Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on May 5, 1988, in North London, England. She was the only child of Penny Adkins, who was just 18 at the time of her birth, and a Welsh father, Mark Evans, who left the family when Adele was only four years old.

Early on, Adele developed a passion for music. She gravitated toward the songs of Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige and Destiny's Child. But her true, eye-opening moment came when she was 15 and came across a collection of Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald records at a local shop. She eventually went to the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology. While at school, Adele cut a three-track demo for a class project that was eventually posted on her MySpace page. When executives at XL Recordings heard the tracks, they contacted the singer and, in November 2006, just four months after Adele had graduated school, signed her to a record deal.

Adele's debut album, 19, which is named for the singer's age when she began recording the project, went on sale in early 2008. Led by two popular lead singles, Hometown Glory and Chasing Pavements, the record rocketed Adele to fame. At the 2009 Grammy awards, Adele took home Best New Artist. In addition, the album earned the singer the distinction of being named the "Sound of 2008" by the BBC. That same year, she earned the Critics' Choice prize at the BRIT Awards.

Her follow-up album, 21, again named for her age at time of recording, did not disappoint upon its release in early 2011, selling 352,000 copies within its first week. Anchored by hits like Rolling in the Deep and Someone Like You, 21 placed Adele in rarified air. In February 2011, she found herself with two Top 5 singles and a pair of Top 5 albums in the same week, becoming the only artiste besides the Beatles and 50 Cent to achieve that milestone. And with 21 staying at No. 1 for 11 weeks, Adele also broke the solo female artist record previously held by Madonna's Immaculate Collection for consecutive weeks atop the album charts. In 2012, Adele swept the Grammy Awards, taking home six wins, including Album of the Year. That same year, the singer won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Skyfall, the theme song for the 2013 James Bond film of the same name.

On October 22, 2015, Adele announced that she would release her third album, 25, in November. The following day Adele released the ballad Hello, an epic track that debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's pop charts, thus becoming Adele's fourth chart-topper and making history as the first single to receive more than one million downloads in a week's time.

The album is an international smash hit, reaching No. 1 on iTunes in 110 countries. In 2017, Adele returned to the Grammy stage and swept the awards with five wins for her work on 25, including album, record and song of the year, as well as Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album. With her historic win, Adele became the first artist in Grammy history to sweep the top three categories twice in 2012 and 2017.