Adele: the London singer whose songs travelled worldwide

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins began writing songs about the places and feelings she knew. Her early song “Hometown Glory” drew on West Norwood, where she had returned with her mother as a child; later, “Rolling in the Deep”, “Someone Like You” and “Hello” carried her voice far beyond south London. Across four studio albums, she has combined intimate songwriting with a voice suited to a large stage, while reaching audiences through British chart success, international awards and the James Bond film Skyfall.

London roots and the BRIT School

Adele was born in London on 5 May 1988 to Penny Adkins and Marc Evans. Her father left when she was two, and she was brought up by her mother. The family moved to Brighton in 1997, then returned to London in 1999, living first in Brixton and later in West Norwood. Brockwell Park became part of her childhood landscape: she played guitar and sang to friends there, and the south London neighbourhood informed “Hometown Glory”, a song she wrote at 16.

She graduated from the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon in 2006. Leona Lewis and Jessie J were among her classmates. Adele later credited the school with nurturing her talent, although at the time she had also considered working in artists and repertoire and helping launch other people’s careers. Her musical influences ranged widely. She discovered Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald as a teenager, and has also cited artists including the Spice Girls, Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse and Dusty Springfield. Her music would draw on pop and soul, with elements of blues, country, gospel, jazz and Motown.

From a Myspace demo to 19

After leaving school, Adele continued writing and recording. A friend posted a three-song demo on Myspace; it caught the attention of XL Recordings director Richard Russell. Adele signed with the label in September 2006. In June 2007 she made her television debut performing “Daydreamer” on the BBC programme Later... with Jools Holland. “Hometown Glory”, released later that year, was her first solo single.

Her debut album, 19, arrived in 2008, its title reflecting her age while she wrote and composed many of its songs. It reached number one in the UK. “Chasing Pavements” became a major early single, while “Make You Feel My Love” and “Hometown Glory” further introduced her songwriting to listeners. Adele received the BRIT Awards Critics’ Choice prize and was named the BBC’s Sound of 2008 breakthrough act. In 2009, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Chasing Pavements”.

Her first US television appearance on Saturday Night Live in October 2008 helped bring her to a wider American audience. The episode attracted 17 million viewers, and 19 climbed the US charts the following day. The album’s success was not instantaneous everywhere: Adele later described the early period as difficult, including homesickness while touring. Her next record would turn a growing international profile into an extraordinary run of commercial and critical success.

21, Skyfall and the scale of success

Released in 2011, 21 drew on the end of a relationship and on music Adele encountered while touring the American South, including country and roots music. Its singles “Rolling in the Deep”, “Someone Like You” and “Set Fire to the Rain” reached audiences around the world. The album topped charts in 30 countries and became the best-selling album of the 21st century. At the 2012 Grammy Awards, it won six prizes, including Album of the Year; Adele also received the BRIT Award for British Album of the Year and British Female Solo Artist.

The album’s success was accompanied by a serious interruption. Adele cancelled tour dates in 2011 after suffering a vocal-cord haemorrhage, and underwent surgery to remove a benign polyp. She returned to the stage at the 2012 Grammys. The experience makes the voice at the centre of her records more than a matter of sound: maintaining it became essential to the work and to the live performances through which audiences had come to know her.

In 2012, Adele recorded “Skyfall” with producer Paul Epworth for the James Bond film of the same name. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, the song brought her songwriting into one of Britain’s most recognised screen traditions. It won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song, as well as a BRIT Award for Best British Single. In 2013, Adele was appointed an MBE for services to music and received the honour from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.

25, 30 and the live stage

Adele’s third album, 25, arrived in November 2015. She described it as a “make-up record”, concerned with getting to know who she had become and making up for lost time. Its lead single, “Hello”, debuted at number one in the UK and the United States. The album broke first-week sales records in both countries: in the US it sold 3.38 million copies in its first week, then the largest single-week total recorded there. At the 2017 Grammys, 25 won Album of the Year and “Hello” won Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

Her 2016 tour included a headline set at Glastonbury, where she performed on the Pyramid Stage. The festival held particular importance for Adele, who said she had attended as a child. She completed the tour with two June 2017 concerts at Wembley Stadium, but cancelled two further dates after damaging her vocal cords. The episode echoed the earlier surgery: live performance was a defining part of her public career, but her ability to sing could not be taken for granted.

In 2021, Adele released 30, led by “Easy on Me”. The album reached number one in 24 territories and became the best-selling album worldwide that year. “Easy on Me” topped the UK and US singles charts. 30 won British Album of the Year at the 2022 BRIT Awards, making Adele the first solo artist to win that award three times. She followed the record with Weekends with Adele, a Las Vegas residency that ran from 2022 to 2024, and a series of concerts in Munich in 2024. In July of that year, she said she planned to take an indefinite break from music after the residency.

A distinct voice, an expansive audience

Adele’s songs often take heartbreak and relationship change as their starting point, but their appeal has not depended on elaborate storytelling. The directness of the writing gives listeners room to bring their own experience to songs such as “Someone Like You” and “Easy on Me”. Her music is primarily pop and soul, while her albums have also drawn on country, blues and roots music. Adele has resisted being treated as part of a single category of female soul singers, saying, “we’re a gender, not a genre”.

Her influence is also visible in the way a British career can cross musical and cultural boundaries without leaving its origins behind. She grew up and studied in London, wrote about south London, performed at Glastonbury and received the MBE for services to music. Her songs became international hits, while “Skyfall” connected her work to a long-running British film series. She has also performed at charity events, including London’s Little Noise Sessions, which raised money for Mencap, and the UK Comic Relief telethon in 2011. These details give substance to the connection between her career and British cultural life, beyond broad claims about national identity.

Why Adele deserves a place in British Legacy

Adele’s place in British Legacy rests on achievements that can be traced through both her work and its reception. Her career began in a London school and developed through British institutions and platforms: the BRIT School, BBC television, the BRIT Awards, Glastonbury and the honours system. Her songs have also given contemporary British songwriting a presence on a global scale. 21 became the best-selling album of the 21st century, 25 broke first-week sales records, and “Skyfall” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. These are not simply measures of fame; they show a songwriter moving between popular music, live performance and film while remaining rooted in a recognisable British career.

Her legacy is also shaped by the character of the work. Adele’s writing takes private emotions—loss, regret, reconciliation and the passage of time—and gives them a form that listeners across countries can recognise. Her success does not depend on a single hit: four albums, from 19 to 30, mark different stages in a continuing body of work. Nor has public achievement been separate from the practical demands of performing; vocal-cord surgery and cancelled shows made the care of her voice part of the story. For British Legacy, Adele represents a specific cultural contribution: a London-raised songwriter whose emotionally direct records have travelled worldwide, and whose work has carried British popular music into chart history, major awards and the international cinema audience.

Sources

Adele — Wikipedia revision 1379324311 · Adele — Wikipedia

Adapted in part from Adele by Wikipedia contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text has been edited and combined with the existing article; this adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.