Bryan Adams Honours Terry Fox with New Single 'The Ballad of Terry Fox'

Bryan Adams' newest single is a tribute to a Canadian hero.

The Canadian singer-songwriter released "The Ballad of Terry Fox," a motivational, guitar-backed ballad that pays homage to the late Canadian runner who led the groundbreaking Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run and fundraiser for cancer research. Adams' uplifting lyrics detail Fox's resilience while running for the humanitarian cause, "for the people and their stories that never will be told," even through trying distances and weather conditions.

“I remember Terry’s run back in 1980 when I was on tour In Canada playing 200-capacity clubs,” Adams says. “I was 20 years old and I think Terry was a year older than me. When he stopped near Thunder Bay on September 1, I had just played in Ottawa, and his run was all over the news. Thinking back, it was a pivotal time in Canada. Without knowing it, Terry gave our slightly fractious country a ‘something' and ‘someone' that everyone could agree on and unite behind."

The song will be featured in the upcoming Run Terry Run feature documentary about the Canadian athlete and his historic feat, which will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September along with several music-driven films. Sean Menard, the film's director, also put his touch on the official music video for "The Ballad of Terry Fox," juxtaposing clips of Adams singing and strumming his guitar with bits taken from the Marathon of Hope, creating a warm, vintage feel throughout the entire video that reflects the motivation behind Fox's story and Adams' track.

“Bryan is a legendary storyteller, and his words paired with Terry’s story on screen felt incredibly powerful. To have one Canadian icon write a song about another is truly special. Given the political climate while I was editing the video, I often found myself deeply moved with Canadian pride,” says Menard.

It's another embrace of Canadian pride by Adams, who stood up for his home country earlier this summer with his previous single "51st State." The protest anthem took direct aim at Donald Trump by responding to his threats on Canada's sovereignty by claiming that Canada would never be annexed as the 51st U.S. state, and even entered the Billboard Canada Mainstream Rock Airplay chart following its release.

Adams' new ballad celebrates a Canadian milestone moment amid rising tensions between Canada and the U.S. This past weekend, trade talks between the U.S. and Canada fell through, partly due to disagreements regarding the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) regulations on Canadian content, which tie into 2023's controversial Online Streaming Act. Ottawa refused Trump's request for U.S. streaming services to be exempt from CanCon's so-called "streaming tax," and the CRTC subsequently doubled down by announcing that it will move forward with its planned regulations.