Charlie Adams, a singer-songwriter known among Canada's Inuit for his catchy Inuktitut country tunes, died this week. He was 55.

Adams passed away Monday in a Montreal hospital of internal abdominal bleeding, following a lengthy illness.

Charlie Adams, seen performing at CBC's True North music concert in 1992, died Monday in a Montreal hospital. He was 55.
(CBC)

He leaves behind his wife Elsie, four children and grandchildren. His burial is being planned in Puvirnituq, a village in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec.

While Adams was based mostly in Nunavik, he started singing and playing guitar while he was finishing high school in Churchill, Man., in 1973, according to a biography on the website of Inukshuk Records, the label on which he released some of his albums.

Throughout his career, he had written popular country songs that spoke of the Inuit's changing lifestyle and the joys of being alive.

Those songs were captured in numerous albums, including the 1997 album Quviasupunga — which translates into "I'm happy" in English — and the 2003 album Inuit and Indians.

Adams was one of the first Inuit artists to be recorded by the CBC's Northern Service in the late 1970s, releasing two broadcast recordings through the public broadcaster and recording two more on his own.

Adams also performed in many live concerts, including the CBC's first True North concert in Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit) in 1981.

"He's gone all over the world, travelling, playing his music to the world," said Pita Aatami, president of Makivik Corp., the organization that represents Inuit in Nunavik.

"He's made us recognized in the world."

Other Inuk recording artists, like veteran singer-songwriter Charlie Panigoniak, told CBC News that Adams was his idol and songwriting inspiration.