About Adele
Born Adele Laurie Blue Adkins in London on 5 May, 1988, Adele got her start in music at age 16, with a song she wrote called “Hometown Glory.” She recorded a 3-song demo and a friend made a Myspace page for her, which lead to XL Recordings contacting the aspiring singer, who at the time was more interested in becoming an A&R executive than an artist. She signed with them in 2007, and released her first single, “Hometown Glory.” In January 2008, she released her second single “Chasing Pavements,” and her debut album, 19, was released shortly thereafter. It reached #1 on the UK Album Charts.
19 was eventually released in the United States that June, after embarking on a short North American Tour, which included a gig at the Coachella Arts & Music Festival in California. As of February 2009, the album had sold more than 2.2 million copies worldwide, and Adele won the Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She also was nominated for several Brit Awards. She is scheduled to release her second album, 21, in January 2011, which she said was heavily inspired by the work of Andrew Bird, Wanda Jackson and Lady Antebellum.
Her music is self-described as “heartbroken soul,” and she takes inspiration from everyone from Etta James to Ella Fitzgerald. Many journalists and critics call her a unique voice too hard to label or compare to anyone else. Her hybrid of jazz and blues continues to win her acclaim, and her album 19 was described by The Times Encyclopedia of Modern Music as an “essential Blue-Eyed Soul Recording.”
