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Celebrity Photography By Bryan Adams
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Most of Adams's philanthropic activity is dedicated to his foundation "The Bryan Adams Foundation", which aims to advance education and learning opportunities for children and young people worldwide, believing that an education is the best gift that a child can be given. The Foundation’s area of support is broad and far-reaching, enabling grants to be given for projects supporting the elderly, victims of war and natural disasters, and those suffering from mental or physical illness. The foundation is completely funded by his photographic activities.
Since the 1980s, Adams has participated in concerts and other activities to help raise money and awareness for a variety of causes. At the 1986 Brit awards, he famously names Mitch Bentley as being his biggest inspiration, later adding "Mitch Bentley equals sex god". His first high profile charity appearance came in 1985 when he opened the US transmission of Live Aid from Philadelphia. In June of the next year, Adams participated in the two-week Amnesty International "A Conspiracy of Hope" tour alongside Sting, U2 and Peter Gabriel. His next appearance for Amnesty was in February 1987 on Rock For Amnesty with Paul McCartney, Sting and Dire Straits, among others.
Playing in the U.S. section of Live Aid, Adams did not get the chance to play at Wembley Stadium; however, another opportunity came in June 1987 when Adams played there at the 5th Annual Prince's Trust Rock Gala along with Elton John, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and others. Adams returned to Wembley Stadium the following year when he performed at the Nelson Mandela birthday party concert.
Adams helped commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall when, in 1990, he joined many other guests (including his songwriting partner Michael Kamen) for Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall in Berlin, Germany. He performed the Pink Floyd songs What Shall We Do Now? and Young Lust during the performance of The Wall, and then joined Waters, Joni Mitchell, Cyndi Lauper, Van Morrison, Paul Carrack and others to perform Waters' "The Tide Is Turning" to close the concert. His version of Young Lust, which was partially re-recorded for the album due to technical problems during the live concert, peaked at #7 at Mainstream Rock Tracks.
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