Biography
Date of Birth
5 December 1988, Tottenham, London, England, UK
Birth Name
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins
Nickname
The British Queen of Soul
The Princess of Pop
Height
5' 9" (1.76 m)
Mini Biography
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (born May 5, 1988) is a British singer-songwriter who has sold millions of albums worldwide and won a total of 15 Grammys as well as an Oscar. Adele's first two albums, 19 and 21, earned her critical praise and a level of commercial success unsurpassed among her peers. After becoming a mom in 2012, Adele returned to the charts with the ballad "Hello" in 2015, the lead single from what was dubbed her comeback album 25. In 2017 she won five Grammys for her work on 25, including album, record and song of the year.Early on, Adele developed a passion for music. She gravitated toward the songs of Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige and Destiny's Child. But her true, eye-opening moment came when she was 15 and she happened upon a collection of Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald records at a local shop. "There was no musical heritage in our family," Adele told The Telegraph in a 2008 interview. "Chart music was all I ever knew. So when I listened to the Etta James and the Ella Fitzgerald, it sounds so cheesy, but it was like an awakening. I was like, oh, right, some people have proper longevity and are legends. I was so inspired that as a 15-year-old I was listening to music that had been made in the '40s."While clearly bright, Adele wasn't oriented towards traditional classroom settings. Instead, her mother enrolled her in the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology, which counts Amy Winehouse as an alum.While at school, Adele cut a three-track demo for a class project that was eventually posted on her MySpace page. When executives at XL Recordings heard the tracks, they contacted the singer and, in November 2006, just four months after Adele had graduated school, signed her to a record deal.
Adele has recorded a total of three studio albums since the beginning of her career in 2008: 19, 21 and 25.
'19' (2008) Adele's debut album, 19, which is named for the singer's age when she began recording the project, went on sale in early 2008. Led by two popular lead singles, "Adele: Hometown Glory (2009)" and "Adele: Chasing Pavements (2008)" the record rocketed Adele to fame. Released in the United States through Columbia Records, 19 resonated with American audiences, much as it had with British music fans. Adele cemented her commercial success with an appearance in October 2008 on Saturday Night Live (2016). At the taping of the show, the album was ranked No. 40 on iTunes. Less than 24 hours later, it was No. 1.
'21' (2011) Adele's much anticipated follow-up album, 21, again named for her age at the time of recording, did not disappoint upon its release in early 2011. Tapping even deeper into Adele's appreciation for classic American R&B and jazz, the record was a monster hit, selling 352,000 copies within its first week. Anchored by hits like "Adele: Rolling in the Deep (2010)" and "Adele: Someone Like You (2011)" 21 placed Adele in rarified air. In February 2011, she found herself with two Top 5 singles and a pair of Top 5 albums in the same week, becoming the only artist besides The Beatles and 50 Cent to achieve that milestone. And with 21 staying at No. 1 for 11 weeks, Adele also broke the solo female artist record previously held by Madonna's Immaculate Collection for consecutive weeks atop the album charts. 21 went on to sell more than 30 million copies worldwide.
'25' (2015) On October 22, 2015, Adele announced that she would release her third album, 25, in November. She posted 25's cover on Instagram, and said of her first full-length studio project in several years: "My last record was a break-up record, and if I had to label this one, I would call it a make-up record. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did. 25 is about getting to know who I've become without realizing. And I'm sorry it took so long but, you know, life happened." 25, released in November 2015, is a collection of emotional, sometimes plaintive songs looking at the ins and outs of relationships, owing much of its sound to traditional pop craft. The album went on to become an international smash hit, reaching No. 1 on iTunes in 110 countries. In the U.S., 25 sold 3.38 million copies in seven days, beating the 'NSync record of 2.42 million album copies sold in a week. Among other feats, 25 is also the only album to reach a million copies sold in the U.K. in 10 days.
Trivia
First winner of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice (2008).
Resides with her mother in South London.
Is influenced by the music of Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald.
Graduated from BRIT School (2006).
English soul and jazz singer.
Underwent throat surgery for a hemorrhaged vocal cord on November 7, 2011.
Named as the "Artist of the Year" for 2011 by Billboard.
Made Billboard history by becoming the first female singer to top the artist, album and singles list in the same year (2011).
In the 2011 Billboard poll, Adele was voted for the Favourite Hot 100 No. 1 song (Rolling in the Deep) and Favourite Billboard 200 No. 1 for her album "21".
Is good friends with EastEnders (1985) actor Sid Owen.
Voted #92 on Ask men's Top 99 'most desirable' woman of 2012 list.
Won 6 awards at the 2012 Grammy Awards, including: Record of the Year for her album "21", Album of the Year for "21", Song of the Year for "Rolling in the Deep", Best Solo Performance for "Someone Like You", Best Pop Vocal Album for "21", and Best Short Form Music Video for "Rolling in the Deep".
Has a miniature dachshund.
Suffers from a fear of flying and sailing.
Ranked #20 of the "60 Richest Young People" in the UK's The Sunday Times Rich List (2012) with earnings of £20m/$30.
Owns a selection of wigs for which she has pet names such as, "June" (after June Carter Cash), "Jackie" (after Jackie Collins), etc.
Prior to hitting the big time as a singer, Adele once lived in a 1BR flat directly above the bookstore run by Hugh Grant in the movie Notting Hill (1999).
Even after making a victorious splash at the 51st Grammy Awards (8 Feb. 2009), the singer surprised everybody when she took a job at the London-based "Rough Trade" record store as a personal exercise in learning about the basics of the music industry and getting an insider's view of the up-and-coming talent.
Adele's victorious performance at the 54th Grammy Awards (12 February 2012) was the first time she'd sung in public since her throat surgery in Boston (Nov. 2011) where renowned throat surgeon Dr. Steven Zeitels performed the successful operation.
She and Beyoncé are avid mutual fans.
First British female artist to reach the 10 million records sales mark in the U.S. with her album "21". The album is also the first to top the list two years in a row (2011 & 2012) since Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in 1983 and 1984. [November 2012]
Won her first 2 Grammies at the 2009 ceremony, for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Chasing Pavements" from her freshman album, 19.
Has a younger paternal half-brother, Cameron Evans.
Her father, Mark Evans, walked out on Adele and her mother when she was 3-years-old. She saw him every weekend until 1999, not seeing him again until 2003. They became estranged again in 2011 after Evans sold a story about his daughter to the press.
One of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World (2012).
She was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to Music. She is a singer and songwriter.
London, England: singer [June 2013]
Good friends with Ayda Field.
Adele's album "25" sold over 800K copies in the first week of its release, breaking the UK's chart history record previously held by Oasis's "Be Here Now" (1997), a record the band held for 18 years. [2015]
First female in the history of the "Billboard Hot 100" to have three singles in the top 10 at the same time: "Set Fire to the Rain" (#2), "Rolling in the Deep" (#5), "Someone Like You" (#7) - from the album "21" (2011).
Her longtime boyfriend Simon Konecki is a campaigner for safe water worldwide a charity co-founded by screen legend Paul Newman to provide safe drinking water to people in the developing world.
Adele's mom Penny was a huge Jeff Buckley fan, in particular of his 1994 album "Grace" which she would play after she'd put the young Adele to bed at night.
Credits the scene where a lovesick Mark Wahlberg is floating in the water in The Perfect Storm (2000), as a major inspiration for the lyrics of her song "Rolling in the Deep".
The first concert she recalls attending in 1992 was when her mother escorted her to see The Beautiful South at London's Brixton Academy. She was too young, at age 3, to be admitted so her mother smuggled her in under her coat. Shortly afterwards she was taken (legally) to see The Cure at London's Finsbury Park (1993).
She unseated Eminem as being the best selling artist of the 21st century, and they are the only artists of the 21st century with not one but two Diamond certified albums.
Rates Bruno Mars as one of the greatest male pop singers of his generation.
Despite her meteoric rise to wealth and fame, Adele still remains loyal to her cosmetics and continues to wear her favorite perfume "Hypnotic Poison" by Christian Dior, a fragrance she's worn since she was 15-years-old.
Refers to her circle of friends as her "squad," a group that includes the likes of Ed Sheeran, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessie Ware, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Emma Stone, Jessie J, Lady Gaga, etc.
Won five categories in Billboard Music Awards 2016, includes Top Artist of the Year, Top Female Artist of the Year, Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Selling Song for her single Hello, and Top Billboard 200 Album for her latest album 25.
Music video for her single Hello, became the most-viewed video on Vevo in 24-hours (27,7 million views) and the fastest video to reach 1 billion views (in 87 days) on Youtube.
Mother, with estranged husband Simon Konecki, of son Angelo James Konecki (b. October 19, 2012).
Has won every Grammy she was nominated for since 2012. Before that she had won in 2 out of 5 nominations.
First female artist to win the Grammy for Song of the Year twice.
Attained the status of richest British musician-vocalist in the UK under the age of 30. [2017]
(June 30, 2017) Has damaged her vocal cords nearly six years after undergoing throat surgery for a hemorrhaged vocal chord in November 2011. In an emotional letter to fans and concertgoers via social media she announced she has canceled her last two tour dates at London's Wembley Stadium following her June 28 and June 29 performances.
At one point in time, 21 had outsold Beyoncé's entire album discography.
The song "Rumor Has It" (from her 2011 album "21") was co-written with Ryan Tedder in just 45 minutes and recorded in one take.
(April 19, 2019) Had separated from her husband of 2 years Simon Konecki after more 7 years together.
(September 12, 2019) Filed for divorce from her husband of 2 years Simon Konecki, 5 months after they announced their separation.
Born to an English mother, Penny Susan Adkins (b. 1968) and a Welsh father, Mark Evans (b. 1962).
Her maternal grandparents are called Doreen and John, her paternal grandmother is called Rose, and her paternal grandfather (d. 1999) was called John as well.
Trademarks:
Soulful mezzo-soprano/alto vocals
The ubiquitous wigs
Unfiltered profanities during her performances
Titles albums after the age she was when it was written. 19, 21, 25, etc.
Her power ballads
Quotes
I'm learning about tax at the moment with my accountant - pffffff! I use the NHS, I can't use public transport any more, doing what I do, I went to state school, I'm mortified to have to pay 50 per cent! Trains are always late, most state schools are shit and I've gotta give you like four million quid, are you 'avin a laugh? When I got my tax bill in from 19 I was ready to go 'n' buy a gun and randomly open fire.
[on singing her songs of heartbreak] Imagine if you weren't in an office job or whatever, and you were performing your feelings as I do. It's kind of like not getting over something isn't it, because every night you have to talk about it.
I love food and hate exercise. I don't have time to work out. I don't want to be on the cover of Playboy or Vogue. I want to be on the cover of Rolling Stone or Q. I'm not a trend-setter. I'm a singer. I'd rather weigh a ton and make an amazing album than look like Nicole Richie and do a shit album. My aim in life is never to be skinny.
When it comes to staying myself - my career isn't my life, it doesn't come home with me. So it's a piece of piss staying grounded and not being changed by it. The same things I've always liked still satisfy me. My team's the same and my group of friends are the same. Of course I'm bowled over by people's response to "21," and when I meet artists I love, it blows my mind. But it baffles me as well. I go home and my best friend laughs at me, rather than going to a celebrity-studded party to rub shoulders with people who know me but who I don't know. I'm Z-list when it comes to that shit.
I've never been more normal than I am now.
I don't make music for eyes. I make music for ears.
Even if I did have, you know, a 'Sports Illustrated' body, I'd still wear elegant clothes.
Crying is really bad for your vocal cords.
Heartbreak can definitely give you a deeper sensibility for writing songs. I drew on a lot of heartbreak when I was writing my first album, I didn't mean to but I just did.
I don't like the word 'brand'. It makes me sound like a fabric softener or a packet of crisps. I'm not that. But there's personality in an artist and if you're expecting people to let you in, you have to be a whole package.
[on Phil Collins] I met up with him and he was so nice. He's such a genius. But I met up with him in London super-early, like well before I was starting the record. And I had this song in mind and I can't remember if I gave him a copy of the song or if I gave him a chorus or something, and then I just chickened out of everything. I went, 'Oh, I'm not ready.' And he called me a slippery fish! I think he interpreted it that I decided I didn't want to work with him, but actually I decided I didn't want to write a record, period, at that point. But yeah, there's no bad blood there, or certainly not on my half.
The bigger your career gets, the smaller your life gets.
You're only as good as your next record.
[on David Bowie's greatest producer, Tony Visconti] Some dickhead tried to say that my voice was not me on record. Suck my dick.
[2008; on Estelle's comments that the new female soul singers, and Adele and Duffy in particular, are 'not soul'] I really don't care. If Lauryn Hill had said that about me, I'd be very bovvered.
Etta James is the only artist I've ever properly believed when I listen to her.
The night before I was on Saturday Night Live I'd had dinner with my label and they were all on their BlackBerrys. I thought it was pretty rude but it was because it had just been announced that Sarah Palin would be on the show and the biggest audience of the year was expected. None of them would tell me because I get such bad stage fright. I knew that Tina Fey was going to be on the show too and when I saw Sarah Palin I thought it was Tina. I was going 'Tina, Tina!' then quoting lines from the movie Mean Girls, because she wrote it. The security guard had to barge me out the way thinking I was some fucking freak. Sarah Palin wanted to come in and meet us but all my entourage are gay so they were saying, 'She's not coming in or we're not doing your face!' I saw her in the lobby, because you all go on to say your goodbyes. Everyone came there, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, it was so amazing. I nearly melted. It was an out-of- body experience meeting them. I wanted to wear an Obama badge during my performance but I wasn't allowed to. I don't really get involved in politics but I thought it would be funny. But I had the Obama badge on to do the goodbyes and Palin comes over and she's looking at my chest, at the Obama badge, and said, 'We're all big fans of you in my dressing room'. It was so weird.
I was shooting a video on one of the big American plots, six hours I was there and I wasn't doing anything. So I convinced someone to let me drive a golf buggy. I ran the battery out by the end of the day. P Diddy must have been doing a fragrance advert or something. I was in the buggy with a mate and I saw him. I meant to put the brake on and go, 'Oh, you're P Diddy!' But I hit the accelerator. He had to dive out the way. As we went past I was like, 'You're P Diddy'. He just said, 'Yeah, I know'. I almost, almost killed him.
I think I'm like the opposite of a comedian. Off stage they are miserable. With my records I am serious and sad but I get it out of me on my records. I've been told some of my songs make grown men cry. Then people meet me and it's all giggling and laughing. I suppose it's healthy.
One of my mates asked me for a watch recently. I was like, 'Are you fucking joking me? You get a Jamie's 30-minute Meals cookbook like anyone else'. I share my money with all my friends and family. I was happy when I didn't have any money and I'd be happy if I didn't again. I've made a good, nice amount. I mean, I couldn't not work. I bought my mum an Audi, secondhand of course, because it loses value as soon you drive it off the forecourt! Then I got a dog and that's it. I do have a bit of a fetish for handbags but that can be anything from a Primark handbag to a Chanel handbag, I just love handbags. From Primark £2, to £2,000 for a Chanel, it varies. I don't really accept much in the way of freebies. I accept small things like products or whatever, but not big things. I saved for three years for my first Burberry bag. Then I bought it and as soon as I had the money to go out and buy any Burberry bag I wanted they started offering them to me for free. I don't think that's very fair.
[I signed with Jonathan Dickins because he made me laugh] literally stomach cramps the day after.
Who cares [who my songs are about]? Nobody famous, just old boyfriends. I don't date celebrities. I ain't facking Taylor Swift, dyouknowhatImean?
[on her mother, Penny] She fell pregnant with me when she would have been applying for uni, but chose to have me instead. She never, ever reminds me of that. I try to remember it.
When I hear artists say, 'Performing is what I'm meant to do', I think, Whaaaat? This ain't what you're meant to do. It ain't normal.
I get so nervous on stage I can't help but talk. I try. I try telling my brain: stop sending words to the mouth. But I get nervous and turn into my grandma. Behind the eyes it's pure fear. I find it difficult to believe I'm going to be able to deliver.
I made my guitarist, Ben, come along to my first meeting with XL Recordings. He's puny, Ben, looks like a dwarf, but I'd never heard of XL so I thought I might be on my way to meet an internet perv or summink.
[on meeting celebrities like Natalie Portman] Do you ever get that, the heart flutter? I turn into a wreck. Go all light-headed.
I was so in love with Mike Skinner I wrote him a letter, and when I told my friend about it she cussed me so I went and pretended to do the washing up and cried.
I love a card. You know, cards? At birthdays? I collect them. There's this place in London, in Soho, does the best cards. Upstairs. My friend took me, she knows I love a card. Downstairs. A sex dungeon. Oh mah gawd, the toys. All my best mates are gay, they love it. I've seen things - nuffink like this. My eyes were watering. [the original question she was asked, way back, had been about the difficulties of getting up early to sing on breakfast TV]
[getting booked to sing live at the 2011 Brit Awards] Shat myself. I was on in between Take That and Rihanna, the biggest productions of the night. All day I was thinking, this is gonna be a disaster.
Smoking is not the reason I got laryngitis - it was because I was talking too much. I damage my voice offstage, not onstage. Onstage I am fine as apparently I am technically great, but when I talk I damage my voice big time. I have got screwed into giving up smoking. If I wasn't a singer I still would be smoking 25 a day. Smoking is my favourite thing to do in the world, I am gutted I have had to give up. But I have been tough - no patches, no gum, no hypnotism. It fucking sucks.
On record I can get pretty dark but in real life I'm very carefree. But when I'm happy, I ain't writing songs - I'm out having a laugh, being in love.
[citing the Spice Girls as a major influence in regard to her love and passion for music] They made me what I am today.
