Joel Adams

After appearing on The X Factor in his native Australia, singer-songwriter Joel Adams scored an international hit with 2015’s “Please Don’t Go.” • Born Joel Gonçalves, Adams grew up in Brisbane. He’s of South African, Portuguese, and English heritage. • In addition to singing and producing, Adams plays piano, drums, and guitar. • At 15, he made a last-minute decision to audition for the Australian version of TV’s X Factor. In his first-ever public performance, he sang Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney’s “The Girl Is Mine” before being eliminated. • In 2015, three years after his brush with TV fame, the rebranded Joel Adams (he’d previously gone by his real name) released his debut single, “Please Don’t Go.” Written and coproduced by Adams, it charted around the world and went gold in the UK. • His self-titled debut EP arrived in 2020.