The Man Behind The Music
Born: Steven Cornell Adams, Houston, TX, Feb 24, 1963. Singing has been a part of my life every since I can remember. Like many families I know, harmonizing on pieces of songs highlighted family get-togethers. Rarely was the whole song known—just the best parts. As a child I remember listening to my father, aunts and uncle, “The Singingaires”, sing favorite songs of theirs at churches and family gatherings. My grandmother, Estelle Adams, was the catalyst for it all. I remember how she would sing the lead AND the background to show us how the song was supposed to go. It was a very funny experience to witness because she would try to accomplish both at the same time. Those were precious moments I’ll always cherish. As we grew older, lots of the quality time with our father was spent learning songs for the next big church event; although we didn’t think it was “quality time” then.
The next phase of my life would find me singing in groups under the tutelage of my aunt Ethelrene “Aunt (southerly pronounced) “Aint” Sang” Burns. She would play a major role in encouraging, teaching, and transporting me to and from rehearsals. In fact, she still shares technical musical knowledge with me now; “intervals, intervals, intervals”! I come from a very loving family. Besides my parents and siblings, I have several aunts, uncles, cousins and close family friends who have helped and encouraged me all the way. They always gave me room to zoom as long as I didn’t zoom too far. I consider this one of my most special blessings. I have a special friendship with my father who has and always will be my special friend, mentor, inspiration, counselor, and preacher. There is no one on earth that compares to him! There are many other directors, teachers, and influences like Larry Fletcher, Paul “Dorian” Williams of the original Tabernacles, and Joseph McVey who I learned and still learn a great deal from. I’ve had the privilege to sing with several groups over the years and each experience continues to broaden my knowledge and enhance my abilities.
We all have a reason why we do something, perhaps some life-changing event. A major crisis lead me to engross myself in the music I sing. When I got the word that my only child at the time, Steven “Cornell” Adams Jr. was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma cancer with a 30% life expectancy, I was flabbergasted. He was a picture of health a few weeks prior. Then around his 5th birthday he was bed-ridden with a death sentence by the attending doctors. As I rushed around the hospital to see what was going on, I was again overwhelmed when I met other families and children in even worse conditions and situations. Can you imagine that? Immediately my heart went out to everyone. I learned a lot about the human spirit but most importantly, I really found out what it means to wholly trust in God. You see, when there’s REALLY nothing you can do about a situation, you learn to let go and let God, or, if you’re not spiritual, let loose and go crazy! I preferred to let God. I received strength, peace, joy, (yes joy), while going through it all. Understand this, I had a relationship with God BEFORE all this came to pass. Cornell survived for 5 more years and passed this life Oct 15th 2000. However, his legacy of determination, celebration of life, promotion of good will, and respect for God lives on! He was the closest thing to an angel I’ve known. This can be confirmed by anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him. As he did with others, he inspired me in many ways, primarily in my music ministry. During the ordeal we took it to another level and recorded and released Our first album, “He’s Always There”. It was dedicated to him while he was living.
I am joyfully married to Ms Shannon D. Adams, also of Houston, TX. Currently we have 3 living children, Sydnee Christina and Shaina Carrisa Estelle born October 23, 2001. Isn’t that ironic, we lost Cornell Oct 2000 and gained another child in October 2001-- and Sierra Camille, born July 30, 2003 while we were in Germany. We have retired from our travels with the USAF and now reside in Pearland, TX just south of our hometown of Houston, TX. I feel it is very important to deliver a quality product. I believe in a simple tried and true philosophy; “if you do right by people they will be happy to support your efforts”. Well, that’s my life in about 2 pages. Thank you very much for visiting our little corner of the web world!
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This meant all
children in the house had to participate in the family singing group,
“The Spiritual Nightingales”, I still laugh as I remember how my
siblings and I felt when our name was called to sing. The people made us
feel special. I guess they couldn’t resist seeing a father and his
children standing up there singing for the Lord--no matter how we
sounded! We would sing songs made popular by the Souls Stirrers, Dixie
Hummingbirds (2 of my all time favorites), Sensational Nightingales,
Five Blind Boys, Harmonizing Four, Mighty Clouds of Joy, and others. At
the time, these songs and the time with my father didn’t mean as much to
me as they do today.
I went into the
US Air Force at age 19 and somewhere along the way decided to make a
career of it. Thanks be to God it lasted 23 years! During these years
I’ve had great opportunities to travel domestically and to foreign
lands, go to college, meet and make several friends, and most of all
find out who I am and what I wanted to be. Musically, incidental courses
in high school and college courses helped to provide a base on which to
build. My education was committed to Fire Protection and Business,
because I couldn’t feed my family on a dream! I learned to read and
write music by studying church songbooks and other written pieces. Most
of my knowledge concerning music and singing came through experience and
self-study, which by the way, is still underway. It wasn’t until the mid
90’s that I could admit that I had a gifted voice from God. All my life
people had commented about the talent they heard in me but I didn’t
think it was special. Oh, I was thankful that I could hit a note or two,
but I did not understand the magnitude of “THE GIFT”! You see,
“THE GIFT”, is the special ability to reach others through my
artistry/ministry. It allows me to bring comfort, joy and perspective to
many of life’s situations for others as well as myself. 
This is where I
get inspiration to do what I do. I know a lot of you out there
understand what I mean. As I go through life and experience things like
everybody else, I am encouraged by the relationship I have with God. He
is my trainer, sustainer and maintainer. I try to relay this to
listeners through song. I know the benefits of committing to doing
things God’s way and promote those benefits of spiritual growth to
anyone who will listen. Many of us live beneath our blessings and God
has and wants so much more for us. 