Adele Laurie Blue Adkins[5] MBE (/əˈdɛl/; born 5 May 1988)
is an English singer and songwriter. Graduating from the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in 2006,
Adele was given a recording contract by XL Recordings after a
friend posted her demo on Myspace the same
year. In 2007, she received the Brit Awards "Critics'
Choice" award and won the BBC Sound of 2008 poll. Her debut album, 19, was released in
2008 to commercial and critical success. It is certified seven times platinum in the UK, and double platinum in the US. An appearance she made
on Saturday Night Live in late 2008
boosted her career in the US. At the 51st Annual Grammy
Awards in 2009, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop
Vocal Performance.
Adele released her second studio album, 21, in early 2011. The album was well received critically and surpassed
the success of her debut,[6] earning the
singer numerous awards in 2012,
including a record-tying six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year; twoBrit Awards, including British Album of the Year, and three American Music Awards. The album has been certified 16
times platinum in the UK, and is the fourth best-selling
album in the UK of all time.[7] In the US it
has held the top position longer than any album since 1985, and is certified Diamond.[8][9] The album has
sold 31 million copies worldwide.[10]
The success of 21 earned Adele numerous mentions in
the Guinness Book of World Records.[11] She is the first woman in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have three
simultaneous top 10 singles as a lead artist, and the first female artist to
simultaneously have two albums in the top five of the Billboard 200 and two
singles in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100.[12] 21 is the longest-running number one album by a female
solo artist in the history of the UK and US Album Charts.[13][14] In 2012, she released "Skyfall", which she
wrote and recorded for the James Bond film of
the same name. The song won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and aGolden Globe Award for Best Original
Song.[15] After taking
a three-year break, Adele released her third studio album, 25, on 20 November 2015. The album debuted at number one in most major
markets and broke first week sales records in the UK and
US.[16]The lead single,
"Hello", debuted at
number one in many countries around the world, and became the first song in the
US to sell over one million digital copies within a week of its release.
In 2011 and 2012, Billboard named Adele
Artist of the Year. In 2012, she was listed at number five on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music,[17] and Time magazine named her one of the most influential people in the
world.[18] With sales of
more than 100 million records, Adele is one of the best-selling recording artists in the world.[19]
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Adele
MBE
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Adele performing at her Adele Live 2016concert tour, March 2016
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Born
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Adele Laurie Blue Adkins
5 May 1988 (age 27)
Tottenham, London, England
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Alma mater
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BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology (2006)
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Occupation
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·
Singer
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songwriter
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Net worth
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£50 million[1]
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Partner(s)
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Simon Konecki (2011–present)
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Children
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1
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Website
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adele.com
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Musical career
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Genres
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Soul
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pop
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blue-eyed soul[2]
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R&B[3]
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Instruments
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Vocals
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guitar
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keyboards
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bass guitar
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drums[4]
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Years active
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2006–present
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Labels
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XL
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Columbia
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Signature
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 |
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Early life
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on 5 May 1988 in Tottenham, London, the daughter of an English mother, Penny Adkins, and a Welsh
father, Mark Evans.[20] Evans left
when Adele was two, leaving her mother to raise her.[21][22] She began singing at age four and asserts that she became obsessed
with voices.[23][24] Growing up,
Adele spent most of her time singing rather than reading; the last book she
read was Roald Dahl's Matilda when she was six years old.[25] In 1997, at
the age of nine, Adele and her mother, who by then had found work as a
furniture maker and an adult-learning activities organiser, relocated to Brighton on the south coast of England.[26]
In 1999, two years later, she and her mother moved back to London; first
to Brixton, and then to
neighbouring district West Norwood, in south London.[27] West Norwood is the subject for Adele's first record, "Hometown Glory", which she wrote and composed in 2004, when she was 16.[28] Adele graduated from the BRIT School for
Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon in May 2006,[29] where she was a classmate of Leona Lewis and Jessie J.[5][30] Adele credits the school with nurturing her talent[31] even though, at the time, she was more interested in going
into A&R and hoped to
launch other people's careers.[5]
Career
2006–10: Beginnings and 19
Teenaged Adele
performing on an acoustic guitar in Kilburn, London, in 2007
Four months after graduation, she published two songs on the fourth
issue of the online arts publication PlatformsMagazine.com.[32] She had recorded a three-song demo for a class project and given
it to a friend.[5] The friend
posted the demo on Myspace, where it became very successful and led to a phone
call from Richard Russell, boss of the music label XL Recordings. She doubted
if the offer was real because the only record company she knew was Virgin Records, and she took a friend with her to the meeting.[30][33]
Nick Huggett, at XL, recommended Adele to manager Jonathan Dickins at
September Management, and in June 2006, Dickins became her official
representative.[34] September was
managing Jamie T at the time
and this proved a major draw for Adele, a big fan of the British
singer-songwriter. Huggett then signed Adele to XL in September 2006.[34] Adele provided vocals for Jack Peñate's song, "My
Yvonne," for his debut album, and it was during this session she first met
producer Jim Abbiss, who would go on
to produce both the majority of her debut album, 19, and
tracks on21.[35] In June 2007,
Adele made her television debut, performing "Daydreamer" on the
BBC's Later... with Jools Holland.[36] Adele's breakthrough song, "Hometown Glory", was
released in October 2007.[34]
By 2008, Adele had become the headliner and performed an acoustic set,
in which she was supported by Damien Rice.[37][38] She became the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted
breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008.[39][40] The album 19, named for her
age at the time she wrote and composed many of its songs, entered the British
charts at number one. The Times Encyclopedia
of Modern Music named 19 an
"essential" blue-eyed soul recording.[41] She released her second single, "Chasing Pavements", on 14 January 2008, two weeks ahead of her
debut album, 19. The song reached number two on the UK Chart, and
stayed there for four weeks.[42] Adele was
nominated for a 2008 Mercury Prize award
for 19.[43] She also won
an Urban Music Award for
"Best Jazz Act."[44] She also
received a Q Awards nomination in
the category of Breakthrough Act[45] and a Music
of Black Origin nomination in the category of Best UK Female.[46] In March 2008, Adele signed a deal with Columbia Records and XL Recordings for her foray into the
United States.[47] She embarked
on a short North American tour in the same month,[47] and 19 was released in the US in June.[31] Billboard magazine stated of it: "Adele truly has
potential to become among the most respected and inspiring international
artists of her generation."[48] The An Evening with Adele world tour began in May 2008
and ended in June 2009.[49]
Adele performing
live in 2009
She later cancelled the 2008 US tour dates to be with a former
boyfriend.[50] She said
in Nylon magazine in
June 2009, "I'm like, 'I can't believe I did that.' It seems so
ungrateful.... I was drinking far too much and that was kind of the basis of my
relationship with this boy. I couldn't bear to be without him, so I was like,
'Well, I'll just cancel my stuff then.'"[50] She referred to this period as her "early life crisis".[50]She is also known for her dislike of flying and bouts of homesickness
when away from her native London.[51] By the middle
of October 2008, Adele's attempt to break in America appeared to have failed.[52][53] But then she was booked as the musical guest on 18 October 2008
episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. The episode, which included an
expected appearance by then US vice-presidential candidateSarah Palin, earned the program its best ratings in 14 years with 17 million
viewers. Adele performed "Chasing Pavements" and "Cold Shoulder,"[54] and the
following day, 19 topped the iTunes charts and ranked at
number five at Amazon.com while "Chasing Pavements" rose into the top
25.[55] The album
reached number 11 on the Billboard 200 as a result, a jump of 35 places over the previous week.[56] In November 2008 Adele moved to Notting Hill, London after leaving her mother's house, a move that prompted her to
give up drinking.[57]The album was
certified as gold in February 2009 by the RIAA.[58] By July 2009,
the album had sold 2.2 million copies worldwide.[59]
At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in February
2009, Adele received the award for Best New Artist, in addition to
the award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for
"Chasing Pavements", which was also nominated for Record of the Year
and Song of the Year.[60] Adele
performed "Chasing Pavements" at the ceremony in a duet with Jennifer Nettles. In 2010, Adele received a Grammy nomination for
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Hometown Glory."[61] In April her song "My Same" entered
the German Singles Chart after it had
been performed by Lena Meyer-Landrut in the talent
show contest Unser Star für Oslo, or Our
Star for Oslo, in which the German entry to theEurovision Song Contest 2010 was determined.[62][63] In late September, after being featured on The X Factor, Adele's version of Bob Dylan's
"Make You Feel My Love" re-entered
the UK singles chart at number 4.[64] During the
2010 CMT Artists of the Year special,
Adele performed a widely publicised duet of Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" with Darius Rucker.[65] This
performance was later nominated for a CMT Music Award.[66]
2011–14: 21, worldwide recognition and hiatus
Adele performing inSeattle, Washington, on 12 August 2011
Adele released her second studio album, 21, on 24 January 2011 in the UK and 22 February in the US.[67][68] She said that the album was inspired by the break-up with her
former partner.[22] The album's
sound is described as classic and contemporary country and roots music. The change in
sound from her first album was the result of her bus driver playing
contemporary music from Nashville when she was touring the American South, and
the title reflected the growth she had experienced in the prior two years.[68] Adele told Spin Magazine: "It was
really exciting for me because I never grew up around [that music]."[69] 21 hit number 1 in more than 26 countries, including
the UK and the US.[70][71][72]
An emotional performance of "Someone like You" at the 2011 Brit Awards on 15 February propelled the song to number
one in the UK.[73] Her first
album, 19, re-entered the UK album chart alongside 21, while
first and second singles "Rolling in the Deep" and
"Someone like You" were in the top 5 of the UK singles chart, making
Adele the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top-five hits in both
the Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously
since The Beatles in 1964.[74] Both songs topped the charts in multiple markets and broke
numerous sales performance records. Following her performance of "Someone
like You" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, it became Adele's
second number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.[75] By December
2011, 21 sold over 3.4 million copies in the UK, and
became the biggest-selling album of the 21st century, overtaking Amy Winehouse's Back to Black,[76][77] with Adele becoming the first artist ever to sell three million
albums in the UK in one calendar year.[78][79] "Set Fire to the Rain" became Adele's third number one single on
the Billboard Hot 100, as Adele became the first artist ever
to have an album, 21, hold the number-one position on
the Billboard 200 concurrently with three number one singles.[80]
To promote the album, Adele embarked upon the "Adele Live" tour, which sold out its North American leg.[81] In October 2011, Adele was forced to cancel two tours because of a
vocal-cord haemorrhage. She released a statement saying she needed an extended
period of rest to avoid permanent damage to her voice.[82] In the first week of November 2011 Steven M. Zeitels, director of the Center for Laryngeal Surgery and
Voice Rehabilitation at the Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston, performed laser microsurgery on Adele's vocal cords to
remove a benign polyp.[83][84][85] A recording
of her tour, Live at the Royal Albert Hall, was released
in November 2011, debuting at number one in the US with 96,000 copies sold, the
highest one-week tally for a music DVD in four years, becoming the best-selling
music DVD of 2011.[86] Adele is the
first artist in Nielsen SoundScanhistory to have the
year's number-one album (21), number-one
single ("Rolling in the Deep"), and
number-one music video.[87] At the 2011 American Music Awards on 20 November, Adele won three
awards; Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist,
and Favorite Pop/Rock Album for 21.[88] On 9 December, Billboardnamed Adele Artist of the
Year, Billboard 200 Album of the Year (21), and
the Billboard Hot 100 Song of the Year ("Rolling in the
Deep"), becoming the first woman ever to top all three categories.[89][90]
Following the throat microsurgery, she made her live comeback at
the 2012 Grammy Awards in February.[91] She won in all six categories for which she was nominated, making
her the second female artist in Grammy history, after Beyoncé, to win that many categories in a single night.[92] Following that success, 21 achieved the biggest
weekly sales increase following a Grammy win since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking data in 1991.[93][94] Adele
received the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist,
and British Album of the Year presented to
her by George Michael.[95][96] Following the Brit Awards, 21 reached number one
for the 21st non-consecutive week in the UK.[97] The album has sold over 4.5 million copies in the UK where it
is the fourth best-selling album of all time.[98] In October, the album passed the 4.5 million mark in the UK,
and in November surpassed the 10 million mark in the US.[9][99][100] As of 2014, the album has sold 30 million
copies worldwide.[101][102] She has sold
an estimated 40 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide.[103] Adele is the only artist or band in the last decade in the US to
earn an RIAA Diamond certification for a one
disc album in less than two years.[99]
Adele at the 70th Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California,
on 13 January 2013
In October 2012, Adele confirmed that she had been writing, composing
and recording the theme song for Skyfall, the
twenty-third James Bond film.[104][105] The song "Skyfall," written and composed in collaboration with producer Paul Epworth, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, and features
orchestrations by J. A. C. Redford.[106] Adele stated recording "Skyfall" was "one of the
proudest moments of my life." On 14 October, "Skyfall" rose to
number 2 on the UK Singles Chart with sales of 92,000 copies bringing its
overall sales to 176,000, and "Skyfall" entered theBillboard Hot
100 at number 8, selling 261,000 copies in the US in its first three days.[107] This tied "Skyfall" with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" as the
highest-charting James Bond theme song on the UK
Singles Chart;[108] a record
surpassed in 2015 by Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall".[109]
"Skyfall" has sold more than two million copies worldwide[110] and earned Adele the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song[111] and theAcademy Award for Best Original Song.[112] In December 2012, Adele was named Billboard Artist
of the Year, and 21 was named Album of the Year, making her
the first artist to receive both accolades two years in a row.[113][114] Adele was also named top female artist.[114] The Associated Press named Adele
Entertainer of the Year for 2012.[115] The 2013 Grammy Awards saw Adele's live version of "Set Fire to
the Rain" win theGrammy Award for Best Pop Solo
Performance, bringing her total wins to nine.[116]
On 3 April 2012, Adele confirmed that her third album would likely be at
least two years away, stating, "I have to take time and live a little bit.
There were a good two years between my first and second albums, so it'll be the
same this time." She stated that she would continue writing and composing
her own material.[117] At the 2013 Grammy Awards, she confirmed that she was in the very early
stages of her third album and was having meetings while staying in Los Angeles
for the Oscars.[118][119] She also
stated that she will most likely work with Paul Epworth again.[118]
In September 2013, Wiz Khalifa confirmed
that he and Adele had collaborated on a song for his upcoming fifth studio
album, Blacc Hollywood,though the
collaboration did not make the final track listing.[120] In January 2014, Adele received her tenth Grammy Award with "Skyfall" winningBest Song Written
for Visual Media at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.[121] On the eve of her 26th birthday in May 2014, Adele posted a
cryptic message via her Twitter account which prompted media discussion about
her next album. The message, "Bye bye 25... See you again later in the
year," was interpreted by outlets including the Daily Mail and Capital FM as meaning
that her next album would be titled 25 and released later in
the year.[122][123] In 2014,
Adele was nominated for nineWorld Music Awards.[124] In early August, Paul Moss suggested
that an album would be released in 2014 or 2015.[125] However, in the October 2014 accounts filed withCompanies House by XL Recordings, they ruled out a 2014
release.[126]
2015–present: 25
On 27 August 2015, Billboard reported that
Adele's label, XL Recordings, had intentions of releasing her third studio
album sometime in November 2015.[127] Danger Mouse has contributed a song, while Tobias Jesso Jr. has written a track, and Ryan Tedder is "back in the mix after producing and co-writing "Rumour Has It" on 21."[127] At the 72nd Venice International Film Festival in early
September 2015, Sia announced that her new single
"Alive" was
co-written by Adele, and had originally been intended for Adele's third album.[128] On 18 October, a 30-second clip of new material from Adele was
shown on UK television during a commercial break on The X Factor. The commercial teases a snippet from a new song
from her third album, with viewers hearing a voice singing accompanied by
lyrics on a black screen.[129]
In a statement released three days later she confirmed that the album is
titled 25, with Adele
stating, "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 realising. And I'm sorry it took so long but, you
know, life happened."[130] Adele also
believes 25 will be her last album with her age as its title,
believing that 25 would be the end to a trilogy.[131] On 22 October, Adele confirmed that 25 would be
released on 20 November, while the lead single from the album, "Hello" would be released on 23 October.[132] The song was first played on Nick Grimshaw's Radio 1 Breakfast Show on the BBC on
the morning of 23 October with Adele interviewed live.[133] The video of "Hello", released on 22 October, was viewed
over 27.7 million times on YouTube in its first
24 hours, breaking the Vevo record for the most
views in a day, surpassing the 20.1 million views for "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift.[134] On 28
October, news outlets, including BBC News, reported that "Hello" was
being viewed on YouTube an average one million times an hour.[135] "Hello" went on to become the fastest video to hit one billion views on YouTube, which it achieved after 88 days.[136] The song debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart on 30
October, with first week sales of 330,000 copies, making it the biggest-selling
number one single in three years.[137] "Hello"
also debuted at number one in many countries around the world, including
Australia, France, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and Germany, and on 2 November,
the song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100,
becoming the first song in the US to sell at least one million downloads in a
week, setting the record at 1.11 million.[138]
On 27 October, BBC One announced
plans for Adele at the BBC, a one-hour
special presented by Graham Norton, in which Adele
talks about her new album and performs new songs.[139] This was her first television appearance since performing at the
2013 Academy Awards ceremony, and the show was recorded before a live audience
on 2 November for broadcast on 20 November, coinciding with the release
of 25.[140] On 27 October
it was also announced that the singer would make an appearance on the US
entertainment series Saturday Night Live on 21
November.[139][141] On 30
October, Adele confirmed that she would be performing a one-night-only concert
titled "Adele Live in New York City" at the Radio City Music Hall on 17 November.
Subsequently, NBC aired the concert special on 14
December.[142][143]
On 27 November, 25 debuted at number one on the UK
Albums Chart and became the fastest selling
album in UK chart history with over 800,000 copies sold in its first
week.[144]The album debuted
at number one in the US where it sold a record-breaking 3.38 million copies in
its first week, the largest single sales week for an album since Nielsen began
monitoring sales in 1991.[145] 25 also
broke first week sales records in Canada and New Zealand.[146][147] 25 became the best-selling album
of 2015 in a number of countries, including Australia, the UK and the US, where
it spent seven consecutive weeks at number one in each country, before being
displaced by the late David Bowie's final album,Blackstar.[148][149][150] Adele's seven
weeks at the top of the UK Albums Chart took her total to 31 weeks at number
one in the UK with her three albums, surpassing Madonna's previous record of most weeks at number one for a female act ever in
the UK.[151]
In November 2015, Adele's 2016 tour was announced, her first tour since
2011.[152] Beginning in
Europe, Adele Live 2016 includes four
dates at the Manchester Arena in March,
eight dates at the O2 Arena, London in March
and April, with further dates in Ireland, Spain, Germany, Italy and the
Netherlands among others.[153] Her North
American Tour which begins in July, includes six dates at Staples Center, Los Angeles in August, six dates at Madison Square Garden, New York in September, four dates
at Air Canada Centre, Toronto in
October, and two dates at Palacio de los
Deportes, Mexico City in November.[154] While on
stage at London's O2 Arena on 17 March, Adele announced that she would be
headlining on the Pyramid Stage at the 2016 Glastonbury
Festival; the festival's organizers later confirmed she would be appearing
there.[155]
At the 2016 Brit Awards in London on
24 February, Adele received the awards for British Female Solo Artist, British
Album of the Year for 25, British Single of the Year for
"Hello", and British Global Success.[156] She closed the ceremony by performing "When We Were Young", the second single from 25.[156]
Artistry
Influences and favourite musicians
Adele has cited the Spice Girls as a major
influence in regard to her love and passion for music, stating that "they
made me what I am today".[157] Adele
impersonated the Spice Girls at dinner parties as a young girl.[158] She stated she was left "heartbroken" when her favourite
Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell aka
"Ginger Spice", left the group.[159][160] She has also
stated that growing up, she listened to Sinéad O'Connor,[161] The Cure,[162] Dusty Springfield,[163] Celine Dion,[164] and Annie Lennox.[165] She admired English R&B and urban contemporary singer Gabrielle, and to make her look like the singer her mother made her an eye patch
with sequins, which Adele later said was embarrassing.[166] After moving to south London, she became interested in R&B artists such as Aaliyah, Destiny's Child, and Mary J. Blige.[167] Adele says that one of the most defining moments in her life was
when she watched Pink perform
at Brixton Academy in London.
She states: "It was the Missundaztood record, so I
was about 13 or 14. I had never heard, being in the room, someone sing like
that live [...] I remember sort of feeling like I was in a wind tunnel, her
voice just hitting me. It was incredible."[168][169]
In 2002, aged 14, Adele discovered Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald as she
stumbled on the artists' CDs in the jazz section of her local music store. She
was struck by their appearance on the album covers.[28] Adele states she then "started listening to Etta James every
night for an hour," and in the process was getting "to know my own
voice."[28]Adele credits Amy Winehouse and her 2003 album Frank for inspiring
her to take up the guitar, stating, "If it wasn't for Amy and Frank,
one 100 per cent I wouldn't have picked up a guitar, I wouldn't have written
"Daydreamer" or "Hometown [Glory]" and I wrote
"Someone like You" on the guitar too."[170] She also states that her mother, who is very close to her, exposed
her to the music of Aaliyah, Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige, and Alicia Keys, all of whom inspired her as well.[161] She is also a fan of Lana Del Rey, FKA Twigs, Alabama Shakes, Kanye West, Rihanna, Frank Ocean, Stevie Nicks, and Beyoncé.[171][172] One of
Adele's earliest influences was British soul artist Gabrielle, who Adele has admired since the age of five, performing as the Hackney
born star with an eye-patch in a school talent contest.[173] Adele cited Madonna's album Ray of Light as a "chief inspiration" behind her
album 25.[172]
Musical style and vocals
Adele's first album, 19, is of the soul genre, with lyrics describing heartbreak and relationship.[31] Her success occurred simultaneously with several other British
female soul singers, with the British press dubbing her a new Amy Winehouse.[5] This was described as a third British Musical Invasion of the US.[30] However, Adele called the comparisons between her and other female
soul singers lazy, noting "we're a gender, not a genre".[31][52][174] AllMusic wrote that "Adele is simply too
magical to compare her to anyone."[28]Her second
album, 21, shares the folk and soul influences of her debut album,
but was further inspired by the American country and
Southern blues music to
which she had been exposed during her 2008–09 North American tour An Evening with Adele.[175][176] Composed in the aftermath of the singer's
separation from her partner, the album typifies the near dormant tradition of
the confessional singer-songwriter in its exploration of heartbreak,
self-examination, and forgiveness. Having referred to 21 as a
"break-up record", Adele labelled her third studio album, 25,
a "make-up record", adding it was about "Making up for lost
time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did."[130] Her yearning for her old self, her nostalgia, and melancholy about
the passage of time, is a feature of 25, with Adele stating,
"I've had a lot of regrets since I turned 25. And sadness hits me in
different ways than it used to. There's a lot of things I don't think I'll ever
get 'round to doing."[177]
Adele possesses a contralto vocal range.[178] Rolling Stone reported that following throat surgery
her voice had become "palpably bigger and purer-toned", and that she
had added a further four notes to the top of her range.[177] Initially, critics suggested that her vocals were more developed
and intriguing than her songwriting, a sentiment with which Adele agreed.[179] She has stated: "I taught myself how to sing by listening
to Ella Fitzgerald for
acrobatics and scales, Etta James for passion
and Roberta Flack for
control."[180]Her voice has
received acclaim from critics. In a review of 19, The
Observer said, "The way she stretched the vowels, her wonderful
soulful phrasing, the sheer unadulterated pleasure of her voice, stood out all
the more; little doubt that she's a rare singer".[181] BBC Music wrote, "Her melodies exude warmth, her singing is
occasionally stunning and, ...she has tracks that make Lily Allen and Kate Nash sound every
bit as ordinary as they are."[182] For their
reviews of 21, The New York Times' chief music
critic Jon Parelescommended the
singer's emotive timbre, comparing her to Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, and Annie Lennox: "[Adele] can seethe, sob, rasp, swoop, lilt and belt, in ways
that draw more attention to the song than to the singer".[183] Ryan Reed of Paste magazine regarded her voice as
"a raspy, aged-beyond-its-years thing of full-blooded beauty",[184]while MSN Music's Tom Townshend declared her "the finest singer of
[our] generation".[185]
Personal life and other ventures
It was reported in January 2012 that Adele was dating charity
entrepreneur and Old Etonian Simon Konecki
since the summer of 2011, when she met him.[186] In June 2012, Adele announced that she and Konecki were expecting
a baby.[187][188] Their son
Angelo was born on 19 October 2012.[189] On the topic
of becoming a parent, Adele has since observed that she "felt like [she]
was truly living. I had a purpose, where before I didn't".[190] Adele and Konecki brought a privacy case against a UK-based photo
agency that published paparazzi images of
their son taken during family outings in 2013.[191] Lawyers working on their behalf accepted damages from the company
in July 2014.[192]
Adele was criticized by celebrities such as Karl Lagerfeld[193] and Joan Rivers[194] for her
weight, but has gained the support of many others, by stating that she is happy
with her weight and would only change if it affected her health or sex life.[195] In a 2009 interview, Adele stated: "I like looking nice, but
I always put comfort over fashion. I don’t find thin girls attractive; be happy
and healthy. I’ve never had a problem with the way I look. I’d rather have
lunch with my friends than go to a gym."[25]
Born in Tottenham, north London, and raised in West Norwood, south London, Adele has a working class London accent,[196] that Rolling Stone magazine says has only leavened slightly over
the years.[177] Politically
she is a supporter of the Labour Party, stating in 2011
that she was a "Labour girl through and through."[197] In May 2011, she advocated a lower tax rate for high-income earners; a view counter to that of the Labour
Party.[198] In 2015,
Adele stated "I'm a feminist, I believe that everyone should be treated
the same, including race and sexuality".[172]
Charity
Adele has performed in numerous charity concerts throughout her career.
In 2007 and 2008 she performed at the Little Noise
Sessions held at London's Union Chapel, with proceeds
from the concerts donated to Mencap which works
with people with learning disabilities.[51] In July and
November 2008, Adele performed at the Keep a Child Alive Black Ball in
London and New York City respectively.[199][200][201] On 17
September 2009 she performed at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music, for the VH1 Divas event, a
concert to raise money for the Save The Music
Foundation charity.[202][203] On 6
December, Adele opened with a 40-minute set at John Mayer's 2nd Annual Holiday Charity Revue held at theNokia Theatre in Los Angeles.[204] In 2011,
Adele gave a free concert for Pride London, a registered
charity which arranges LGBT events in
London.[205]
Adele has been a major contributor to MusiCares, a charity organisation founded by the Grammys for musicians in need. In February 2009, Adele performed at the
2009 MusiCares charity concert in Los Angeles. In 2011 and 2012, Adele donated
autographed items for auctions to support MusiCares.[206][207][208] When on tour, Adele requires
all backstage visitors to donate a minimum charitable contribution of $20 for
the UK charity SANDS, an organisation
dedicated to "supporting anyone affected by the death of a baby and
promoting research to reduce the loss of babies' lives". During the UK and
European leg of her Adele Live tour, she collected $13,000 for the charity.[209]
Awards and achievements
Main article: List of awards and
nominations received by Adele
At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009,
Adele won awards in the categories of Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.[210] She was also nominated in the categories of Record of the Year and Song of the Year.[211] That same year, Adele was also nominated for three Brit Awards in the categories of Best British Female, Best British Single and
Best British Breakthrough Act.[212] Then British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent a
thank-you letter to Adele that stated "with the troubles that the
country's in financially, you're a light at the end of the tunnel."[213]
With 21 non-consecutive weeks at number 1 in the US, Adele broke the
record for the longest number-1 album by a woman in Billboard history,
beating the record formerly held by Whitney Houston's soundtrack The Bodyguard.[94] 21 spent
its 23rd week at number one in March 2012, making it the longest-running album
at number one since 1985,[214]and it became the
fourth best-selling album of the past 10 years in the United States.[215]
In February 2012, Adele was listed at number five on VH1′s 100 Greatest Women in Music.[17] In April
2012, American magazine Time named Adele
one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[18][216] People named her one
of 2012 Most Beautiful at Every Age.[217] On 30 April
2012, a tribute to Adele was held at New York City's (Le) Poisson Rouge called Broadway Sings Adele,
starring various Broadway actors such as Matt Doyle.[218] In July 2012, Adele was listed at number six in Forbes list of the world's highest-paid celebrities under the age of 30,
having earned £23 million ($35 million) between May 2011 and May
2012.[219]
On the week ending 3 March 2012, Adele became the first solo female
artist to have three singles in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot
100 at the same time, and the first female artist to have two albums in the top
5 of the Billboard 200 and two singles in the top 5 of
the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.[12] Adele topped the 2012 Sunday Times Rich
Listof musicians in the UK under 30[220] and made the
Top 10 of Billboard magazine's "Top 40 Money
Makers".[221] Billboard also
announced the same day that Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" is the
biggest crossover hit of the
past 25 years, topping pop, adult pop and adult contemporary charts and that
Adele is one of four female artists to have an album chart at number one for
more than 13 weeks (the other three artists being Judy Garland, Carole King, and Whitney Houston).[221] On 6
March, 21 reached 30 non-consecutive weeks at number one on
the Australian ARIA Chart, making it the
longest-running number one album in Australia in the 21st century, and the
second longest-running number one ever.[222]
At the 2012 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Adele
was named Songwriter of the Year, and "Rolling in the Deep" won the
award for Most Performed Work of 2011.[223] At the 2012BMI Awards held in London in October, Adele won Song of the Year (for
"Rolling in the Deep") in recognition of the song being the most
played on US television and radio in 2011.[224]
In 2013, Adele won the Academy Award for
Best Original Song for the James Bond theme "Skyfall". This is the first James Bond song to win and
only the fifth to be nominated (after "For Your Eyes Only" (1981),
"Nobody Does It Better" (1977)
(from The Spy Who Loved Me), "Live and Let Die" (1973), and "The Look of Love" (1967) (from the originalCasino Royale)).[225][226] "Skyfall"
won the Brit Award for Best
British Single at the 2013 Brit Awards.[227]
In June 2013, Adele was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in
the Queen's Birthday Honours list for services
to music, and she received the award from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace on 19
December 2013.[228][229] In February
2013, she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United
Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.[230]
Discography
Main articles: Adele discography and List of songs recorded by Adele
·
19 (2008)
·
21 (2011)
·
25 (2015)
Concert tours
Headlining tours
·
An Evening with Adele (2008–09)
·
Adele Live (2011)
·
Adele Live 2016 (2016)