Adele

Adkins was raised by a young single mother in several working-class neighborhoods of London. As a child she was fond of singing modern pop music and learning how to play the guitar and the clarinet. But it wasn't until her teens, when she was introduced to rhythm-and-blues singer Etta James and other mid-20th century performers, that she started to consider pursuing a career in music. As she worked on her skills at a school that was funded by the government for performing arts, one of her friends began posting songs Adkins had written and recorded onto the social media site Myspace. Her work was quickly discovered by record labels and was signed an agreement with XL Recordings in 2006.