorded at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto and first shown on American Public Television on 2 March 2015.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams released his first album of all new material in seven years on 16 October 2015. The album, titled "Get Up", was co-written with Jim Vallance and produced by Jeff Lynne. On 7 September 2015, it was announced that Adams would be performing at the 2015 AFL Grand Final, along with English singer Ellie Goulding and American musician Chris Isaak. On 31 December 2015, he performed at the Central Hall Westminster in London for the BBC's New Year's Eve, which was broadcast live on BBC One. The concert was divided into two parts, interrupted at the stroke of midnight by traditional fireworks was seen and was seen by about 12 million spectators in Great Britain. On 14 October 2016, as announced by Adams himself in his channels during the summer, the Wembley 1996 DVD was released. This is the recording of his concert, as part of the 18 Til I die tour, held on 27 July 1996, at London's Wembley Stadium, in front of over 70,000 spectators The DVD immediately leaps to the top of the British industry charts.


title: Bryan Adams

text: On 21 September 2017, Adams announced via social media his release of a new compilation album, "Ultimate", with two new songs "Please Stay" and the anti-war themed "Ultimate Love", on 3 November 2017. Bryan Adams performed "the Ultimate tour" during the year 2018. He toured Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe, the US, and Canada. He also brought the ultimate tour 2018 to India in the month of October 2018, where he performed at Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams and his music are popular in India, where he is a household name for three generations of people, and many people say the first few English phrases mastered by many young Indians are "It was the summer of '69" and "Everything I do, I do it for you." Many music industry executives have said Adams is the most-known foreign music artist in India, with a Universal Music India executive saying in 2011, "The only other performer who comes close is Enrique Iglesias. Bryan is huge. He was one of the first foreigners to stage a large-scale concert in India in the early 1990s, and he has returned to tour India several times. Adams was on the cover of the September 2018 issue of "Rolling Stone India", within which they printed an interview with him; the article stated that Adams is "one rock legend whose concerts have created mass frenzy every single time in every single city he's played" in India. It is also reported that "Summer of '69" has been so popular in India for so long that it is "almost a Hindi song now", often the only "western" song that might be allowed to be played at a traditional Indian wedding. One Indian writer wrote "From wedding parties to school farewells, in every gathering of people intoxicated beyond a certain level comes a time when someone slips on 'Summer of '69'. I'll bet you my Aadhaar number that as that song builds, there'll come a point where everyone in the room is triumphantly pumping their fists in the air and screaming, 'Those were the BEST DAYS of my life!'"


title: Bryan Adams

text: In August 2018, Adams performed a duet version of "Summer of '69" with Taylor Swift during her Reputation Tour in Toronto, Canada. Adams released his fourteenth album "Shine A Light" on 1 March 2019. The album features collaborations with Ed Sheeran and Jennifer Lopez. The album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, in the first week of its release, with 44,000 copies sold; its previous number one in Canada going back to the "Tracks of My Years" album released in October 2014. This was his 11th album in the top ten and the fifth album at the top of the Canadian charts. It reached the second position in the UK Albums Chart, and it was his tenth album to enter the UK Top-10 albums chart. It also debuted in second position in Switzerland, which was his 15th album to enter the top ten of the Swiss charts; second position in Austria; second position in the New Zealand charts; and the third position in Germany.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Shine a Light was certified gold in Canada, and it won the Juno Award for "Best Adult Contemporary Album" in 2020. On 19 June 2020, on the 155th anniversary of the end of Slavery in the United States, the unreleased solo version of "Never Gonna Break My Faith" by Aretha Franklin was released with the participation of RCA Records, RCA Inspiration and Legacy Recordings, featuring a music video that contained contemporary topics, including films about George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.


title: Bryan Adams

text: Adams, while writing this song, did not think it would be performed by Aretha. He conceived something like a hymn and "so that it can express a sense of faith, and that even if you have lost something, there will always be an inner light to guide you." However, then Adams said:"When the song was ready, I told the producers that Aretha was going to sing it – and she did. This solo version had been on my computer for years (about 15 years), and when I heard that the creative director of Sony Music, longtime producer and friend of Aretha's Clive Davis, was making a movie about his life, I sent him this version. The world hadn't heard her full performance yet and it really needed to be heard. I'm so glad it's being released, the world needs this right now."