Adele, News, Pictures, Biography

MAINArt & ... Pop Culture Pop Music Adele

In the news most recently for a comeback following surgery on her vocal chords, singer-songwriter Adele was born Adele Laurie Blue Adkins May 5, 1988.

Better known worldwide simply as Adele, she grew up in Tottenham, North London. At age 11, she moved with her single mom to Brixton, and later to West Norwood where that community would figure in her first single, "Hometown Glory", written when she was 16.

Later graduating from the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon in 2006, Adele soon came to the attention of the XL Recordings label after a friend posted several of her demos on a Myspace page. Her powerful vocals and heartfelt lyrics on "Hometown Glory" were an instant hit, earning her the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" in 2007 and the BBC Sound of 2008. Many critics' predictions pointed to a career that was about to skyrocket.

With the release of her debut album, 19, Adele made good on the promise of critics as it went quadruple platinum.

Later that year, she also quickly earned the admiration of American audiences with an appearance on Saturday Night Live. The following year, the 2009 Grammy Awards brought her further recognition with wins for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Performance for "Chasing Pavements."

In 2011, Adele released her second album, 21, which in the UK went 14 times platinum. In the US, the album held the top position longer than any other album since 1993 (when Whitney Houston's "The Bodyguard" was breaking previous sales totals.)

With her two albums and the first two singles from 21, "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You", Adele became the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top five hits in both the UK Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since the Beatles in 1964.

Spinning off another No. 1 hit from the 21 album, "Set Fire to the Rain" launched Adele into becoming the first artist ever to lead the US album chart concurrently with three Billboard Hot 100 number ones.

Following Billboard naming her artist of the year in 2011, Adele is poised to take the 2012 Grammy Awards by storm with a total of six nominations including Album of the Year for 21.

Personal Life

With her powerfully expressive voice and sometimes painfully personal lyrics, Adele has admitted in interviews that, indeed, a heartbreak in the recent past has influenced her songwriting and live performances. However, she looks forward someday to getting married, settling down, and having children, as reported in a September 2011 Vogue magazine interview.

As far as her weight is concerned, the curvy singer continues to make no apologies for not looking like a runway model, and is reportedly currently dating fellow Brit, Simon Konecki, a former financier and co-founder of the U.K. bottled water company, Life Water.

Having gained fame and international notoriety over a few short years, Adele was forced to cancel her North American tour in late 2011 due to throat surgery for a damaged vocal chord.

As the singer explains, the most difficult part of the ordeal was not having to put her career on hold, but the inability to speak to those around her for two long months to aid in her recovery, admitting that "I love to talk."

Now fully recovered, Adele is about to take the stage at the 2012 Grammy Awards with a first live television appearance since the surgery, along with a featured interview on 60 Minutes.

Adele sings a cappella for Anderson Cooper on "60 Minutes."

More about Adele around the Web:

ADELE - The official site, with updates on concert tours and appearances, blog entries, biography, photos and videos, related links.

Adele (singer) - Wikipedia overview of the singer's early life and career including personal details and sales records, related references and resources.

BBC Music - Adele - A complete profile, video interviews, biography, photos, news updates, album reviews.

Adele Adkins.net - Huge fan site with photos, video archive, news and buzz, tour dates and personal appearances.