Those who hope Adele will never change the basic parts of her character that make her such an admirable and attractive soul will be relieved to learn that she is determined to not let fame alter her. During her years as a celebrity, she has observed other famous people who have become fake or arrogant as a result of their popularity and riches. She has said she hopes never to become like that and even has a plan if she felt she was starting to. ‘I’ve met people I admire and people I don’t admire who are completely affected by their success, and I fucking hate them,’ she said. ‘There’s so many people who believe their own hype and treat people like shit and if I was ever like that I would absolutely stop doing what I’m doing for a while and go and find myself again. I find it grotesque when people change because of it, but maybe it’s because they’re not as good at keeping in contact with the people who love them for a reason.’
chapter nine
grammy grabbing
in October 2011, Adele faced the biggest challenge of her career to date when a dogged medical condition forced to cancel her US tour. The problem was the vocal cord haemorrhage that had been troubling her for some time. It was something that no doubt would have infuriated her. Some UK dates also had to be cancelled as she reluctantly wiped clean her schedule for the remainder of the year. The fans were disappointed and so was Adele. She announced that she was, in fact, ‘devastated’ by the cancellation. ‘I have absolutely no choice but to recuperate properly and fully or I risk damaging my voice forever,’ she explained.
It is easy to imagine the frustration Adele probably felt at this time. Here, the sincerity of her character made the pain all the worse. If she were a less authentic personality, she could have spun the predicament to her advantage by granting a string of rare interviews to the celebrity weeklies over the crisis. In between these crisis chats she could have carefully choreographed paparazzi shots of her. None of this was in her nature, though – she just wanted to be able to sing again.
Ironically, just as her professional future was in limbo, her present could scarcely have been brighter: her albums and concert DVD Live at the Royal Albert Hall continued to fly off the shelves. But, in her darker moments, she would have been forgiven for wondering if she would ever record or perform again. Putting aside the financial dimension of the issue, the effect such an outcome would have had on her emotionally is incalculable. ‘Singing is my life,’ she said. Despite the success and multi-million pound fortune she had gathered, she was hungry for more.
All concerned held their collective breath as, a month later, she underwent laser microsurgery in America. Dark rumours began to circulate online, all unfounded. One was that she was suffering from throat cancer. Soon, it was being suggested that her life itself was under threat. Then Adele revealed that, in fact, the surgery had been a success. She would have to slowly rebuild her vocal confidence – she earmarked February 2012 for a return to live performance – but everything was suddenly peachy. ‘I’m doing really well, on the mend, super happy, relaxed and very positive with it all,’ she said. ‘It’s been the most erratic year,’ said Adele, looking back over 2011. ‘It’s been fucking brilliant and exciting and emotional.’ Just a bit.
The successful surgery gave Adele a dose of perspective. She went into the treatment thinking and speaking like a woman terrified of losing the momentum of her career and therefore determined to return as soon as possible. However, with the surgery completed and her recuperation underway, she began to express a wish to take some time out, ‘and just “be” for a bit’. Although she has thought a lot about her third album – she talked of having a bluegrass vibe on it – she was, in the wake of the surgery, in no hurry to actually start work. ‘I’m really looking forward to some time to do nothing,’ she said. ‘I imagine I’ll be 25 or 26 by the time my next record comes out, as I haven’t even thought about my third record yet. There will be no new music until it’s good enough and until I’m ready.’ This statement shocked some of her fans – and Adele had to leap into action to scotch the perception that she intended to disappear for years.
Meanwhile, an unexpected reminder of her appeal was inadvertently gifted to the world by Karl Lagerfield, the elderly fashion designer. He was asked during an interview what he thought of the current crop of female pop stars. ‘The thing at the moment is Adele,’ he said. ‘She is a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice.’ There was immediate outrage over his comment about her weight. Lagerfield had horrified much of the public but Adele seemed to be the least upset by it.
‘I’ve never wanted to look like models on the cover of magazines,’ she told People. ‘I represent the majority of women and I’m very proud of that.’
Although Lagerfield subsequently apologised for his remark, his criticism of her weight had served a useful purpose for Adele. She had been out of the public eye for a while. The controversy galvanised the fans afresh behind their heroine. It also reminded the world that, for many of us, Adele was not admired in spite of her figure but because of it.
Her place in the hearts of the public was confirmed – but everyone still wanted her to return to frontline as soon as possible. Before undergoing surgery, Adele had issued a defiant rallying cry for the future as far as live performances are concerned. ‘I will be back and I’m gonna smash the ball out of the park once I’m touring again,’ she vowed.
Her first opportunity to get her plan underway came at the Grammys in February. She was nominated in six categories at the prestigious ceremony, including Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performer and Best Pop Vocal Album. An amazing, almost imperious list of nominations – and she was widely tipped to make a clean sweep. As Elton John had joked in 2011: ‘Next year a large woman will win everything – and it won’t be me.’
Expectation buzzed round the industry that she would win all six categories. This prediction would prove correct, but nobody would have expected the tragedy that would occur on the eve of the ceremony and cast a shadow over the evening. Whitney Houston’s sudden death, at the age of 48, shook the music industry. At the start of the ceremony, LL Cool J said, ‘There is no way around this – we’ve had a death in our family. So at least, for me, the only thing that feels right is to start with a prayer for the woman that we love, for our fallen sister Whitney Houston.’
However, the show had to go on and the evening was ultimately dominated by Adele, who looked magnificent with a new blonde hairstyle and a sophisticated black dress. She was her usual witty self when she collected her awards. As she accepted the trophy for best pop solo performance for ‘Someone Like You’, she said: ‘Seeing as it’s a vocal performance, I need to thank my doctors, I suppose, who brought my voice back.’ When she got the Album of the Year award she was in tears, and, in a moment only a Tottenham girl could bring to such a glitzy ceremony, said, ‘Oh, I’ve got a bit of snot!’ As her success mounted throughout the evening, she said that she was sad her mother was not present at the ceremony. ‘Mum – girl did good,’ she said.
The girl had indeed done good. There was an electric atmosphere as the award-laden singer prepared to perform. Many held their breath as she took to the stage to sing ‘Rolling in the Deep’. The performance did not begin with its familiar guitar – instead, she sang the chorus a capella first. In that opening 18 seconds her face portrayed a range of emotions from a dreamy distance to raucous ecstasy, cheeky nonchalance and side-gazing suspicion. Talk about charisma. Her voice, to widespread relief, was as strong as ever. She had already laid down a statement and the song proper was only just starting. Adele could scarcely have been more assured and iconic – she looked and sounded sensational. Rihanna and Paul McCartney were among those saluting her from the enraptured, star-studded audience.
Within weeks she was at another leading awards ceremony – the Brits. Following her breathtaking rendition of ‘Someone Like You’ in 2011, she sang ‘Rolling in the Deep’ this time. Given that the performance was part of her come
back from surgery, it still held considerable significance, albeit not as emotionally as the previous year. Back then, she had announced her presence to anyone in the nation yet to hear of her. This time, she was the nation’s princess, reaffirming her place in our hearts. It was not, though, to be her singing that the nation was discussing the following morning.
Adele won two awards on the night: Best Female Artist and Album of the Year. When she accepted the latter gong, at the climax of the evening, she embarked on an emotional acceptance speech during which she spoke of her pride at being British. ‘Nothing beats coming home with six Grammys and then coming to the Brits and winning album of the year,’ she said. ‘I’m so proud to be flying the British flag for all of you.’ It was at that point that host James Corden was forced to interrupt her speech and introduce Blur, who were to see the evening out with a medley of songs. Given the live broadcast of the ceremony, the evening had to run to a tight schedule for ITV.
As a clearly embarrassed Corden sheepishly interrupted Adele’s speech, she said, ‘Are you about to cut me off? Can I just say then, goodbye and I’ll see you next time round.’ She then turned away and flipped her middle finger at a section of the audience. She explained later that her gesture had been to the corporate elements of the audience. ‘I was about to thank the British public for their support,’ she said. ‘They cut me off, sorry if I offended anyone but the suits offended me … that finger was to the suits at the Brit Awards, not to my fans.’ The reaction on Twitter suggested that few viewers were offended by Adele’s gesture. Many felt that cutting short an artist in her prime was the truly offensive part of the episode.
As the year wore on, more astonishing facts kept emerging. For instance, in the wake of her Grammys triumph, her album 21 spent an appropriate 21st week at the top of the US chart. Meanwhile, three of her singles occupied the Billboard singles chart – making her the first woman in the single chart’s history to do so. Then, in Australia, 21 became the longest-running No 1 album in the chart in the 21st century and the second longest-running No 1 of all time. The Sydney Morning Herald described her as ‘seemingly unstoppable British songstress’.
She was an increasingly wealthy British songstress, too. In April she topped the list of richest young British musicians as her estimated fortune was reported to have soared from £6m to £20m over the previous 12 months. Her nearest rivals on the Sunday Times Rich List of young British musicians were Cheryl Cole, Leona Lewis and Katie Melua – each reported to have a comparatively meagre £12m. Times were tough, girls.
Over in the US, Adele made the Top 10 of the Billboard’s sixth annual Money Makers ranking. Hot on the heels of this came the news from home that 21 had outsold Michael Jackson’s Thriller, to become the fifth biggest-selling UK album of all time.
There was a certain swagger in the fact that, when she won 12 awards at the 2012 Billboard Awards in Los Angeles, Adele was not even present to collect them. She had been nominated in a staggering 18 categories including Top Artist, Top Female Artist and Top Pop Artist, all three of which were among the dozen she won.
Adele’s absence from the awards highlighted again how she differed from many modern celebrities. There was an effortlessness and grace to her fame. In an industry replete with questionable ‘stars’, breathlessly pursuing another moment in the spotlight, Adele oozed a detached assurance. Adele displayed no neediness. Instead, she had a combination of confidence and vulnerability. Add to that charming mix the huge talent and it became less of a mystery why she has achieved such a phenomenal level of success and popularity.
We are left with a thrilling combination of significant achievement and enormous promise. In the midst of which was Adele herself, who turned 24 in May 2012. As she celebrated with boyfriend Simon Konecki and other friends, Adele received a birthday cake in the shape of a bosom, courtesy of Rihanna. It came with a message that the soul songstress also tweeted to her own followers: ‘Happy birthday to my lover, Adele’. What would the Adele of her early teens, dreaming of becoming a singer as she waited tables at her auntie’s cafe in Haringey, have made of all this? For her, the fame and fortune she would go on to earn would have seemed very exciting. However, Adele has always had a big heart, so what would have thrilled her most would be the fact she would win a place in the hearts of so many people across the globe. Her voice has already soothed, thrilled and moved millions. Her songs have become national anthems for the heartbroken – offering a soothing musical redemption to their tattered feelings. Yet she is still so young. The best is surely yet to come.
appendix
awards
By the Spring of 2012, Adele had won over 70 significant awards, having been nominated for more than 120. Here is a selection of those she won.
AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS
2011
Favourite Adult Contemporary Artist
Favourite Pop/Rock Female Artist
Favourite Pop/Rock Album
BILLBOARD AWARDS
2012
Top Artist
Top Female Artist
Top Billboard 200 Artist
Top Digital Songs Artist
Top Radio Songs Artist
Top Hot 100 Artist
Top Digital Media Artist
Top Pop Artist
Top Streaming Song
Top Alternative Song
Top Billboard 200 Album
Top Pop Album
BT DIGITAL MUSIC AWARDS
2011
Best Independent Artist or Group
THE BRITS
2008
Critics’ Choice
2009
Best British Female
2012
Best British Female
Mastercard British Album of the Year
THE GRAMMYS
2009
Best New Artist
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
2012
Album of the Year
Best Pop Vocal Album
Record of the Year
Song of the Year
Best Short Form Music Video
Best Pop Solo Performance
IVOR NOVELLO AWARDS
2011
Songwriter of the Year
PRS for Music Most Performed Work
MOBO AWARDS
2011
Best UK R&B/Soul Act
MTV
2011
Best UK/Ireland Act
Song of the Year
NICKELODEON UK KIDS CHOICE AWARDS
2012
Best UK Female
Q AWARDS
2011
Best Female Artist
Best Track
URBAN MUSIC AWARDS
2008
Best Jazz Act
discography
ALBUMS
19 (XL, 2008)
21 (XL, 2011)
SINGLES
‘Hometown Glory’ (XL, 2007)
‘Chasing Pavements’ (XL, 2008)
‘Cold Shoulder’ (XL, 2008)
‘Make You Feel My Love’ (XL, 2008)
‘Rolling In The Deep’ (XL, 2010)
‘Someone Like You’ (XL, 2011)
‘Set Fire To The Rain’ (XL, 2011)
‘Rumour Has It’ (XL, 2011)
‘Turning Tables’ (XL, 2011)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chas Newkey-Burden is a leading celebrity biographer whose subjects include Amy Winehouse, Simon Cowell, Brangelina, Tom Daley and Stephenie Meyer. His books have been translated into 14 languages. He has also co-written books with Kelvin MacKenzie and Julie Burchill. He is a regular guest on BBC Radio London and a columnist for the Jewish Chronicle.
Follow him on Twitter: @AllThatChas
acknowledgements
THANKS TO
John Blake, Lucian Randall, Michelle Signore, Alanah Mudie.
SOURCES
Blues & Soul
Flux & Net
ClaytonPerry.com
MusicSnobbery.com
Adele Page 18
