Adele
May 5, 1988 — Tottenham, London, England
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins is an English singer-songwriter whose mezzo-soprano voice and emotionally direct songwriting have made her one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with album sales surpassing 120 million worldwide.
South London Roots
Born on May 5, 1988 in Tottenham and raised in Brixton and West Norwood, Adele grew up steeped in artists like Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald. Her mother enrolled her in the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon, where she studied alongside future stars Jessie J and Leona Lewis. She recorded a three-song demo for a class project in 2006 and posted it to MySpace — where a label executive heard it within days.
19 and Overnight Fame
XL Recordings signed Adele before she had graduated, and her debut album 19 arrived in 2008 to immediate critical acclaim. But it was 21 (2011) that transformed her into a global phenomenon. Driven by the breakup ballads "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You," the album spent 24 weeks at number one in the United States and earned her six Grammy Awards in a single night — tying the record for most won by a female artist at one ceremony.
Did You Know?
Adele almost didn't release "Someone Like You" as a single — her label thought a solo piano-and-vocals track was too sparse for radio. Her stripped-down performance of it at the 2011 BRIT Awards reduced the audience to tears and immediately proved them wrong; the song shot to number one the following day.
25, 30, and Enduring Legacy
After a four-year silence following vocal cord surgery, Adele returned with 25 (2015), which sold 3.38 million copies in its first week in the US — a record at the time. Her fourth album, 30 (2021), debuted with the largest first-week streaming numbers in history for a pop album. She has won 16 Grammy Awards, 12 Brit Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe, and is widely regarded as one of the defining voices of her generation.