John Adams was born on February 15, 1947, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

He is an American composer and conductor. He grew up in Vermont and New Hampshire and received his early musical training from his father, with whom he studied clarinet and played in local marching bands. In 1971, having graduated from Harvard, where he studied with Leon Kirchner, Adams left New England for California, where he has lived ever since in the San Francisco Bay Area. Adams taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for a decade and, from 1978 to 1985, worked closely with the San Francisco Symphony, where conductor Edo de Waart became the first to champion his work. In the 1970s and 80s, Adams’ music played a decisive part in the creation and spread of a post-modern current within the contemporary art music tradition. In 1985, he began collaborating with Alice Goodman and Peter Sellars, producing two of the world’s most frequently performed operas of the past decades: Nixon in China (1984-1985) and The Death of Klinghoffer (1990-1991). This latter work was adapted for film by Penny Woolcock in 2003. His collaboration with Peter Sellars continued with the “song play” I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (1995); El Niño (1999-2000), an opera-oratorio whose multilingual libretto is a celebration of the turn of the millennium, and Doctor Atomic in 2005. In 2006, A Flowering Tree, an opera inspired by Mozart’s Magic Flute, premiered in Vienna. Their collaboration continued with an oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary (2012) and Girls of the Golden West, an opera about the Gold Rush, which premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 2017. Adams is also a conductor and has conducted the Houston Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the New World Symphony. Adams is the recipient of numerous prizes: e.g., the California Governor’s Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (2000), Pulitzer Prize in Music for On the Transmigration of Souls (2003), 3 Grammies for “Best Classical Recording,” “Best Orchestral Performance,” and “Best Classical Contemporary Composition” for the 10-CD collection The John Adams Earbox from Nonesuch Records (2003), Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition (2004), Harvard Arts Medal (2007), Honorary doctorate from Harvard University( 2012), Honorary Doctorate from Yale University (2013), Honorary Doctorate from the Royal Academy of Music (London) (2015) and Erasmus Prize (2019).

Raymond S. Adams was born in 1938 in the British Crown Dependency of Jersey. He is a songwriter, best known for the hit song Dance On!, which was first recorded by the Shadows in 1962. The song was also recorded by Petula Clark in English, French and Italian versions.

“Ritchie Adams” was the stage name of New York-born singer and songwriter Richard Adam Ziegler. He began as the lead vocalist with a group called the “Fireflies” in 1959. The group made a hit album “You Were Mine,” and another, “I Can’t Say Goodbye,” made it to the charts. On the whole, however, his singing career was not successful. He did better as a songwriter during the 60s and 70s, writing some 375 songs: among these were two big hits, “Tossin’ and Turnin’” for Bobby Lewis and “After the Lovin’” for Engelbert Humperdink. He also wrote many top-forty hits. Later he worked for television. He was music director for the children’s television show Banana Splits. He is credited with composing 18 soundtracks, mainly for television. He died at the age of 78 after a long illness.

Robert Chamblet Adams was born on December 1, 1839, in Boston, Massachusetts.

He was the president of the Pioneer Free Thought Club in Montreal and the Canadian Secular Union. He captained sailing ships and have sailed around the world. He conducted a shipping and commission business in Montreal, which he gave up in 1882 when he became involved in phosphate and other mining concerns. Adams, inspired perhaps by his association with the Free Thought Club and the Canadian Secular Union, wrote several books, e.g., "The Pithy Creed of Rationalism."

In 1871, he married Mary Emily Job (1842–1944). He died on August 10, 1902, in Sedgwick, Maine.

Rev. Dr. Thomas Adams was born on September 14, 1847, in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.

He studied at Wesleyan Collegiate Institution (now Queen's College), University College, London, and in 1876, he graduated with an M.A. degree from St. John's College, Cambridge. He became an Assistant Master at the Royal Grammar School, Lancaster (1873-1875) and at St. Peter's School, York (1874-1883). In 1883, he became a Headmaster of Gateshead High School and in 1885, he was appointed 3rd Principal of the University of Bishop's College, Lennoxville, Quebec (1885-1899). He was portrayed as a fine scholar and a forceful personality. In 1886, he helped establish the first University Faculty of Music in Quebec, the second in the entire Dominion of Canada. The same year, he received an honorary degree of D.C.L. from the University. Adams worked strenuously to obtain funds for the rebuilding of the school buildings, partially destroyed by fire in 1891.

In 1878, he married Annie Stanley Barnes (1855–1931). He died on December 24, 1902, in Eardisley, Herefordshire County, England.

Rev. William Adams was born on January 25, 1807, in Colchester, Connecticut.

He was a Presbyterian minister and pastoral theologian. He attended Phillips Academy (where his father, John Adams (1772-1863), was the principal), followed by Yale College (1823-1827) and Andover Theological Seminary (1827-1830). He served as the pastor of the Congregational Church in Brighton, Massachusetts (1831-1834), the Central Presbyterian Church (1834-1853), which moved into a new building and became the Madison Square Presbyterian Church (1853-1874) in New York City. He was a founder as well as the first president of the Union Theological Seminary (1874) in New York City. He was also its professor of Sacred Rhetoric until his death in 1880.

In 1831, he married Susan Patton Magoun (d. 1834). In 1836, he remarried her sister Martha Bradshaw Magoun. He died on August 31, 1880, in Orange Mountain, New Jersey.

Samuel Arthur Adamson was born on June 18, 1845, in Holbeck, Yorkshire, England.

He was a well-known and widely esteemed geologist of the Midlands, who provided good service to the cause of science by spreading interest in the progress of geology. He took an active part in the affairs of the local scientific societies becoming the Local Secretary of the Yorkshire Geological Society for the Leeds district. In 1877, he became a Fellow of the Geological Society. He especially devoted his attention to the Carboniferous rocks and the Drift phenomena of his own neighbourhood and published many articles in various geological journals.

In 1871, he married Mary Ann Summersgill. He died in January 1890, in Leeds, Yorkshire West Riding, England.

Nathaniel Carlyle Adderley was born on November 25, 1931, in Tampa, Florida.

He was an American jazz trumpeter and composer, the younger brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, whom he played with for many years. He attended Florida University, majoring in sociology with a minor in music, and switched to cornet in 1950. From 1951 to 1953, he served in the army and played in the army band under his brother, taking at least one tour of Korea before returning to the United States. He attended Florida A&M, intending to become a teacher. While in school, Lionel Hampton invited him to join his band on a European tour in 1954-55. In 1956, he moved with his brother to New York City, founding the bop group Cannonball Adderley Quintet. Adderley became a musical innovator and accomplished improviser of the hard-bop jazz movement. His abilities as a jazz musician rivalled many of his musical contemporaries. He was not only known for his outstanding cornet improvisations but also for his compositional output. Many of his works, such as the “Work Song” (1960), are now part of the standard jazz repertoire. He had also been recording outside the Adderley group. He worked with Kenny Clarke, Wes Montgomery, and Walter Booker. In 1966, he was hired to ghost Sammy Davis Jr.'s character of the trumpet player in the movie “A Man Called Adam.” In the 1970s, he toured Europe, Japan, US and taught courses at Harvard while performing and recording with his quintet. He created the Adderley Brotherhood, and in the 1980s and 1990s, he toured Europe and the US. In 1997, he joined the faculty of Florida Southern College as an artist-in-residence and was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in Kansas City.

He died on January 2, 2000, in Lakeland, Florida.

George Kyle Addie was born on June 16, 1868, in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

He was a land surveyor. Accepted as a surveyor on July 10, 1889, he first practiced in his home region of Sherbrooke before moving to Quebec City in 1906. He was often called as an expert witness in court, and he also did a great deal of work for major railroads, electricity and pulp and paper companies, notably Price Brothers Co. Ltd. Addie surveyed many township subdivisions in the Thetford-Mines area and also Asbestos Mines Ltd. and Bells Asbestos Coy, Ltd.

He was married to May Ruperta Davidson (1875-1968). He died on May 15, 1958, in Quebec City, Quebec and is buried in Sherbrooke, Quebec.