Adele (born Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, May 5, 1988) is an English singer songwriter. She was the first recipient of the BRIT Awards Critics' Choice.
Adele attracted the attention of XL Recordings with a three-song demo posted on MySpace and subsequently signed with the label. Her first studio album, “19,” debuted at #1, and has been certified platinum in the U.K. In the U.S., “19” debuted at #56 and remained in the lower end of the Billboard 200 Albums chart for many weeks. After a performance on the U.S. show "Saturday Night Live" it rose to #46 and a week later to #11. In 2009, after winning two Grammy Awards, the album rose to a new peak of #10 on the Billboard 200 and the album is now certified gold by the RIAA. The album was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize in the category of Best Album. The album spawned four Grammy Award nominations for which she won in two categories, Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2009.
She released "Rolling in the Deep" in November 2010 from her second, album “21.” Released in January 2011 in the U.K. and February in the U.S., the album debuted at #1 on the U.K. Album chart and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. The single "Someone Like You," became her first #1 single in the U.K. after its performance at the 2011 BRIT Awards caused a surge in sales, while the album also remained at #1. The Official Charts Company announced that Adele is the first living artist to achieve the feat of two Top 5 hits on both the U.K. Singles chart and the U.K. Albums chart simultaneously since The Beatles in 1964. She is also the only British singer to have had an album at #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. simultaneously. “21” helped Adele earn six Grammy Awards in 2012 including Album of the Year, equaling the record for most Grammy Awards won by a female artist in one night
