Johnny Adams (1932 - 1998) was an American blues singer from New Orleans, Louisiana. He began his career singing gospel with Bessie Griffin and the Consolators while in his early twenties, but crossed over to secular music in 1959 and scored a national hit with the single “I Won’t Cry.” That was followed by a string of regional hits in the 1960s which included “Release Me,” “Hell Yes, I Cheated” and “Reconsider Me.” During this time, he worked the circuit of black nightclubs throughout the South, where he became known as “The Tan Canary” for the amazing range and beauty of his infinitely expressive voice.
In the 1980s and 1990s Adams recorded several award-winning albums for Rounder Records. Among his many awards are a W.C. Handy Award, a NAIRD Indie Award, six Big Easy (New Orleans) Awards and several OffBeat (New Orleans) “Best of the Beat” Awards. He died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1998 after a long battle with cancer.
In 1994, Johnny Adams released a Christmas album called “Christmas in New Orleans,” which included the song “The Little Boy that Santa Forgot,” a pathetic song about a poor little boy who gets no presents on Christmas from Santa because his father is dead, so instead he has to play with the broken toys he received last Christmas.
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Though written in 1937, the song is associated with WWII, which gives the lyrics about the lack of a daddy a certain poignancy, don’t you think? I regard the song as a touching historical document–and the melody is downright gorgeous when done in Barbershop fashion.
One person’s worst song is another person’s gem, I suppose.
And Johnny Adams never did anything “bad.” The man was a master!