Joel Adams (born 16 December 1996) is an Australian pop/soul singer-songwriter and producer, popularly known for his hit debut single, " Please Don't Go" in 2015. On 5 October 2018, Adams' single, "Fake Friends" was released. He released his self-titled debut

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

in March 2020.

Biography

Adams was born and raised in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia. He is of Portuguese,

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

and English descent. Joel is a graduate of Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane. His stage name is his mother's maiden name. Joel changed his name from

Gonçalves Gonçalves (; Portuguese for "son of Gonçalo") is a Portuguese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adílio de Oliveira Gonçalves (born 1956), Brazilian footballer * Ailton Goncalves da Silva (born 1973), Brazilian footballer * ...

due to his last name being difficult to spell and correctly pronounce due to his Portuguese heritage.

Career

2012–present: ''The X Factor'' and "Please Don't Go"

Joel gained popularity in 2012, at the age of 15, singing a cover of

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

's " The Girl is Mine" for the ''

X Factor Australia ''The X Factor'' is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent. The first season of the show premiered on Network Ten on 6 February 2005. Ten dropped ''The X Factor'' after ...

'' (under the name Joel Gonçalves). After being featured as one of the youngest and most promising singers, he was eliminated during the "bootcamp" round. He released his debut single " Please Don't Go" in November 2015, which made its ARIA Chart debut in February 2016 at number 88, later peaking at number 55. It also peaked at number 54 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

, number 6 in Sweden and number 11 in Norway. The song also appeared on the UK Independent Single Breakers Charts for 42 weeks, peaking at number 1 for multiple weeks in June, July, August, and September 2016. and peaking at number 50 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

the week of 5 August 2016. The song officially charted in over 15 countries globally, including the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. In Australia, the song spent 31 weeks in the ARIA Top 100 Singles Chart – but never once cracked the Top 50; peaking at No. 55. In October 2016, Adams was named the 16th most influential artist in the world on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

's 25 Under 25 list, which listed the most influential music artists under the age of 25. In January 2017, Adams released the video for "Die for You". It was available for free download from his website. In October 2018, Adams released his second single "Fake Friends". The song was co-written by Adams, Ryan Tedder and Zach Skelton. According to Adams' team, the song is "about discovering who your real friends are when the chips are down".

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Joel 1996 births Living people Musicians from Brisbane Australian people of Portuguese descent Australian people of South African descent Australian people of English descent Australian male singer-songwriters Australian singer-songwriters 21st-century Australian male singers