English singer-songwriter. Adele was offered a recording contract from XL Recordings after

a friend posted her demos on Myspace in 2006. The next year she received the Brit Awards

"Critics' Choice" and won the BBC Sound of 2008. Her debut album, 19 was released in

2008 to much commercial and critical success in the UK. 19 was certified four times platinum

in the UK. Her career in the US was boosted by a Saturday Night Live appearance in late

2008. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female

Pop Vocal Performance.

Adele released her second album, 21 in early 2011. The album was well received critically

and surpassed the success of her debut commercially.21 has been certified 14 times platinum in the

UK; in the US the album held the top position longer than any other album since 1993. The

success of 21 earned Adele numerous mentions in the Guinness Book Of World Records. She

is the first artist to sell more than 3 million copies of an album in a year in the UK. With

her two albums and the first two singles from 21, "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like

You", Adele became the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top five hits in

both the UK Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since

the Beatles in 1964. With her third release from the album, "Set Fire to the Rain", becoming

her third number one single in the US, Adele became the first artist in history to lead

the

US album chart concurrently with three Billboard Hot 100 number ones. 21 is the longest running

number one album by a female solo artist on the UK albums chart and is tied for the longest cumulative stay at

number one by a female solo artist as well. In 2011, Billboard named Adele artist of the

year.