adele Laurie Blue Adkins (born 5 May 1988 in Tottenham, North London),[1] known professionally as Adele, is a British[2] four time Grammy Award-nominated singer. Adele has described her musical style as "heartbroken soul."[3] She is the first recipient of the BRIT Awards Critics' Choice, which was given to artists who, at the time, had yet to release an album. She has noted American jazz and blues singers Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald as influences. She debuted at number one with her Mercury Prize-nominated debut album 19 on the UK album chart; the disc has since been certified platinum with sales of more than 500,000 copies.[4] After the album peaked at #54 on the Billboard 200 chart on 8 July, 2008 (and #36 on the magazine's "Top Heatseekers" chart)[5] Adele performed before more than 17 million television viewers on Saturday Night Live, leading to a very strong showing on a couple of notable download charts, and leading the album to leap from #46 to #11 on the official chart.