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Adele is the only artist or band in the last decade in the US to earn an RIAA Diamond certification for a one disc album in less than two years. Learn 50 facts about Adele's career and life.
1. She is a fan of Jill Scott, Etta James, Billy Bragg, Peggy Lee, Jeff Buckley and The Cure.
2. ADELE is from a resolutely un-musical family. "It all comes from impersonating The Spice Girls and Gabrielle," she cheerfully explains. "I did little concerts in my room for my mum and her friends. My mum's quite arty; she'd get all these lamps and shine them up to make one big spotlight. They'd all sit on the bed."
3. Later, when her dad's best friend, a dance producer, rightly declared ADELE's voice 'wicked', he invited her to record a cover of 'Heart Of Glass'.
4. The first time she got a microphone in her hand, she realized her calling.
5. Despite being quick off the mark on MySpace - her friend set up a page for ADELE's music on the last day of 2004 - it wasn't until 2006 that labels started noticing her talent.
6. When XL called her in for a meeting, ADELE was nervous enough to take a chum with her. "I never, ever thought I'd get signed. The A&R guy emailed me and I was ignoring it... I didn't realize they [XL] did all these amazing names..."
7. Her full name is Adele Laurie Blue Adkins.
8. In 2007, she received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award and won the BBC Sound of 2008.
9. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 to commercial and critical success. It is certified four times platinum in the UK, and double platinum in the U.S.
10. An appearance she made on Saturday Night Live in late 2008 boosted her career in the U.S.
11. At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
12. Adele released her second studio album, 21, in early 2011. The album was well received critically and surpassed the success of her debut, earning the singer numerous awards in 2012, including a record-tying six Grammy Awards including Album of the Year; two Brit Awards; and three American Music Awards.
13. The album has been certified 16 times platinum in the UK, and in the U.S. it has held the top position longer than any album since 1985, and is certified Diamond.
14. She has sold an estimated 40 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide.
15. The success of 21 earned Adele numerous mentions in the Guinness Book of World Records.
16. She is the first woman in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have three simultaneous top 10 singles as a lead artist, and the first female artist to simultaneously have two albums in the top five of the Billboard 200 and two singles in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100.
17. 21 is the longest running number one album by a female solo artist in the history of the UK and U.S. Album Charts.
18. In 2011 and 2012, Billboard named Adele Artist of the Year.
19. In 2012, Adele was listed at number five on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music, and Time magazine named her one of the most influential people in the world.
20. In 2013, she received an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for her song "Skyfall", which she wrote and composed for the James Bond film of the same name.
21. Adele was born on 5 May 1988 in Tottenham, London, the daughter of an English mother, Penny Adkins and a Welsh father, Mark Evans.
22. Evans left when Adele was two, leaving her 20-year-old mother to raise her single-handedly.
23. She began singing at age four and asserts that she became obsessed with voices.
24. Growing up Adele spent most of her time singing rather than reading, stating the last book she read was Roald Dahl's Matilda when she was six years old.
25. Adele has cited the Spice Girls as a major influence in regard to her love and passion for music, stating that "they made me what I am today".
26. Adele impersonated the Spice Girls at dinner parties as a young girl.
27. She stated she was left "heartbroken" when her favourite Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell aka "Ginger Spice," left the group.
28. To make her look like English R&B and urban contemporary singer Gabrielle, her mother made her an eye patch with sequins, which Adele later said was embarrassing.
29. West Norwood is the subject for Adele's first record, "Hometown Glory", which she wrote and composed in 2004, when she was 16.
30. After moving to south London, she became interested in R&B artists such as Aaliyah, Destiny's Child, and Mary J. Blige.
31. Adele says that one of the most defining moments in her life was when she watched Pink perform at Brixton Academy. She states: "It was the Missundaztood record, so I was about 13 or 14. I had never heard, being in the room, someone sing like that live [...] I remember sort of feeling like I was in a wind tunnel, her voice just hitting me. It was incredible."
32. In 2002, aged 14, Adele discovered Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald as she stumbled on the artists' CDs in the jazz section of her local music store. She was struck by their appearance on the album covers. Adele states she then "started listening to Etta James every night for an hour," and in the process was getting "to know my own voice."
33. Adele graduated from the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon in May 2006, where she was a classmate of Leona Lewis and Jessie J.
34. Adele credits the school with nurturing her talent even though, at the time, she was more interested in going into A&R and hoped to launch other people's careers.
35. An emotional performance of "Someone like You" at the 2011 BRIT Awards on 15 February propelled the song to number one in the UK.
36. Her first album, 19, re-entered the UK album chart alongside 21, while first and second singles "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone like You" were in the top 5 of the UK singles chart, making Adele the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top-five hits in both the Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since the Beatles in 1964.
37. "Set Fire to the Rain" became Adele's third number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, as Adele became the first artist ever to have an album, 21, hold the number-one position on the Billboard 200 concurrently with three number one singles.
38. To promote the album, Adele embarked upon the "Adele Live" tour, which sold out its North American leg.
39. In October 2011, Adele was forced to cancel two tours because of a vocal-cord haemorrhage. She released a statement saying she needed an extended period of rest in order to avoid permanent damage to her voice.
40. Following the throat microsurgery, she made her live comeback at the 2012 Grammy Awards in February.
41. She won in all six categories for which she was nominated, making her the second female artist in Grammy history, after Beyoncé, to win that many categories in a single night.
42. Adele is the only artist or band in the last decade in the US to earn an RIAA Diamond certification for a one disc album in less than two years.
43. On 3 April 2012, Adele confirmed that her third album would likely be at least two years away, stating, "I have to take time and live a little bit. There were a good two years between my first and second albums, so it'll be the same this time." She stated that she would continue writing and composing her own material.
44. In January 2014, Adele received her tenth Grammy Award with "Skyfall" winning Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.
45. It was reported in January 2012 that Adele was dating charity entrepreneur and Old Etonian Simon Konecki since the summer of 2011, when she met him.
46. In June 2012, Adele announced that she and Konecki were expecting a baby.
47. Their son Angelo was born on 19 October 2012.
48. Adele was criticized by celebrities such as Karl Lagerfeld and Joan Rivers for her weight, but has gained the support of many others, by stating that she is happy with her weight and would only change if it affected her health or sex life.
49. In a 2009 interview, Adele stated: "I like looking nice, but I always put comfort over fashion. I don't find thin girls attractive; be happy and healthy. I've never had a problem with the way I look. I'd rather have lunch with my friends than go to a gym."
50. Born in Tottenham, she supports her local Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur.
Source: adele.tv, Wikipedia.org
