Terry Adams
Biography
If the word "eclectic" didn't exist, someone would have had to coin something like it to describe the music of Terry Adams. Adams is best known as the keyboard player and founder of NRBQ, one of America's great unheralded rock bands of the 1970s and '80s, who were well known for following any number of musical paths, and Adams' solo work has shown he's also no more willing to confine himself to one stylistic framework with the passage of time as he interprets rock, blues, jazz, and experimental music -- sometimes all at once -- in his own playful manner.
Terry Adams was born in Louisville, KY, on August 14, 1948. A musical omnivore from an early age, the young Adams favored TV theme tunes and boogie-woogie piano music until he first heard Thelonious Monk at the age of 14, which sent him on a lifelong search for outré musical forms. By 1967, Adams had made his way to Florida, where he and guitarist Steve Ferguson were eager to form a band. They encountered bassist Joey Spampinato and vocalist Frank Gadler, who had recently parted ways with a group called the Seven of Us, and with the addition of drummer Tom Staley, they became NRBQ, generally thought to be an acronym for "the New Rhythm and Blues Quintet," though the bandmembers were hesitant to commit themselves to any official definition.
Selected Discography
Holy Tweet
2009
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