25 Adele Facts We Bet You Don't Know

She was born in North London on May 5, 1988.

Adele is the only daughter of a British mother, Penny Adkins, and a Welsh father, Mark Evans. She was raised by her mom in Tottenham, London, after her father left the family when she was two years old.

Adele was signed to XL Recordings in 2006 after a friend posted her three-track demo on Myspace. One of the tracks would become her very first single, "Hometown Glory."

Adele attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology and graduated in 2006. While there, her classmates were fellow pop stars Jessie J and Leona Lewis.

Amy Winehouse was also enrolled at the academy for some time. In a 2015 interview with i-D, Adele said, "Contrary to reports, me and Amy didn't really know each other, we weren't friends or anything like that. I went to Brit School and she went for a little while . . . but I adored her."

Adele told i-D that the late singer's first album inspired her to take up the instrument. "If it wasn't for Amy and Frank, 100 percent I wouldn't have picked up a guitar, I wouldn't have written "Daydreamer" or "Hometown," and I wrote "Someone Like You" on the guitar too."

Adele's beloved grandfather died when she was 10 years old, and it briefly inspired her to become a doctor. "I loved him so much, more than the world. I was so, so sad," she told i-D in 2015, adding, "I wanted to fix people's hearts." The following year she began taking biology lessons in school, but her plan was cut short when she discovered "fun — well, and boys." She explained, "I gave up on it. My heart wasn't in it anymore."

In a 2015 radio interview, Adele denied rumors that she turned down an offer to collaborate with Beyoncé. "There's a rumor going round that I turned Beyoncé down. Which I would never be so disrespectful as to do. I'd never disrespect her like that," she said, adding, "Obviously, like, Queen B till the day I die."

Adele told Beats 1's Zane Lowe "I love Lana Del Rey. I love her very, very much. I've never met her though but I just think she, she like stirs my soul. I love Alabama Shakes. And I think Brittany [Howard] is, the way I first felt when Etta James, when I first heard her."

On the subject of celebrity squads, Adele told Rolling Stone in 2015, "I wish my squad was all supermodels. We are, in our brains. I guess I have my own squad." She added, "It’s not as interesting as some of the other squads that are around right now. But maybe Rihanna can be in my squad! That would be really cool. Oh, God. She’s life itself, isn’t she? I love her."

Adele dressed up as the British singer for her 27th birthday party and shared a hilarious photo on Twitter, writing, "Thank you for the birthday wishes I had a wonderful time! I was my hero x #gottahavefaith."

In 2008, Adele embarked on a tour in support of her debut album 19. An Evening With Adele was slated to snake through the US, but the singer canceled a number of dates in order to spend time with her then-boyfriend.

The following year, she told Nylon magazine that she regretted the decision, saying, "I was drinking far too much and that was kind of the basis of my relationship with this boy. I couldn’t bear to be without him, so I was like, ‘Well, OK, I’ll just cancel my stuff then.'" She added, "We refer to that period as my ELC, my Early Life Crisis. Now I'm sober, I'm like, 'I can't believe I did that.' It seems so ungrateful."

Adele was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in June 2013 for her services to music. In December of that year, she was honored with an award by Prince Charles during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Adele told Rolling Stone in 2015, "I'm a feminist. I believe that everyone should be treated the same, including race and sexuality."