Nicki & Patrick Adams

The career of producer, arranger, and songwriter Patrick Adams spanned the soul, disco, electro, and house eras in dance music. His plentiful résumé ranged from Sister Sledge (their 1974 debut LP Circle of Love) and Loleatta Holloway to Coolio to Herbie Mann (“Superman,” a number 26 pop hit in 1979), Bumblebee Unlimited (the 1979 LP Sting Like a Bee), Universal Robot Band (“Dance and Shake Your Tambourine”), Narada Michael Walden (“I Don’t Want Nobody Else, Love Me Only”), and Musique (“In the Bush,” a number 29 R&B hit in 1978), among many, many others.
Born on March 17, 1950, in New York City, Adams’ childhood was spent singing in choirs and attending concerts at the legendary Apollo Theater. When he was a preteen, his father bought him a trumpet. In his teens, he began playing guitar and writing songs. He honed his arranging skills by dissecting the song structure and arrangement patterns of the records he heard on the radio. To build his audio engineering skills, he’d go to recording studios and observe how recordings were created. At 16, he was asked to join the Sparks, who he appeared with in the 1967 Warner Bros. movie Up the Down Staircase starring Sandy Dennis. Soon afterwards they were signed to Curb/MGM and the single “Cool It” b/w “Woe, Woe” was released. They began playing shows with Jerry Butler, the Rascals, and the Commodores. In 1970, Adams was hired as the vice-president of A&R for New York-based Perception/Today Records, discovering and signing the teenage vocal trio Black Ivory; the group’s lineup included lead singer Leroy Burgess. Their first single, Adams’ ballad “Don’t Turn Around,” went to number 38 on Billboard’s R&B chart in late 1971. Their first three singles and a Burgess song, the hopeful “If I Could Be a Mirror,” were included on the Don’t Turn Around LP, issued in February 1972. They had two more charting singles on Today: “Time Is Love” b/w a credible cover of Michael Jackson’s “Got to Be There” from the Don’t Turn Around LP (number 35 R&B, early 1973) and “Spinning Around” b/w “Find the One Who Loves You” (number 45 R&B, summer 1973).
In 1974, Adams left Perception/Today Records and started his own production company, PAPMUS (Patrick Adams Productions Music). One of Adams’ best-known recordings is Inner Life’s “I’m Caught Up (In a One Night Love Affair).” First released as a 12″ single by Greg Carmichael on TCT Records, it was picked up by Prelude Records and went to number 22 R&B in late 1979. Adams and Carmichael produced many dance classics over their eight-year collaboration, including sides by Donna McGhee, Universal Robot Band, Bumblebee Unlimited, and Fonda Rae’s original version of “Touch Me (All Night Long).” (Cathy Dennis’ remake of the Adams/Carmichael song held the number two pop spot for two weeks in spring 1991.)
Other Adams-related releases are Eddie Kendricks’ Arista LP Vintage '78, Kendricks’ 1979 LP Something More, Debbie Taylor’s 1997 Sequel CD Still Comin' Down on Ya, Musique’s 1979 LP Keep on Jumpin', the the Kay Gees’ 1979 LP Burn Me Up, Rainbow Brown’s ’Til You Surrender with Fonda Rae on Vanguard Records, Shannon’s 1986 Atlantic LP Love Goes All the Way, the Main Ingredient featuring Cuba Gooding’s 1981 RCA LP I Only Have Eyes for You, and sides by Gladys Knight, Ace Spectrum, Rick James, Jeanie Tracy, and Bruni Pagan. His engineering credits include Make It Last Forever by Keith Sweat, Follow the Leader & Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em by Eric B & Rakim, Rakim’s The 18th Letter/The Book of Life, Salt-N-Pepa’s Hot, Cool & Vicious, and James Moody’s Heritage Hum/The Teachers on Collectables. Patrick Adams died on June 22, 2022 at the age of 72. ~ Ed Hogan