Adele: The Biography

by Chas Newkey-Burden

The compelling life story of the Grammy-winning soul singer Adele's soulful voice, catchy hits, and vulnerable personality have won her critical acclaim and huge popularity. She has topped the charts in 18 countries—but who is she? What is the truth of the tempestuous life that has so influenced her heartbreaking tracks? How did she overcome the challenges that threatened to derail her career? This compelling book traces her story from her childhood in London, where she began singing at the age of four. During her teenage years she wrote her own music and attended the BRIT school, alongside the likes of Leona Lewis. After posting demos on the MySpace website she earned a record deal and quickly captured hearts. Adele remains an unlikely icon. Her looks are unusual in a formulaic world of celebrity image, she suffers badly with pre-stage nerves, and she once canceled a crucial promotional trip to the U.S. because she felt too down to travel. This is a full, unflinching portrait of a genuine talent and inspiring, uncompromising woman—the curvy girl-next-door who conquered the world.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Music, Biography Memoir, Memoir, Autobiography

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Chas Newkey-Burden is a British journalist and author. His books include The Reduced History of Britain, Great Email Disasters and Not In My Name: A Compendium Of Modern Hypocrisy (co-written with Julie Burchill). He has also written unauthorised biographies of Simon Cowell, Paris Hilton, Amy Winehouse, Alexandra Burke and six official publications for Arsenal football club.

He has written for publications including The Guardian, Four Four Two, Total Football, Time Out, Attitude and The Big Issue; and internet sites including Ynetnews, The First Post and Guardian Blogs. A former Contributing Editor to Loaded magazine and former editor of the football website icons.com, where he was also Dennis Bergkamp's official biographer. Interviewees include David Beckham, Ricky Gervais, Frank Lampard, Rachel Stevens and James Bourne.

Newkey-Burden has discussed his books, football news and the Middle East on TV and radio shows including Sky News, CNN, BBC Breakfast News, The Today Programme on Radio 4, Five Live Breakfast, TalkSport, Capital Gold and BBC Radio London. He was featured on the BBC 2 documentary Cold War Kids, the Sky One show Celebrities On Heat and The Biography Channel and Fuse Television's documentaries on Amy Winehouse.

Newkey-Burden has a blog, entitled OyVaGoy, in which he describes himself as 'philosemitic' and posts opinions firmly in support of the state of Israel, and critical of those he perceives as being against Israel.
In July 2008, the British satirical magazine Private Eye reported that Newkey-Burden had posted positive reviews of his own books on the Amazon.co.uk online bookstore.

Reviews

[Özlem Güzelharcan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Derste sürekli Adele ile ilgili örnekler verip Adele şarkıları dinletmemden mütevellit öğrencimin okumam için getirip elime tutuşturduğu ve sevmediğim, magazin dergisi köşe yazımsı kitap.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Raar geschreven, daardoor soms lastig door te komen. Volgens mij heeft de schrijver Adele zelf nooit gesproken en zijn het dus eigenlijk bij elkaar geraapte stukjes van internet/interviews.

[Dini Van heumen-hoekman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ik las de Nederlandse versie maar ik had weinig zin om een nieuwe editie aan te maken.
Ik vond het boek niet geweldig. Veel herhalingen steeds.
Een van de mindere biografieën die ik las.

[Diana Szaiak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despre Adèle primul lucru evident este că are o voce de milioane. De asemenea, are o personalitate frapantă, este directă și sinceră chiar și atunci când nu ar trebui iar monologurile sale spumoase din timpul concertelor sunt puse sub lupă luni la rând. Ținând cont de viteza propulsării în rândul megastarurilor, este de-a dreptul un fenomen.
În același timp însă este cea mai discretă vedetă de foarte multă vreme-ncoace. Își pune sentimentele pe tavă, oferă detaliile care stau la baza compozițiilor și interpretărilor sale, dar absolut niciodată persoana în cauză nu va fi făcută cunoscută publicului. Și-a trasat o linie pe care nu o trece. Refuză să fie o marfă și acest lucru o evidențiază de restul vedetelor în cel mai bun mod.
Cartea de față vorbește despre toate acestea și multe altele. Despre albumele 19 și 21, despre semnificația cântecelor și ce a însemnat crearea lor, despre premii, concerte și emoții. Dar, toate aceste informații sunt la discreție. Biografia nu aduce absolut nimic nou.
Autorul mi-a lăsat impresia că a descoperit un subiect suculent și, având o mulțime de timp liber, a cules informațiile la care a avut un acces facil. Nici măcar nu a transpirat in timpul documentării. Dacă in anumite puncte s-a blocat din lipsa unor amănunte relevante, a umplut golurile cu dezvoltarea altor aspecte din evenimentele respective, cu prezentarea altor vedete și personalități ajunse în contact cu Adèle, făcând abstracție de faptul că se abate de la subiect.
Recunosc că am presupus că biografia a fost scrisă în colaborare cu fermecătoarea cântăreață dar m-am înșelat amarnic. Cred că este opera cuiva care urmărește să câștige de pe urma altora cu un minim de efort. Dacă ar fi pus măcar puțină emoție, dacă ar fi avut o abordare mai personală și ar fi prezentat informații prea puțin cunoscute, ar fi meritat lectura. Deși, în acel caz, ar fi fost vorba de o cu totu altă carte.
Chiar nu recomand, puteți găsi toate detaliile urmărind-o pe Adèle și cu siguranța veți avea parte de o experiență mult mai faină.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good and I learned a lot of new facts about Adele. At times it could get boring but that was the only flaw in the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Adele or music in general.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't know what to expect from this book. Absolutely adore Adele, she has an amazing personality and a really beautiful voice. This book was more about the awards she won and a bit about the performances and album tracks. Hoped to read more about her personal life, maybe with some interviews with family and friends. It's an okay book to read if you are really into her!

[Treone Finks · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love Adele and loved learning more about her life. However, this book was extremely boring and poorly written. It was like reading a long narrative of someone’s calendar for the past 8 years. Written by a British author from an English perspective, I wasn’t familiar with many British words or casual British lingo. The overdone references and comparisons to Amy Winehouse and Lea Leoni got old. It was painful to read, but gave me a good glimpse into Adele’s personal life and her rise to fame and all the awards she has won. I got this book for $1.00 at an outdoor book sale. Now, finally, I can get it off my book shelves and purge it.

[Shayan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This would probably have been more interesting to me had I not been such a big fan and read up on her life in other ways. Chas Newkey-Burden goes in depth into this star's childhood, adolescence and current success. I was aware of Adele's close relationship with her mother but found it an interesting read when Newkey-Burden discussed her father and other relations who have had an impact on her in one way or another, whether it be small or big.
I was not aware of the BRIT school and enjoyed finding out about the various names who have been educated there.

[Lauren Camella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book!! If you want to read a good, well written book about Adele, then this is the book to read! This biography talks about Adele and her childhood to where she is now! Adele is making great history, and if you are a huge fan lie me, you will definitely like it!!!

[Lily I · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great BOOK!!! I loved how he really explained every detail and HOW he put the information into the different chapters.

[Nathaly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knihu vrelo odporúčam! Nie je viac čo dodať. Je to veľmi kvalitná biografia, a čo je podstatné – zaujme vás. Našla som tam všetko, čo som tam nájsť potrebovala.

[Parker Vanwaardhuizen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is about adele's start to finish. It explains her hard times and he best times to her favorite place to go and live. The theme is more or less like try your best to notice your talent.

The book starts out with adele trying to figure out what she wants to do and it goes on to like where she ended up. What awards she ends up getting.

Adele she is a kind fun very talented very unique person i have probably read about. She has some crazy style. She is a very soulful singer also as well as a experience writer to.

Some parts were kind of interesting but i really didn't find the whole book in general like great and stood out from others. Entertaining? It wasn't the most it was a biography so there weren't parts that you really looked forward to or cliff hangers or stuff like that. The larger issue in this is she was able to be blessed with a talent and also was able to use that to create something great. Sometimes in america today people have a rough time figuring out what the want to do in life and do it good for a good cause.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this book as a Christmas gift. I wasn't keen on reading it as the internet provides almost all information these days. But since I am a huge Adele fan, I thought I'll give it a try and I wasn't disappointed!

I love the candid interactions Adele has with the author, her stories from BRIT and lots of other things, giving a good insight into this awesome personality.

It's not a story of struggle or resilience like you would expect in most biographies but its a nice read giving some perspective to one of the greatest female artists of our times.

[Lorraine Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adele The Biography


Just as the title suggest it's all about the young singer whose career has been remarkably. It is very well written, and through it you could feel Adele voice singing or when she was sitting getting interviewed,I am a new to Adele voice she sings with a lot of passion. She has a lovely voice.Here to next album which is her 4 th one

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una din cele mai relaxante si motivationale carti.
Dupa ce am terminat cartea , am realizat ca in spatele unui succes colosal sta o persoana minunata ce ar trebui sa fie un model pentru noi toti .
Pentru mine este mai mult decat un model. Este o foarte mica parte din sufletul meu.

[lizzy baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Adele so I was looking forward to reading this but I was disappointed. It was a bit slow going and I must admit I struggled to finish it. The beginning was good, learning about her growing up and the influences on her music

[Mikayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read, it seams I'm picking my auto/biographies well so far.

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great insight into Adele but a little repetitive in parts.

[Tim Wessels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, learned a lot about the live of Adele

[Maria Padilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first time reading anything about Adele. It was very interesting learning about her. This is one of my son's favorite singers of all time.

[Nick Koets · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great and in-depth biography about a great idol with the voice of an angel. Well written (and translated) and truly enlightening about the wonderful and normal life of Adele.

[Antonette M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how to give a summary here without giving everything away lol

[Jane11 · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to get to know Adele, this book is for you!

[Mia Sebti]

The book “Adele” is a biography written by Chas Newkey-Burden. Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on May 5th, 1988 in London, England. Her father, Mark Evans left her family when she was just four years old with her 18-year-old mother, Penny Adkins. Growing up, Adele’s family did not know much about music, she would go to the music store every day after school and admire the vinyls. Adele attended the performing arts BRIT school where she once submitted an album for a project. She later posted that album on Her “Myspace” profile, where producers discovered her. As soon as these producers discovered Adele, they had her signed to a label only four months after she graduated school. Growing up, Adele’s biggest inspirations were the spice girls and Etta James. Adele’s first song as an official recording artist was “Chasing Pavements” from her album “19”. Today, Adele has won over 10 Grammy awards and 3 Guinness world records. Although she has been singing on stage in front of millions of people for many years, she has admitted to having stage fright. She says that she sometimes has panic attacks before her performances and sometimes even vomits backstage. In 2015, Adele had to have a throat surgery because of her bad smoking habits and stopped singing for a year after that. For a year, there were no new songs or albums but after her recovery, she made one of the biggest comebacks anyone had seen in a long time. Today, all of her new releases are number 1 on all billboards. Adele has a lot of success because unlike most pop stars today, she has a fan base that varies of all group ages. A lot of people wonder why all of her albums names are numbers,but there is a simple explanation to that. All of Adele’s songs are songs that she wrote while growing up, Her album “19” contains all the songs that she wrote when she was 19 years old and the same goes for her latest album “25”. Adele’s has a son named Angelo James Konecki with her boyfriend, Simon Konecki. As of 2016, Adele has 6 albums and is planning on many more to come.


I chose to read this book because I realized that very few people actually knew the story behind thing amazing singer. Before reading this book, I mainly wanted to know how Adele was discovered and how was her life while growing up. Now I know that she got discovered by two producers through a school project and that her father left her family when Adele’s mom was 18 years old raising her 4-year-old daughter alone. While growing up, Adele had a lot of inspirations, some of them were, Destiny’s child, Etta James, Spice girls, and Amy Winehouse. Since Adele’s family knew nothing about music, she used to go to a music store and listen to all of these artists, wishing she could be like them one day. A lot of people might disagree but I'm my opinion Adele is a hero to a lot of people. Adele is known to shut down body shamers and encourage people to love themselves just the way they are. She even said that her goal in life is to never be skinny because she believes that music is through the ears and not the eyes. Throughout this book, a reader can learn anything a person would want to learn about Adele’s life.

Today, Adele is one of the biggest singers in the world, very few people does not know who she is. Most of her fans love her for her music and her beautiful voice. Reading this book taught me a lot if interesting facts about her and made me realize that there is much more to her than her voice. Most of the people that listen to her including me, know her but not her story. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about her life and story. Personally, my favorite part of the book is when the author described how excited she was when the producers wanted to sign her, because, without those two producers, Adele would have probably never have gotten famous. However, my least favorite part of the book, was when Adele got sick because of her smoking addiction and had to get throat surgery. The readers can tell that Adele was really devastated that she had to give up her singing career for a whole year. I truly recommend this book to anyone who listens to Adele’s music, this could even make every one of her fans listen to her music from a different perspective.

[Hanka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Všechny nás okouzlila. Mladá dívka s vyčesanými vlasy, silným londýnským přízvukem a ostrým slovníkem. Na jevišti stává sama, jen s klavírem a stojanem na mikrofon. Ostré světlo míří jen na ni, stoji u mikrofonu a zpívá. Zpívá tak, že žádné další rekvizity nejsou potřeba. Jak sama řekla, zpívá pro uši ne pro oči. Sedmadvacet let, tři desky, několik zdolaných rekordů v prodeji i hitparádách. Její úspěchy a charisma jsou důvody k tomu, aby i o takto mladé ženě, vznikla biografická kniha, která v ČR vychází 5. května v nakladatelství Metafora.


Autor nás v ní seznámí s dětstvím zpěvačky, jejím složitým vztahem s otcem, studiem na oceňované umělecké škole BRIT School. Kariéru profesionální zpěvačky prožijeme s Adele od samých začátků až po vydání aktuálního alba 25. Kniha je plná komentářů spolupracovníků zpěvačky, světových celebrit, nejen z hudebního světa. Lehce se dotýká i častého srovnávání s pěveckou kolegyní Amy Winehouse, nebo toho, jak se Adele vyrovnávala s narážkami na svou váhu, při vstupu na americký hudební trh. Zajímavě působí kapitola o hudebních vzorech a inspiracích Adele, nebo pohledy do zákulisí předávání četných hudebních ocenění.

Pořád se snaží nevšímat si chvály ani kritiky, kterou její hudba vyvolává. V této fázi kariéry k ní přichází téměř výhradně chvála, přestože i kritika se objeví, a ona je připravená na to, že v budoucnu jí může být víc. Nejzdravější reakce v případě jakéhokoliv umělce je udělat si od chvály i kritiky co největší odstup. „Tohle jde mimo mě,“ prohlásila. „Je mi dvaadvacet. Takže tyhle věci mě fakt nezajímají! Prostě ráda zpívám, ne? Chci říct, že jsem fakt pyšná, že na mě jsou někteří lidi v Anglii hrdí. Svou mámu jsem nikdy takhle šťastnou neviděla. Povídá mi: ‚Tak tohle už je ale přece trapný, jdi už někam, Adele.‘ Jsem z toho… docela dost naměkko. Je to síla. Nejvíc. Takovej úspěch jsem nikdy nečekala.“

Velkou nevýhodou je, že se jedná o neautorizovanou biografii. Adele samotná z knihy promlouvá jen skrze poskládané odpovědi z různých interview, což působí dojmem, že čtete „o Adele bez Adele„. Zaskočilo mě, že tak zásadní událost v životě ženy, jakou je otěhotnění a porod syna, je v knize odbyto pouhou jednou větou. O osobním světě zpěvačky se toho moc nedozvíte.

Komu tedy knihu doporučit? Pokud jste fanoušek a sleduje její kariéru v médiích, nedozvíte se z knihy nic moc nového. Jako seznámení s Adele, pokud ji čtenář nezná, může kniha působit příliš popisně, což občas nudí. Pokud patříte mezi skalní fanoušky, kniha si ve vaší knihovně najde své místo, už jen díky své podrobnosti a zasazení kolosálního úspěchu zpěvačky do širších společenských souvislostí. Emoce ale nečekejte.

http://www.hanka.mablog.eu/2016/04/15...

[Brina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adele - eine britische Sängerin, die man spätestens im Jahr 2011 nicht mehr überhören konnte. Nach "19" hat sie mit ihrem zweiten Studioalbum "21" sämtliche Rekorde gebrochen und ist endgültig zum Weltstar aufgestiegen. In ihrer Biografie wird ausführlich auf ihre Kindheit und ihre Karriere eingegangen, die zum Glück noch lange nicht vorbei ist.

Da ich ein großer Fan von Adele bin und ich sie in Interviews immer wahnsinnig sympathisch fand, war es für mich ein absolutes Muss, dieses Buch zu lesen. Enttäuscht wurde ich dabei nicht, allerdings würde ich diese Biografie nicht als solche bezeichnen, denn viel mehr wird hier mehr auf die Studioalben und deren Entstehung eingegangen, als auf ihre Vergangenheit. Dies finde ich allerdings richtig gut, denn Adele hat in Interviews immer betont, dass die Musik bei ihr im Vordergrund steht.

Chas Newkey-Burden beschreibt die Arbeit von "19" und "21" sehr intensiv und emotional. Es wird noch einmal ausführlich geschildert, welche Emotionen Adele mit den Songs verbindet und in welchen Situationen sie diese geschrieben hat. Dabei werden zahlreiche Zitate der Sängerin aufgelistet, die berühren und zum Nachdenken anregen:

"Ich würde meine Musik als untröstlichen Soul bezeichnen - jämmerliche Liebeslieder über das Jämmerlich-Sein!" - Seite 58

"Ich war sehr traurig, als ich dieses Album geschrieben habe. Und ich denke, das merkt man an der Musik" - Seite 63

Sehr interessant ist auch das Kapitel, in dem über die vielen Gesichter des Ruhms berichtet wird. Dass es viele Neider gibt, ist in der Musikwelt nahezu selbstverständlich. Genauso normal ist es für einige Künstler, Produzenten und Manager, andere als kleiner anzusehen. So hat man anfangs versucht, die Sängerin optisch zu verändern, damit sie größere Menschenmassen ansprechen kann. Zum Glück hat Adele sich nicht verbiegen lassen, denn dies hat sie absolut nicht nötig. Gleichzeitig wird aber auch über die Sonnenseiten berichtet, der man der sympathischen Sängerin von Herzen gönnt.

Ebenfalls interessant sind die Aufzeichnungen über Adeles Durchbruch in den USA und wie sie die Grammy Awards empfunden hat. Nachdem sie bereits für ihr Debutalbum "19" zwei Grammys gewinnen konnte, war sie 2012 mit ihrem Album "21" und den Songs "Rolling in the deep" und "Someone like you" die große Gewinnerin und konnte gleich sechs der begehrten Preise einheimsen, indem sie Stars wie Lady Gaga, Katy Perry und Rhianna ausstechen konnte. Gleichzeitig wird einem aber auch bewusst gemacht, wie schwer es tatsächlich ist, in Nord- und Südamerika Karriere zu machen.

Etwas negativ zu bewerten, ist der Preis, denn 15 EUR für gerade mal knapp 150 Seiten sind schon sehr happig. Allerdings sind so viele wunderschöne Fotos und Fakten im Buch enthalten, sodass man gerne darüber hinweg sieht, anstatt sich über den Preis zu ärgern. Die Fotos sehen allesamt sehr hochwertig aus und zeigen Adele in den verschiedensten Momenten. So kann man sie u.a. auf roten Teppichen, auf der Bühne, im Tonstudio und privat erleben, was eine gute und abwechslungsreiche Mischung ist.

"Adele: Die Biografie" hat mich insgesamt sehr unterhalten und ich habe das Gefühl, diese wunderbare Sängerin nun besser zu kennen. Hoffentlich wird sie die Menschen weiterhin mit ihren melancholischen Songs bereichern und eine lange Karriere vor sich haben. Ein Muss für jeden Fan!

[Demi Spelbos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a quick read. I really like Adele but I found it quite boring. I'm also quite pissed off to find out she hurt Phil Collins' feelings. He's one of my favourite artists. But oh well.
It was quite fun to read how she came to write some songs but they didn't really go into it that much. The book was mostly about the awards she won and what critics had to say about her.

[Paula Monteiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good and real, like Adele

[San · Rating 1 out of 5]

Adele is my favourite artist. Her songs are amazing and she seems to be a wonderful person. So I couldn't wait to get my hands on this biography.

However, it turned out to be one big disappointment. I hated the writing style, although that might also be due to the way it was translated (I read a Dutch edition). There were several grammatically incorrect sentences and a lot of quotes from interviews seemed to be just copy-pasted after each other. Also, a lot of elements were repeated throughout the book.

The book also promised the story on her latest album 25. Yeah right. It only mentions that it is coming up (apparently the album wasn't even published yet when they were writing this). So, nothing on her new songs or the stories behind it..

Also, I could tell that the author had written several other biographies, because he kept talking about Amy Winehouse and Justin Bieber - artists about which he has written as well. Great for him, but that's not what I want to read about in a biography on Adele.

This biography was introduced as a touching portrait of Adele. Well, if you want to be touched by Adele's story, then skip this book and listen to her songs instead.