Newkey-Burden - Adele: The Biography, Updated Edition

This edition first published in paperback in the United States in 2015 by The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc.

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Copyright 2012, 2015 by Chas Newkey-Burden

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

ISBN: 978-1-4683-1339-0

A dele worked Sunday shifts at the cafe her auntie ran in Haringey, north London. As the teenager waited tables, the crackly radio announced the countdown of the pop charts. She wondered what it would be like to have her own song in the hit parade. By the time she was 22, she would be at No 1 in charts around the world.

Her influence is immense: she was named the most powerful person in music when she topped the Guardians Music Power 100 list. To put this in context, the mighty Simon Cowell finished third. Adele has sold millions of albums worldwide, won numerous awards, including Grammys and a Brit, and as a result has deservedly been crowned queen of the music industry and all just three years after she released her first single. Along the way she has built a fortune of around 20 million.

It is the authenticity and sincerity of her work that appeals: there are no gimmicks but plenty of soul. With firmly autobiographical lyrics that simply yet powerfully and often painfully speak truths about her personal heartaches, she has touched a nerve with music fans. Speaking as a fan herself, Adele expresses distaste at lazy lyricism. You know, I hate Im actually offended by literal, easy lyrics that have no thought behind them and are purely written because they rhyme, she said. Though her higher standards pay off, they come with an emotional price. Remember, for a moment, how songs like Someone Like You can make you feel: the way they make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, the way they send a shiver of recognition down your spine, the way they can make your eyes fill with tears and your lips tremble. Now imagine how emotionally draining it is to perform those songs night after night on tour.

Thats really hard, Adele said. She has developed coping mechanisms, including thinking about mundane things as she sings the furniture store Ikea is one such distracting thought. The challenges of live performances of such material are exceeded by the rewards. Anything I find difficult is completely thrown in the bin when I see how people respond to my music, she said. I love it when a wife drags her husband to a show and hes standing there like a lemon. You spend the whole night trying to win him over and by the end hes kissing his wife. Thats amazing.

What a fascinating character Adele is: not least due to the contrast between her musical persona and her everyday personality. Despite the heartbreaking sadness of her music, Adele remains surprisingly happy and content in her real life. Her raucous, cackling laugh is a catchy and regular feature of her positive and loquacious conversations. Far from discovering a gloomy, self-pitying soul, people who have met her often remark that she laughs more than anyone else. It makes her an attractive personality. When she embarked on the difficult, sometimes soul-destroying tour of American radio and television shows that is required of any overseas artist attempting to break the States, she so charmed the industry bigwigs there that as well as wanting to promote her music that decision was a no-brainer for us said one they also wanted to go for a drink with her and become her friend.

Her takes on everything from fame to her love life are always diverting. She once recalled how a male fan sent her an unsettling crispy tissue in the post. Oh, you sent me a crispy tissue, she said of the offering. Ill definitely get in touch with you! Hey, lets get married and have children!

Her candour is legendary. Asked when she was typically struck with inspiration to write a new song, she said it usually happened as she got up from her bed to spend a penny in the early hours. She was also asked what she would do if a partner called her fat. Id murder him, she replied. When she discovered she had won a prestigious Grammy award, she had just returned to her seat from the loo. She had not even done her belt up. Audiences frequently laugh at her on-stage humour, including the dirty jokes. What do you call a blonde standing on her head? she once asked. A brunette with bad breath. Too much information? There is always more where that came from. Explaining why she eschews the social-networking micro-blog site Twitter, which so many other musical stars are addicted to, she said, I dont want to write, Oh, Im on the toilet last nights dinner was really spicy. Thats just gross.

Though she is confident and forthright, she is also humble and grounded. She does not even accept the description of singer for herself. I always say Im a singing lady, rather than a singer, she said. Singer is a big word for me. My interpretation of a singer is Etta James and Carole King and Aretha Franklin. When asked what she would have done had she not made it as a singer, she said, If I werent singing, Id be a cleaner, I love a clean.

Adeles songs document real-life dramas and heartaches she has endured: both her albums are about painful breakups, and she said her songs for her second album 21 began life as drunken diary ramblings. These are ramblings that have grown to become the soundtrack of our times, much to her surprise. Adele thought she was the only one dealing with those problems. As she began to sing to the world about her emotions, she discovered that millions of others shared her feelings. When she realised that her songs had left those millions feeling less isolated, she was delighted to have created such a virtuous circle. Its like my job is done, she said.

Done successfully, too. Her second album sold more than three million copies and went platinum ten times. She is the first living artist in nearly 50 years to have two Top 5 singles and albums in the charts at the same time. She has topped the charts in 18 countries to date. The girl from London is huge in America, where she has had a No 1 album, performed on leading shows, including Saturday Night Live, and won two Grammy awards in 2009. As her sales have soared, her feet have remained grounded. For instance, when she was backstage at the New York television studio for The Late Show with David Letterman, someone observed that her dressing room was rather small. Adele was having none of that: You dont complain about your dressing room, she said and when she got home to London, all she wanted to do was sit in the park with her old friends, chatting and drinking cider.

As we shall see, she gets spectacularly, physically nervous before live performances. Once she is on-stage with the microphone in her hand, the anxiety evaporates. I feel more at ease performing than when Im walking down the street, she said. I love entertaining people. Its a huge deal that people pay their hard-earned money, no matter how much or little, to spend an hour of their day to come and watch me. I dont take that responsibility lightly. At her live performances, there is little emotional barrier between Adele and her fans. You probably love her because you know that for all her success and fame she is someone like you.