Adam Lambert

Adam’s story starts in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was the first child born to Leila and Eber Lambert on Jan. 29 1982. A year after Adam’s birth, his father got a job in San Diego and the family relocated to Southern California. They settled in Rancho Bernardo and four years later, when Adam’s younger brother was born, the family moved to nearby Rancho Peñasquitos, just east of Del Mar.
There was music in the house because Adam’s father had been a DJ in college and had an impressive record collection that included Bob Marley, Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead. When he was very young, Adam wasn’t allowed to touch the vinyl LPs. “At some point, later on, he would let me hold the records,” says Adam, who didn’t listen to the radio very much. But he did buy cassettes at his local Wherehouse record store. “The first tape I remember having was the Paula Abdul’s ‘Shut Up And Dance’ remixes, which I was really into. The first CDs I owned were Mariah Carey’s ‘Emotions’ and Wilson Phillips.”
Adam’s parents noticed how much energy their son had and tried to channel it into activities like indoor soccer, T-Ball and swimming lessons. “They tried everything,” says Adam. “I was very creative and wanted to dress up and play make believe and recite things so they figured the theater was a natural fit.” Adam was 10 when he joined a children’s theater group. “The first time I realized I wanted to sing was when I was in a production of ‘Fiddler On The Roof.’ I was playing a Russian who has a featured solo in the ‘L’Chaim’ number and he holds this note forever. It was a big show-off moment.”
Vocal lessons followed and in high school Adam joined the chorus and drama club and sang with a jazz band. At 16, he joined an outdoor theater company in San Diego’s Balboa Park and was cast as an ensemble member in “Hello, Dolly!” and “Camelot.” The following summer he joined a different theater group and was cast in “The Music Man,” “Grease” and “Peter Pan.”
“At the same time, I was watching MTV and listening to pop music. I was really into Missy Elliott and Britney and Christina and ’N Sync and Backstreet Boys.” But his dream was to star on Broadway. After a brief stay at Cal State Fullerton as a music theater major, Adam found work on Holland America cruises as the male lead performer in their musical reviews. That gave him a chance to see the world while honing his craft. He then settled in Los Angeles but not for long – he was cast in a German production of “Hair” and at the age of 21 found himself back in Europe for half a year. He returned to Southern California, where director David Lee cast him in the Reprise Theater production of “On The Twentieth Century.” Equity card in hand, Adam found roles in “Brigadoon” in Texas, “110 In The Shade” at the Pasadena Playhouse and “The Ten Commandments” at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. That production starred Val Kilmer.
After his run in “The Ten Commandments,” Adam appeared in “The Zodiac Show” at the Henry Fonda Music Box Theater, also in Hollywood. With one of the guitarists in the show’s band, Adam formed a rock group, Citizen Vein. “We had a classic metal sound, which was a bit of a departure for me but we both loved Led Zeppelin and we both loved classic rock. So we had this Metallica vibe.” Citizen Vein only gave three performances, one in Huntington Beach, one at the Cat Club on Sunset Blvd. and one at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood. “They were great experiences,” says Adam, “because it was my first time playing with a band and writing. Being in Citizen Vein was a big part of my musical growth. I learned a lot, even though we never really took off.”
Meanwhile, the great reviews Adam received for “The Ten Commandments” led to an audition for the first national company of “Wicked.” Adam was cast in the ensemble and was understudy for the role of Fiyero.
The actor cast as Fiyero only missed a couple of performances and after his role in “The Ten Commandments,” Adam wanted more. He left “Wicked” and eventually was cast in a musical at a hotel in Lake Tahoe. “It wasn’t a great gig and I heard they were rehiring for the Los Angeles production of ‘Wicked.’” During the two-year run at the Pantages Adam expanded his horizons, writing songs and appearing at local clubs and bars. “I had two dancers and really wild clothes.”
Exploring new options, Adam had another inspiration. “The cast of ‘Wicked’ always had ‘American Idol’ on and everybody had an opinion of each singer and their performances and one night one of the cast members said, ‘Adam, you should audition for ‘Idol.’” Adam had watched the first season with Kelly Clarkson and had seen episodes over subsequent years. “I didn’t think the show would like me. I thought I was too out there.”
In spite of that fear, Adam drove to San Francisco with two of his best friends for the season eight auditions. “I knew ‘Idol’ could be a platform to launch a career.” When he stood in front of the judges, Simon and Kara told him he was too “theatrical,” a comment that has traditionally been a negative opinion on “Idol,” but Adam sang Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the judges sent him through to Hollywood.
Less than a year later, Adam was on stage with Queen, singing lead vocals on that same classic song. It was the season finale and when it was all over, Adam was named runner-up for the season.
During his “Idol” journey, he sang songs from many different genres and impressed the judges every week, with songs like “Mad World” (“It’s haunting and beautiful and it gets in your head. I knew it would be different and very non-‘Idol.’”), “Ring Of Fire” (“I was really inspired by David Cook’s approach to the show the year before. Country week was one of those moments where you could take a song and make it work for you, like David did with ‘Billie Jean’”), “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (“My mom is a huge Stones fan. I picked ‘Satisfaction’ because I wanted to associate myself with icons”) and “The Tracks Of My Tears” (“the week before I did ‘Ring Of Fire” and pushed everyone’s buttons so I wanted to go in the opposite direction and be super cleaned up and and kind of pretty, acoustic and organic”).
After the season finale of “Idol,” Adam toured the U.S. with the other top 10 finalists. Even before he hit the road, he had conquered the Billboard charts, with multiple debuts on the Hot 100 and the Hot Digital Songs charts, but the release of “For Your Entertainment” gave him a solid debut at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart, where the album is still sailing high after almost half a year on the tally.