As rock entered the synth era at the dawn of the ‘80s, a new guitar-slinging savior from the west coast of Canada rose up for denim ‘n’ leather fundamentalists around the world in the age of poofy hair and spandex. Born in Kingston, Ontario in 1959 and raised in Ottawa, Bryan Adams settled in Vancouver during his teens, first infiltrating the scene in the late ‘70s as the long-haired wunderkind replacement for frontman Nick Gilder in local glam-rock hitmakers Sweeney Todd. But as a solo artist, Adams cultivated a more down-to-earth image as Bruce Springsteen’s harder-rockin’ Canuck cousin, and with his third album, 1983’s Cuts Like a Knife, he became the rare Canadian artist to go platinum on both sides of the border, thanks to arena-ready stompers like the title track and heartland-bound hits like “This Time.” With 1984’s Reckless, he achieved his own Born in the U.S.A.-sized blockbuster by revealing the full breadth of his artistry, complementing his usual kids-wanna-rock attitude with lighter-waving power ballads (“Heaven”), dramatic slow-burn showstoppers (“Run to You”), and wistful origin-story anthems (the eternal “Summer of ‘69”). And yet Adams’ staggering ’80s success proved to be the mere warm-up for 1991’s Waking Up the Neighbours, whose centrerpiece serenade, “(Everything I Do) I Do For You,” topped charts around the world and has since soundtracked countless wedding first dances and karaoke nights. Over the subsequent decades, Adams’ rocker aesthetic would prove flexible enough to entertain collaborations with composer Hans Zimmer and pop stars like J. Lo and Spice Girl Melanie C. But at the core of his work, there remains that unmistakable raspy voice singing to you (as another Reckless hit put it) straight from the heart.