No one could argue with Adele’s status as Britain’s biggest and best known pop export of recent times.
Two record breaking albums, one lucrative Las Vegas residency and accolades too numerous to list – among them an Academy Award and 16 Grammys – have lifted the working class girl from north London to an elevated level of fame that only few celebrities have reached.
But it wasn’t always that way, as recently surfaced footage from her 2011 BBC Live Lounge performance will attest.
Three years after releasing debut album 19 – a record that went on to sell more than 2.5million copies across the globe – a bashful 23-year old Adele was filmed confessing a love for Cheryl Cole and N’Dubz rapper Dappy.
Admitting she was in the studio to perform a Live Lounge cover of Cheryl’s Promise This, she said: ‘I absolutely love her. She’s my favorite person ever.
In recently surfaced footage from Adele’s 2011 BBC Live Lounge performance the singer confesses her love for Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole and N’Dubz rapper Dappy
Adele covered Cheryl’s hit Promise This during her live performance at the Live Lounge
Adele went on to admit she was star-struck after meeting the former Girls Aloud star at the 2010 Royal Variety Performance, where they both sung for King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
‘I got to meet her at the Royal Variety, and I got to meet her at the BRITs a couple of years ago but it was very manic and I don’t think she recognised me,’ she recalled.
‘But the second time I met her at the Royal Variety and Dappy from N’Dubz was next to her. It was amazing! It was like I was in a dream.’
Adele recently revealed the meaning behind her debut single Hometown Glory and admitted it stemmed from her anger towards then-Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair.
The star, now 35, spoke candidly about the song during an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, after they honoured her with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award.
Adele revealed that she penned the lyrics a day after she attended her first protest, which was about Blair’s decision to go to war with Iraq.
When asked how she feels about the song now, she told Hollywood Reporter: ‘It makes me very emotional. I really miss London, but I miss the London from before all of this happened in my life.
‘I remember it like it was yesterday, when I wrote that song. I still feel like it’s my baby. And I don’t think everyone knows, but I wrote it the day after I went to my first ever protest.
Adele admitted to meeting Cheryl for the first time ‘a couple of years ago’ at the BRIT Awards (pictured performing at the BRIT Awards in 2008)
Cheryl onstage with Girls Aloud at the BRIT Awards in 2009. The singer went on to enjoy a successful solo career
Adele admitted she was also star-struck after meeting Dappy (pictured arriving for the MOBO Awards in 2011)
Dappy, Tulisa and Fazer of N-Dubz attend the launch of the group’s new album ‘Timeless’ at Cafe KOKO on August 4, 2023
‘In London, we were annoyed at Tony Blair because he was going to war with Iraq. It was like a million-people turnout in London, and we’re marching, and I was 16, and me and my friend Olivia went. We made our placard, and it felt so powerful.’
During the interview, Adele also gave a rare insight into her relationship with sports agent Rich Paul.
She revealed they have ‘always known everything about each other since the day they got together,’ while adding that reading his recent memoir made her ’emotional’ as she learned about his relationship with his late mother.
Last month Adele reportedly confirmed that she has tied the knot with sports agent Rich Paul while appearing at her best friend Alan Carr’s comedy show in Los Angeles, with two audience members confirming the news to Deuxmoi.
An onlooker explained: ‘I was at Alan Carr’s comedy show in LA tonight and Adele was in the audience. Alan asked the crowd if anyone got married recently and Adele shouted “I did”.’
