Adele was offered a recording contract from XL Recordings after a friend posted her demos on Myspace in 2006. The next year she received the Brit Awards "Critics’ Choice" and won the BBC Sound of 2008. Her debut album, 19 was released in 2008 to much commercial and critical success in the UK. 19 was certified four times platinum in the UK. Her career in the US was boosted by a Saturday Night Live appearance in late 2008. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She has also won a total of 8 Grammy Awards and 1 Brit Award.

Adele released her second album, 21 in early 2011. The album was well received critically and surpassed the success of her debut commercially. 21 has been certified 14 times platinum in the UK; in the US the album held the top position longer than any other album since 1993. The success of 21 earned Adele numerous mentions in the Guinness Book Of World Records . She is the first artist to sell more than 3 million copies of an album in a year in the UK. With her two albums and the first two singles from 21, Rolling in the Deep and Someone Like You , Adele became the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top five hits in both the UK Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously after the Beatles did it in 1964.

With her third release from the album Set Fire to the Rain becoming her third number one single in the US, Adele became the first artist in history to lead the US album chart concurrently with three Billboard Hot 100 number ones. 21 is the longest running number one album by a female solo artist on the UK albums chart and is tied for the longest cumulative stay at number one by a female solo artist as well. In 2011, Billboard named Adele artist of the year. The 23-year-old underwent surgery on her vocal cords late last year and had been resting her voice on doctor’s orders until US music’s biggest night. In 2012, The soul singer Adele triumphed on her return to the music stage, collecting six Grammies after winning every category in which she was nominated, including album of the year for 21 and best record for Rolling In the Deep .

[原文大意]

自幼受爵士乐熏陶，14岁开始尝试作曲，阿黛尔·阿德金斯18岁毕业于被誉为英国艺术界“大腕的摇篮”的Brit School。阿黛尔在2008年和2011年分别为乐迷贡献了专辑《19》和《21》，用以记录她在19岁和21岁所度过的时光。《19》让她一举拿下2008年全英音乐奖的“评委会推荐奖”以及2009年格莱美“最佳流行女歌手”和“最佳新人”两项大奖。《21》则让她蝉联11周英国唱片榜冠军，并第9次成为美国专辑榜单的冠军。2012年第54届格莱美她拿下了“最佳专辑”、“最佳制作”、“最佳单曲”、“最佳流行专辑”、“最佳流行歌手”、“最佳短片MV” 六座奖杯，顺利达成“全满贯”的目标。 阿黛尔傲视群雄，惊艳乐坛，问鼎格莱美，成为时尚界的风向标，让她“这道来自隧道的光芒”璀璨全球。