Adele

From the BRIT School to the Brit Awards, winning Grammys and Oscars with her multi-million selling records, Adele Adkins’ juggernaut career knows no bounds. Raised by her mother in Tottenham, north London, Adele cites performers as disparate as the Spice Girls, Etta James, Gabrielle, Destiny’s Child and Dusty Springfield as the singers who inspired her incredible voice. She signed to XL Recordings in 2006, releasing her debut album, 19, in 2008. Its resounding success was followed by the record-breaking 21 in 2010. In October 2012, Adele gave birth to her first child, Angelo. She was included among the 100 most powerful women in Britain on the BBC Radio 4 programme Woman’s Hour and in June 2013 Adele received an MBE from the most powerful woman in Britain in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.