Adele Laurie Blue Adkins is(5 May 1988) born in the hardscrabble North London community of Tottenham to art student Penny Adkins and Welsh plumber Mark Evans. Her father chooses the middle name Blue for his baby girl because of his love of blues music. When her parents split in the '90s, Adele settles in South London's West Norwood neighborhood, where she develops an eclectic taste for music, from the Spice Girls to Slipknot and Ella Fitzgerald to Etta James.
“As soon as I got a microphone in my hand, when I was about 14, I realised I wanted to do this,” she says. “Most people don’t like the way their voice sounds when it’s recorded. I was just so excited by the whole thing that I wasn’t bothered what it sounded like.”
A fan of such diverse artists as Jill Scott, Etta James, Billy Bragg, Peggy Lee, Jeff Buckley and The Cure, Adele’s soul-tinged songs of love’s lost and memories made are set to resonate with all who hear the “I’ve got no problem explaining what my lyrics are about,” ADELE says. “I really like poetry: I’m not very good at reading it, but I love writing it. Singers like Jill Scott and Karen Dalton are amazing; proper poets.” “My debut album is about being between 18 and 19; about love,” she continues. “‘Daydreamer’ is about this boy I was in love with, like proper in love with. He was bi and I couldn’t deal with that. All the things I wanted from my boyfriend, he was never going to be. I get really jealous anyway, so I couldn’t fight with girls and boys. It’s quite a sad album, [with songs about] being cheated on and not getting what you want”.
Anchoring it all together is ADELE’s incredible voice. As immediate as it is undeniable, its power is matched only by her Force 10 personality. “I’ve always liked being the centre of attention, yes,” she laughs.ADELE is from a resolutely un-musical family. “It all comes from impersonating The Spice Girls and Gabrielle,” she cheerfully explains. “I did little concerts in my room for my mum and her friends. My mum’s quite arty; she’d get all these lamps and shine them up to make one big spotlight. They’d all sit on the bed.” Later, when her dad’s best friend, a dance producer, rightly declared ADELE’s voice ‘wicked’, he invited her to record a cover of ‘Heart Of Glass’. The first time she got a microphone in her hand, she realised her calling. Secondary school proved instructive in as much as it gave ADELE an outlet to “meet all the R&B kids” and “sit around the playground singing.” But it was a pretty rough place and pursuing music there was something of a challenge, on account of the fact that ADELE wanted to sing and perform her songs but “the teacher was a bit rubbish. They gave me a really hard time, trying to bribe me, saying that if I wanted to sing I had to play clarinet to sing in the choir. So I left.”
So ADELE upped sticks, signing up to The Brit School, the Selhurstcollege whose alumni number Amy Winehouse, members of The Feeling and Kate Nash. However she had her misgivings…
“If I hear someone’s from stage school I’d think they were a dickhead, and I know it might make me sound like that. But it had free rehearsal rooms and free equipment and I was listing to music all day, every day for years. The music course was really wicked. There was no dancing or anything like that. No jazz hands.” During her second year, ADELE’s resolve to be a singer was given a little extra boost – ShingaiShoniwa, the turbo-lunged vocalist with The Noisettes moved in next door. “She’s an amazing singer. I used to hear her through the walls. I’d go round and we’d jam and stuff like that. Just hearing her and her music really made me want to be a writer and not just sing Destiny’s Child songs. ”
Despite being quick off the mark on MySpace – her friend set up a page for ADELE’s music on the last day of 2004 – it wasn’t until 2006 that labels started noticing her talent. “I’d hate people to think that I was a ‘MySpace singer’,” she says. “I’ve got no right to be that. I’ve got, like, 10,000 ‘friends’, whereas Jack Peñate’s got about one million…”
In 2006, she records three songs for a class project and sends them to a friend, who then uploads the tracks to MySpace. The songs become an Internet sensation and land her a deal with XL Records.In 2006 Adele was the opening act for Jack Peñate. By the end of 2007 she toured as the headlining act. Following that tour she appeared on Later with Jools Holland alongside Paul McCartney and Björk. She became the first recipient of the BRIT Awards Critics' Choice, which was given to artists who, at the time, had yet to release an album.
At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, the 20-year-old newcomer takes home the Grammy for best female pop vocal performance for her hit "Chasing Pavements" and the coveted best new artist trophy.On the strength of her first No. 1 U.S. single, "Rolling in the Deep," Adele skips the sophomore slump with her follow-up album, 21. Adele writes most of the songs over an intense three-week period. "It took a breakup to get me going. When I'm happy, I don't have much to write about," she says. The CD becomes the best-selling album of 2011.
Damage to her vocal cords forces Adele to cancel the remainder of her tour as she undergoes throat surgery. "I have absolutely no choice but to recuperate properly and fully, or I risk damaging my voice forever," she says of taking a break from performing.
After receiving six Grammy nominations for 21, Adele, 23, graces the cover of PEOPLE and steps out with new love Simon Konecki, 36, whom she meets over the summer. "Everyone in our lives separately and together wish us nothing but the best, and vice versa," she writes of her new romance.
Despite being quick off the mark on MySpace – her friend set up a page for ADELE’s music on the last day of 2004 – it wasn’t until 2006 that labels started noticing her talent. “I’d hate people to think that I was a ‘MySpace singer’,” she says. “I’ve got no right to be that. I’ve got, like, 10,000 ‘friends’, whereas Jack Peñate’s got about one million…”
In 2006, she records three songs for a class project and sends them to a friend, who then uploads the tracks to MySpace. The songs become an Internet sensation and land her a deal with XL Records.In 2006 Adele was the opening act for Jack Peñate. By the end of 2007 she toured as the headlining act. Following that tour she appeared on Later with Jools Holland alongside Paul McCartney and Björk. She became the first recipient of the BRIT Awards Critics' Choice, which was given to artists who, at the time, had yet to release an album.
Adele was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008. With XL, Adele released the single "Hometown Glory" in 2007. She released the single "Chasing Pavements" on 14 January 2008. The album itself entered the British charts at number one. On February 4, 2008, "Hometown Glory" was re-released, and entered the UK charts at number 32. Adele launched a 15-city North American tour that started 9 March. On 10 June, Adele relaunched the MTV Unplugged series with a six song acoustic set. On 28 June, Adele headlined a three-act bill at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, where in addition to her current songbook, Adele tried out a new song from her forthcoming sophomore recording. Several times during her performance she flubbed her lyrics then chastised herself for doing so. Etta James, originally slated to perform but suddenly taken ill, was replaced by Chaka Kahn. As of July 2009, the album had sold 2.2 million copies.
At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, the 20-year-old newcomer takes home the Grammy for best female pop vocal performance for her hit "Chasing Pavements" and the coveted best new artist trophy.On the strength of her first No. 1 U.S. single, "Rolling in the Deep," Adele skips the sophomore slump with her follow-up album, 21. Adele writes most of the songs over an intense three-week period. "It took a breakup to get me going. When I'm happy, I don't have much to write about," she says. The CD becomes the best-selling album of 2011.
Damage to her vocal cords forces Adele to cancel the remainder of her tour as she undergoes throat surgery. "I have absolutely no choice but to recuperate properly and fully, or I risk damaging my voice forever," she says of taking a break from performing.
After receiving six Grammy nominations for 21, Adele, 23, graces the cover of PEOPLE and steps out with new love Simon Konecki, 36, whom she meets over the summer. "Everyone in our lives separately and together wish us nothing but the best, and vice versa," she writes of her new romance.
