Adele

Adkins was raised by a single mother in various areas of working class London. As a child she was fond of singing contemporary pop songs and also learning to play the guitar as well as the clarinet. She discovered Etta the mid-century rhythm and blues performer, during her teens, and started to think about a career as a musician. While she honed her talents at a school that was funded by the government for the performing arts, a friend started posting songs Adkins composed and recorded onto the social networking Web site Myspace. Her work was quickly discovered by record companies and signed to a deal with XL Recordings in 2006.