Adele

Adele (Adele Laurie Blue Adkins) was born on 5 May 1988 in Enfield, a northern part of London. She gave her first performance at school with Gabrielle’s Rise. Her musical interests were influenced by the works of Etta James and Dusty Springfield. She studied successfully The BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology and graduated in 2006. In two months, the singer posted two of her compositions in the fourth edition of the on-line journal PlatformsMagazine.com. In October 2007, Adele embarked on her first British tour. Meanwhile, MySpace already featured her first demo recorded long before and posted by a friend she gave it to. This record helped her find the first label. She signed a contract with Pacemaker Recordings in October 2007. The first single to be released there was titled Hometown Glory which was proclaimed the best single of the week by iTunes.

In December 2007, Adele was prized with Brit Awards Critics’ Choice Award granted to an artist with no albums released yet. Then she moved to XL Recordings and produced her second single Chasing Pavements, holding the second position in the British charts for a month. Her debut album, 19, hit the top of the charts in a week and reached the platinum status selling 500 000 copies in a month. It earned the singer Mercury Prize the same year, while the single Chasing Pavement received MTV Video Award for the best choreography. The lyrics of the 19 release were mostly devoted to Adele’s relationships with her former boyfriend. The music reflected the influence of jazz, soul, folk and gospel. In March 2008, Adele started her cooperation with the American company Columbia Records and gave a streak of impressive shows in the USA and Canada. It was a good act of preparation for the release of her first studio work in the States. As the USA remained a difficult location for 19 to move higher in the charts, Adele appeared on the popular Saturday Night Live show before the estimated audience of 14 million viewers. She performed two songs, which was enough to give a tremendous push to her album jumping by 35 positions in the charts. Meanwhile this album was rising in the charts rapidly, Adele scheduled a row of concerts in the US, Japan and Germany, but due to some home troubles they were eventually cancelled. She performed at a number of charity concerts with other celebrities, including Alicia Keys and Will Young.

Adele promised to make the subsequent album in New York preferring this location to her homeland. According to her words, England is too comfortable for her to seek inspiration. Despite the rapidly growing popularity, Adele faced a number of troubles shadowing her star personality, including spreading rumors of her overweight. She never saw it as a real problem that had to be dealt with. Besides, she is spoken of as a regular alcohol consumer. Adele’s reply to these allegations was that drinking helped her outcome boredom. Still, in November 2008 she left her mother’s house to combat alcohol abuse and start a new life. However, the singer does not take drugs, which was typical of Amy Winehouse, she is often compared to.