Adele

Adele Adkins was born in Tottenham, north London, in 1988 and raised by her mother. She went to the BRIT School, a performing arts school, and graduated in 2006. For a class project she recorded a three-song demo; a friend posted it on Myspace, and XL Recordings got in touch.

Her first album, 19, came out in 2008. Her first song, Hometown Glory, is about West Norwood, the south London district where she grew up. 21, in 2011, was on another scale. On 15 February she sang Someone like You at the Brit Awards, and the song went to number one in the UK. The album spent 24 weeks at the top of the US chart. That autumn a vocal cord haemorrhage forced her to cancel her tour and have throat surgery. She came back at the Grammys in February 2012 and won all six awards she was up for.

In 2013 Skyfall, recorded at Abbey Road for the James Bond film of the same name, won her the Oscar for Best Original Song. Then came 25 (2015), led by Hello, and 30 (2021), with Easy on Me.

Play 21 all the way through, then go back to 19 for Chasing Pavements and Hometown Glory. The voice is already there, with less orchestra around it.