To coin an old Bond title (1977)-‘Nobody Does It Better’ than Adele, quite simply put although her own Bond connection through a song was in ‘Skyfall’ (2012) – who could forget that belting signature ballad in the opening sequence? Now she is the darling of the ‘Brit Awards’ -she has twelve to her name – the last three recently scooped up in this year’s ceremony which saw her consecrated as the artist who won …Song of the Year, Artist of the Year and Album of the year. She always has something to celebrate when she does what she does best. Winning the hearts and minds of millions across the world through her singing and song writing comes naturally but doesn’t always come easy to the queen of song.
Adele’s success lifts her as the number one artist and most decorated British female solo singer of our generation. In case you didn’t know she has had twenty Grammy nominations and won fifteen of them, she is followed on twitter by over twenty million and has known worldwide success since she sang ‘Someone like You’ in 2011. Her last album was called ‘30’ (2021) and features her latest hit ‘Easy on Me’ which has seen her popularity grow even further. The secret as I said earlier is that nobody does it better. No one can sing a heartbreak song across three octaves of vocal range and steal hearts like Adele can. Since her early days she has always been on my radar because she is so good that she can’t be ignored. Like Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand she occupies the top echelons of the worshipped singers of our times.
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born May 5th 1988 in Tottenham, London and has previous hit albums marked by her birthdays, namely ‘19’ (2008) and ‘21’ (2011) the latter becoming the top selling album in the UK and USA eventually selling over 20 million copies by mid 2012. In 2015 she released another album ‘25’ which spawned one of her biggest hits ‘Hello’. Last year she released ‘30’ which is her fourth studio album and it seems that the esteem in which she is held by the record buying public is still growing. Some of her best songs have come out of her relationship disasters and she held audiences spellbound in a recent TV special called ‘An Audience with Adele’ which was filmed live at the London Palladium in November last year. The TV show marked her first UK performance in four years and if you saw it as I did you knew you were in the presence of music royalty.
Her struggles have not been easy ones. In 2012 she had to have throat surgery for polyps in her vocal chords and she made a remarkable recovery. Although all her demons have been exorcised she has struggled with alcohol abuse and weight gain problems although she famously says that her ambition is never to be slim- she is a plus size beauty who has been yoyo dieting for years and she counters the plus size detractors with ‘I would rather be an overweight good singer than an underweight failure’ and we have to concur with her because she always makes good on the promise of singing very well indeed. If you see her performing she is a beautiful lady always in control of a divine voice, with a particular and original way of rolling her pronunciation of words that many imitate but none can match.
If you must know (of course you do) she has reportedly earned in excess of $400 million through her record sales and concerts and it’s estimated that she is worth a cool $200 million and counting after the enormous success of her latest hit single ‘Easy on Me’. I know that some in Gibraltar have seen Celine Dion perform live and there must also be a few that have seen Adele live in concert too. I would have liked to be in the latter bunch and wonder whether in a post pandemic world she might tour again, so I think I will add her to my growing bucket list. ‘Spotify’ has an ‘Adele Greatest Hits’ collection which is a joy to listen in one sitting, or to dip in and out of if you don’t want to overdose on the finest vocals and some of the best songs of the last ten years. If you aren’t a ‘plus’ size already after the recent seasonal festivities you may wish to indulge in leftover Valentine chocolates and enhance your listening experience- that is entirely up to you.
