Adamski

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Adamski
Birth name	Adam Tinley
Also known as	Adam Sky
Born	December 4, 1967 (1967-12-04) (age 41) New Forest, England
Genre(s)	Acid house
Occupation(s)	Record producer
Years active	1979–present
Associated acts	Diskord Datkord, Mark Tinley, Seal

Adamski (born Adam Tinley, 4 December 1967, in the New Forest, England) is an English dance music producer, prominent at the time of acid house for his tracks "N-R-G" and "Killer" (a collaboration with Seal).

Contents 1 Career 2 Album discography 3 Chart singles 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Career

Tinley performed with his brother Mark Tinley, and Johnny Slut of the band Specimen, as Diskord Datkord. The band was signed to SOHO records and released one single. The brothers Tinley continued to work together even after the demise of Diskord Datkord. In the late 1980s, Adam Tinley adopted his stage name after the UFO enthusiast, George Adamski.

Adamski enjoyed modest success with his first release, "Live and Direct" which was a collection of tracks recorded live at a small venue in Kentish Town, London. It contained a short, live version of his first single, "NRG", as well as "I Dream of You", which appeared on a free 4 track 7" vinyl single given away with the music paper, Record Mirror in 1989. The cover of the single "NRG" featured a mocked up Lucozade bottle with the 'lucozade' words replaced with 'N-R-G'. Legend has it that clubbers starting riots when the record was first played out at the Shoom night club in 1989.

Commenting on the comparisons between rave culture and the earlier punk rock scene, Adamski said in 1990, "I liked the energy and the visual side of punk, but it was all just saying 'no, no, no, no,' whereas now everybody's saying 'yes, yes, yes.' I much prefer the positivity thing we have now, plus it's a much easier environment to score in."^[1]

Adamski toured many clubs with his portable keyboard set up, playing short sets, with an MC, Daddy Chester, and later with Seal. In front of his keyboard was a yellow car number plate, with the words 'ADAMSKI' on it. Early versions of future singles "Killer" and "Future Love Paradise" were played on some of the Seal dates. One date of particular note was at Cambridge Corn Exchange, in early 1990, when Seal leapt on to a smaller, lower catwalk stage, the coins in his pockets all spilled out, showering some of the front row literally with cash causing a fight.

Adamski's signature song, "Killer", featured the collaboration of his brother, programmer and sound engineer, Mark Tinley. "Killer" crossed over into the mainstream music charts, becoming a massive worldwide hit. It is featured on the album, Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy, with follow-up hits such "The Space Jungle" (which was Adamski singing Elvis' "All Shook Up" to a dance backing) and "Flashback Jack". Pop music artist George Michael later successfully married "Killer"'s bass line, to the melody of The Temptations' "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", on a live album featuring the surviving members of Queen.

Adamski's second album was Naughty. It featured a collaboration with Nina Hagen on "Get Your Body!" and plenty of club tunes, expanding from the artist's acid house roots into the pop and rock genres. The cover art featured, Tinley climbing out a washing machine with a wooden spoon in his mouth. Commercially, however, this album was not a big success.

Adamski's third album was issued in late 1998 on the ZTT Records label, famous for producing acts such as Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Art of Noise. Its title was Adamski's Thing and the style followed the trend started with Naughty, with lots of guitars, strings, raw vocals and introspective lyrics, but maintaining a rhythmic dance sensibility. The album spawned two singles, "Intravenous Venus" and "One Of the People".

In 2000, Tinley released his last single as Adamski, "In the City". The song charted in Italy, but did little business elsewhere. In the early 2000s, Tinley decided to assume a new identity: he is now producing as Adam Sky.^[2]

As Adam Sky, his most recent album includes songs by the musician, Danny Williams.

He currently lives in Spain with his daughters, Bluebell Williams Tinley and Ariella Tinley. Adamski has recently set up his own label (Prostitute Records). His single, "ApeX", was released on Kitsuné Music in 2006.

Recently, Adamski/Sky has been working very closely with VJ Ladypat, and the London based rapper, Niyi.

Recently released material on Shir Khan's Exploited record label. Currently reworking his 1989 classic album Liveanddirect as Vile Acid Rent.

[edit] Album discography

• Liveandirect (1989)
• Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy #8 UK (1990)
• Naughty (1992)
• Adamski's Thing (1998)
• Killer - the best of Adamski (1999)
• Mutant Pop (2000)

[edit] Chart singles

• "N-R-G" #12 UK
• "Killer" #1 UK, #5 World
• "The Space Jungle" #7 UK
• "Flashback Jack" #46 UK
• "Sunday Roast" #86 UK
• "Never Goin' Down" (duet with Jimi Polo) / "Born To Be Alive" (duet with Soho) #51 UK
• "Get Your Body" (duet with Nina Hagen) #68 UK
• "Back To Front" #63 UK
• "One Of The People" (billed as Adamski's Thing) #56
• "Already Out There" #4 Italy

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X
• Adamski biography at Allmusic
• Discography at Discogs.com
• Website on archive.
• Adam Sky's MySpace page
• ZTT Records official site
• ZTT Records official store
• Ian Peel: Warriors of pop, 21 years of ZTT Record Collector, September 2004 (copy at Zang Tuum Tumb and all that) Article about ZTT's history, contains info on Adamski