Adele Laurie Blue Adkins known professionally as Adele is an English singer songwriter. She was the first recipient of the BRIT Awards Critics’ Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008. She is a multi-Grammy Awards nominee who has won two awards, Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2009.

Adele attracted the attention of XL Recordings with a three-song demo posted on MySpace and subsequently signed with the label. Since her debut, 19, Adele has received much recognition both commercially and critically. The album debuted at number one, and has been certified 2x platinum in the UK. Her career in the US was boosted by a viewer record breaking Saturday Night Live episode in late 2008. Adele released her second album 21 on 24 January 2011 in the UK; the release is due on 22 February in the US. The album was a critical and commercial success.

Adele was nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Hometown Glory”. In April her song “My Same” entered the German Singles Chart after it had been performed by Lena Meyer-Landrut in the talent show contest Unser Star fur Oslo , in which the German entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was determined[citation needed]. In late September, after being featured on The X Factor, Adele’s version of Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love re-entered the UK singles chart at number 4.

Adele released her second studio album, 21, on 24 January 2011 in the UK and will release it on 22 February in the U.S.The album’s sound is described as classic and contemporary roots and country music. The change in sound from her first album was the result of her bus driver playing contemporary Nashville music when she was touring the American South.

Adele told Spin Magazine that “He listened to all this amazing country music and we’d rock out late at night, chain smoking and listening to Rascal Flatts” “It was really exciting for me because I never grew up around.”

In explaining the title choice, she states that it reflects the growth she has experienced in the last two years. The first single is a revenge tune “Rolling in the Deep”, Adele described it as a dark bluesy gospel disco tune.21 hit No. 1 in Ireland, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium.

In the United Kingdom, where the album also hit the top spot, it sold 208,000 copies in its first week making it the biggest-selling January release in five years. In the United States Rolling in the Deep was well received by critics and on 8 February was number one on the cable music channel VH1 top 20 Countdown.

On 17 September 2009, Adele performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, for the VH1 “Divas” event, a concert to raise money for the Save The Music Foundation charity. On 6 December, Adele opened with a 40-minute set at John Mayer’s 2nd Annual Holiday Charity Revue held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Adele’s success occurred simultaneously with several other British female soul singers. The British press has dubbed her a new Amy Winehouse.Adele has also been linked to a third British Musical Invasion of the US. Adele commented that while this phenomenon was unexpected she was “proud to be a part of it. I’m very pleased to be riding the wave.” In December she said that Duffy was The Sound of 2008 and called the comparisons with other females lazy noting “we’re a gender, not a genre”.