The London girl who turned sentimental songs into record books

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born in Tottenham, London, in 1988 and says she began singing at four and became obsessed with voices. Raised by her mother, she moved to Brighton at nine and back to London at eleven, settling in West Norwood in the south of the city. That district is the subject of her first song, “Hometown Glory”, and nearby Brockwell Park, where she played guitar for friends, inspired “Million Years Ago”.

She graduated from the BRIT School in Croydon in 2006, where Leona Lewis and Jessie J were classmates. Oddly, she then wanted to work in artists and repertoire and hoped to launch other people's careers. Instead she signed with XL Recordings, and her debut album 19, released in 2008, brought the top-five hits “Chasing Pavements” and “Make You Feel My Love” and became one of the best-selling debut albums in UK history. It earned her the Grammy for Best New Artist.

Her second album, 21, from 2011, topped the Billboard 200 for 24 weeks and became the best-selling album of the century. “Rolling in the Deep”, “Someone like You” and “Set Fire to the Rain” became her signature songs, and the album took six Grammy Awards. In 2013 “Skyfall”, written for a James Bond film, won her an Academy Award. Her third album 25 sold over three million copies in a single week in the US, with “Hello” leading the way, and 30 followed in 2021 with “Easy on Me”.

The numbers are huge: 16 Grammy Awards, 12 Brit Awards, and sales of over 120 million records worldwide. Yet the core of her catalogue is simpler than that. From “Rumour Has It” to “Cold Shoulder”, the songs are built around her mezzo-soprano voice and her sentimental songwriting. She began singing as a child at four and ended up with the best-selling albums of two different years.