Adele

Adkins was raised by a single mom in different working-class areas of London. As a child, she enjoyed singing contemporary pop songs and also learning to play guitar and the clarinet. It wasn't until her teens that she was introduced to Etta James, a blues and rhythm performer, as well as other artists in the late 20th century when she began to think about a profession in music. While she developed her talents at a government-funded secondary school for the performing arts, a friend started posting songs Adkins had written and recorded onto the social networking Web site Myspace. She was soon discovered by record labels and signed to a deal with XL Recordings in 2006.