Sonny E. is the reinvention of ‘Acid House & NRG King’ Adamski, aka Adam Paul Tinley, who releases his new track “Time” and the accompanying video ahead of a rare live show in December.
Adamski scored a massive hit – which has stood the test of time and is still played in clubs and on radio worldwide today – with the banger “Killer” featuring Seal on vocals, which was released by MCA in March 1990 and topped the UK single’s chart for four weeks. Sales estimated at 500,000 in the UK alone and awarded gold status.
British DJ and record producer Adamski co-wrote the song with Seal, but the track was credited solely to Adamski, the first single from his second album, “Doctor Adamski’s Musical Pharmacy”. “Killer” also reached number one in Belgium and Zimbabwe and number two in the Netherlands and West Germany.
After its # one spot in the UK, the track was displaced by New Order’s “World In Motion”, and went on to spend 16 weeks in the top 40. Seal re-recorded “Killer” for his debut studio album, “Seal”, produced by Trevor Horn. Seal’s version reached # eight in the UK and # 100 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Adam was a teenager in the era when new and exciting youth subcultures frequently sprang up, and the new and updated musical genres affiliated with them constantly mutated and fed into each other. As an avid music junkie and driven by aesthetics, he absorbed the best of these deep into his psyche; most significantly Rockabilly and its wilder offspring, Psychobilly, and Electro (both mainstream and underground). The heavily automated electronic music that set the stage for Acid House and Techno.
Some of the key artists that had a profound influence on him were The Cramps, The Meteors, Alan Vega and Martin Rev (both their solo works and together as Suicide), Devo, The Human League, Mantronix and a plethora of predominantly American 1950s trailblazers.
Adam had now truly embarked on his Cyberbilly odyssey. He taught himself to play simple chords and used the pre-set basslines on a Casiotone MT-40 home keyboard, then with a rudimentary synthesizer built by a school friend from Maplin components, he progressed to making “plinky plonky” dance beats. He spent many hours in his bedroom working out how to play twangy rockabilly riffs on cheap Woolworth’s guitars.
He left school at 16 unqualified and “unwilling to do anything work related”, and was soon after ejected from the family home by his father. Aged 17 and living in squats in London’s Hackney, he was further fuelled on his mission by attending some early Sigue Sigue Sputnik gigs.
He also discovered the music of pioneering American DJ /producers such as Adonis, Dj Pierre and Derrick May, who formed the basis of what evolved into the seemingly unstoppable global Rave culture.
Adam visited Ibiza in the days before it was taken over by “super-clubs” and consumerism and had his mind blown by the extremely diverse and influential Balearic style being spun by DJs Alfredo, Pippi and Cesare; “The Race” by Yello having a particular impact.
Adam spent three decades at the top nightspots of the world providing sci-fi beats for hedonists – under various guises – but in recent years has eschewed all that to focus on his primary passion: Cyberbilly. His very literal description of his music which has its basis in original Rockabilly.
He embraces the sounds and methods of contemporary technology; a one man band like psychobilly originator Hasil Adkins, Sonny E. the self-styled “Teddy Boy Timelord” comes armed with simply a laptop and a microphone, sourcing the most rockin’ elements from 1955-2099.
Talking about the new single, Sonny E. says: “I know there’s an infinite number of songs about time, but not as many as there are songs about love and/or sex and dancing, so I’m very happy to add to the tradition. Aptly, for the subject matter, it’s taken me around half of my life to complete this song …one or two lines every couple of years. I’m not sure if spending so much time on a simple two-minute song means I’m a good or bad artist.
“But I’m in no particular rush and very satisfied with the end result. It is also a hybrid of my two main passions: Rockabilly, a timeless sound which has of course existed since the birth of pop culture as we know it. And AI, which for me is the most inspiring technological development since the advent of sampling as an artform. Therefore, I consider myself a teddy boy timelord and this is augmented reality rockabilly. Cyberbilly.”
Sonny E. will perform on 12th December 2025 at Speedway, Folkstone in Kent
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