Adele

Adkins was raised by a single mother who lived in various working class communities of London. As a child she was a fan of pop songs of the day and was taught to play guitar and the clarinet. It wasn't until her teens that she was exposed to Etta James, a r&b singer, as well as other performers from the early 20th century and she began to consider about a career in the field of music. She was enrolled in an academy for visual and performing arts, which was funded by the government. A friend uploaded songs Adkins had written on Myspace. She was soon discovered by record companies and signed to a deal with XL Recordings in 2006.