50 Fun Facts About Adele

In which part of London was Adele born in May 1988?

Her mother raised her alone after her Welsh father left when she was two. The family later moved to Brighton and back to south London.

What is Adele's surname?

Her full name is Adele Laurie Blue Adkins. Evans was her father's surname.

Which girl group did Adele say 'made me what I am today'?

She impersonated them at dinner parties and by eleven her bedroom was 'essentially a Spice Girls shrine'.

Which two singers were Adele's classmates at the BRIT School in Croydon?

She graduated in May 2006 and at the time was more interested in working in A&R than performing.

How did Adele's demo reach her record label?

She recorded three songs for a class project. When XL's Richard Russell called, she thought it was a hoax and took a friend to the meeting.

With which independent label did Adele sign in September 2006?

XL was also home to The White Stripes and Vampire Weekend. Columbia handles her US releases.

'Hometown Glory', the first song Adele ever wrote, is about which south London district?

She wrote it in ten minutes at 16 after her mother tried to persuade her to leave for university.

'Hometown Glory' was first released as a limited 7-inch single on whose label?

Only 500 copies were pressed in 2007. Adele was a fan of Jamie T, which is partly why she signed with his manager.

How are Adele's studio albums named?

19, 21, 25 and 30. The last was actually released when she was 33.

'Chasing Pavements' was inspired by an argument in a club with whom?

It peaked at number two in the UK and won her the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2009.

Which Bob Dylan song did Adele cover on 19?

Dylan's version was on his 1997 album Time Out of Mind. Billy Joel and Garth Brooks had also recorded it.

Adele was the first ever winner of which Brit Award, in 2008?

The same year she topped the BBC's Sound of 2008 poll of music critics.

An October 2008 appearance on which US TV show made Adele an overnight sensation in America?

Sarah Palin was in the building that night, which explains the audience. Bill Hader recalled the writers falling silent when she sang.

Which Grammy did Adele win in 2009 for her debut album era?

She also took Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Chasing Pavements the same night.

Which American musical styles did Adele start listening to on tour, shaping the sound of 21?

Her tour bus driver introduced her to it during the North American leg of An Evening with Adele.

How many weeks did 21 spend at number one on the US Billboard 200?

That is the longest run since 1985 and the longest ever by a female solo artist. It is the best-selling album of the 21st century.

Which producer co-wrote 'Rolling in the Deep' with Adele, the day after her break-up?

She called it a 'dark blues-y gospel disco tune'. It won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2012 Grammys.

How many weeks did 'Rolling in the Deep' spend at number one on the Billboard Hot 100?

It was her first US number one and Billboard's top single of 2011.

Who co-wrote 'Someone Like You' and plays the piano on the record?

He was the frontman of Semisonic, of 'Closing Time' fame. It made her the first British female solo artist with two US number ones from one album.

A performance at which 2011 event sent 'Someone Like You' to UK number one, up 46 places in a week?

It jumped over Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' and became her first UK number one, staying there five weeks.

Which Columbia Records co-president produced part of 21 after Adele recorded a demo in two days?

Ryan Tedder, Jim Abbiss and Dan Wilson also worked on the album.

Why did Adele cancel two tours in October 2011?

Boston surgeon Steven Zeitels removed a benign polyp with laser microsurgery that November. She returned at the Grammys three months later.

How many Grammys did 21 win at the 2012 ceremony, tying a record?

Including Album of the Year, weeks after her throat surgery. 25 later won five more.

Which British producer, called the most pop-minded of the 21 team, produced 'Set Fire to the Rain'?

Billboard readers voted it their favourite number one of 2012, and the live Albert Hall version won a Grammy.

Adele's 2012 Bond theme won her an Oscar. Which film was it for?

It was released at 0:07 BST on Global James Bond Day, 5 October 2012, fifty years after Dr. No.

Adele's Bond theme was the first ever to win which honour, at the 2013 ceremony?

It also took the Golden Globe, the Brit for British Single and a Grammy, a clean sweep no earlier Bond song managed.

Which royal presented Adele with her MBE at Buckingham Palace in December 2013?

She was appointed in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to music.

Which producer co-wrote 'Hello' and 'Easy on Me' with Adele?

On 'Hello' he played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele played drums.

Which Canadian filmmaker directed the 'Hello' video?

It hit 27.7 million views in 24 hours and reached a billion in 87 days, both records at the time. Tristan Wilds co-stars.

How many copies did 25 sell in the US in its first week, a record since sales tracking began in 1991?

It sold over a million again in both its second and fifth weeks. The UK first week was 800,307.

Which Swedish hitmakers wrote and produced 'Send My Love (To Your New Lover)' with Adele?

Ryan Tedder talked her into it by sending clips of Martin's work. It was a departure into guitar-led pop.

How many views did Adele's January 2016 Carpool Karaoke, the year's biggest YouTube viral video, get?

She rapped Nicki Minaj's verse from 'Monster' in it, driving through London.

Adele headlined Glastonbury 2016 on which of the festival's platforms?

She announced it from the O2 Arena in March and broke down in a radio interview beforehand, saying she had been going since childhood.

At which London venue did Adele cancel her tour's last two shows in 2017 after damaging her vocal cords?

She had added the extra dates after the first two sold out. It was meant to close the tour on 2 July 2017.

What personal event inspired 30, her first album since 2015?

They married in 2018 and she filed for divorce in 2019. She described going to the studio as 'basically running away'.

What did Spotify remove for premium users at Adele's request when 30 was released?

She argued 'our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended'. ABC News called it an example of her power in the industry.

At which venue was Adele's Las Vegas residency, Weekends with Adele, held?

The January 2022 start was postponed at the last minute after production delays and Covid in her team.

For which 2021 TV special, hosted by Oprah, did she win a Primetime Emmy?

That leaves her one Tony Award short of an EGOT.

What was the capacity of the custom-built venue for her 'Adele in Munich' shows in August 2024?

She revealed her engagement to sports agent Rich Paul on stage there on 9 August.

Roughly how many records has Adele sold worldwide?

She was named the best-selling artist of the 2010s in the US, and 21 and 25 were the decade's top two sellers in the UK.

Rich Paul, whose engagement to Adele she revealed on stage in Munich in 2024, works as what?

The pair had been together since 2021. Her earlier marriage to Simon Konecki, she told British Vogue, lasted only months in 2018 before they separated.

What is Adele's voice type, though she is often mistaken for a contralto?

Her range spans B2 to C6. Rolling Stone reported that her 2011 throat surgery actually added four notes to the top of her range and left her voice bigger and purer.

Whose 1998 departure from her girl group left the ten-year-old Adele 'heartbroken'?

By the age of 11 her bedroom was 'essentially a shrine' to the group, and she impersonated them at dinner parties.

Which 2003 Amy Winehouse album does Adele credit with inspiring her to pick up a guitar?

She says that without it she would never have written 'Daydreamer' or 'Hometown Glory', and that 'Someone Like You' was also written on guitar.

Her March 2017 shows in which city drew 100,000 fans, the biggest concert in Australian history?

The first night at ANZ Stadium drew 95,000, then a record she broke herself the very next evening. It was her first ever visit to perform in Australia.

Adele became an ordained minister to officiate the 2018 wedding of which comedian?

Carr married Paul Drayton in the garden of her Los Angeles house. She has since described the pair as among her closest friends.

What did Adele name the stage alter ego she invented to cope with performance anxiety?

The name splices Beyoncé's Sasha Fierce persona with country singer June Carter. Before meeting Beyoncé she had a panic attack and asked herself 'What would Sasha Fierce do?'

How many days did the 'Hello' video take to reach one billion YouTube views, then the fastest ever?

It had already smashed the Vevo record with 27.7 million views in its first 24 hours, beating Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood'. At one point it was being watched a million times an hour.

Adele says Ella Fitzgerald taught her acrobatics, Etta James passion, and who taught her control?

She stumbled on the Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald CDs at 14 in the jazz section of her local record shop, drawn in by the album covers, and listened to James for an hour every night.

To announce her 2017 tour finale, she sang Three Lions and the theme to which BBC football show?

She added two extra nights when the first two sold out, then had to cancel them after damaging her vocal cords. Fans gathered outside the stadium anyway for a 'Sing for Adele' event.