Adele Laurie Blue Adkins — known in the music world simply as Adele — is a mix of contradictions. She’s a woman who tells Rolling Stone magazine that her mother is still her closest friend, yet speaks bitterly about the father she never knew. She writes and performs personal songs that bare her vulnerabilities and occasionally bring her to tears on stage, yet tells filthy jokes during her sets.

Recommended Stories

The Who bring ‘Quadrophenia’ back to life

Madonna keeps the music and controversy rolling

Dar Williams, Loudon Wainwright III join folk forces