Big Time: The Life of Adam Faith

Most pop stars’ fame used to end with their 25th birthday, but Adam Faith just kept on being interesting until the day he died aged 62.

Born in working-class Acton, Adam Faith defined the post-war aspiration for stardom. Enjoying an unprecedented run of seven top five hits, his chiselled features were a gift to TV and fans swooned each time he smiled. Heavyweight journalists saw him as the ‘Spokesman for British Youth’ and his sexual adventures were the stuff of legend.

When The Beatles rendered his style of pop obsolete, Adam turned TV actor. As Budgie, the hapless Soho chancer, he played the character he might have become in life had it not been for his steely ambition and boundless energy. Throughout his career, Adam Faith reinvented himself again and again, first as a manager, then financial guru.

David and Caroline Stafford’s witty and insightful biography, charts the glorious triumphs and often cataclysmic failures of a ‘child man’ who spent his life getting away with it.