No singer of the 2010s could match Adele in terms of music sales or stardom. Her career started in 2006 with a demo that secured a contract for the then eighteen year old. She began touring as an opening act before graduating to be the headliner, then was featured on Later with Jools Holland alongside Bjork and Paul McCartney.
By the stratospheric standards set by her three albums, her first release 19 was only moderately successful. Her debut album was 3x platinum in the US and earned her two Grammy awards. 2011 brought her second album 21 which spent eighteen weeks in the top spot on the charts and sold 25 million copies. At the 2012 Grammys she became one of the few artists to ever earn six major awards in one year.
Adele began singing at four, explaining that as a child she was obsessed with voices. She attended the BRIT school for performing arts which she credits for nurturing her talent. At the start of her career her homesickness and dislike of flying led her to cancel her first US tour in its entirety. A later appearance of Saturday Night Live launched her in the US when she had the good fortune to be on an episode with then vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin which drew the biggest audience to the show in fourteen years.
After years of touring, Adele was forced to cancel the US portion of her tour supporting her 21 album when she suffered a hemorrhage of her vocal cords. Without an extended period of rest she feared permanent damage. Continuing to release albums named for her age at their recording, Adele released 25 in 2015. Continuing her incredible sales and awards success the new album sold more than 3 million copies in its first week and won another five Grammys.
