FAYE ADAMS

Faye Adams started young as a singer when she performed in her father’s Gospel choir on the radio in their hometown of Newark NJ at the age of five. By the late 40s she was a regular on the New York club circuit, and Atlantic recording artist Ruth Brown recomended Faye to Joe Morris, trumpeter in the Atlantic houseband. He introduced her to Herald Records and Faye’s first release for them in late 1953, ‘Shake a Hand’ stayed at the top of the R&B charts for ten weeks, and peaked at 22 in the Hot 100.  This was repeated when ‘I’ll Be True’ and ‘It Hurts My Heart’ both went to No.1 in 1954. Faye released a dozen singles for Herald before signing for Imperial three years later. She toured with great success on various R&B shows, often billed as ‘Atomic Adams’, but when musical tastes began to change around 1960, she retired from the industry to go back to her Gospel roots.

Faye’s breakthrough No.1 ‘Shake a hand’;