Adele just won a Grammy. Here’s a look at her career

The competition was heated this year at the Grammys. Consider the record of the year category that has all the greats this year, from ABBA’s “Don’t Shut Me Down” to Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul.”

Adele’s “Easy on Me” was also competing for the trophy, but that wasn’t her only chance at an award. The singer-songwriter, whose real name is Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, was nominated a total of seven times.

After meeting Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for the first time — they’re the biggest fans of each other — she won her first trophy of the night for best pop solo performance for “Easy On Me.”

“I just want to dedicate this to my son Angelo,” she said while accepting the Grammy.

Here is a timeline of Adele’s career, as she celebrates another highlight the 65th Grammy, starting from when she was young up until her current residency in Las Vegas.

Her childhood

Born to an English mother, Penny Adkins, and a Welsh father, Marc Evans, Adele grew up in London. Evans, who left the 2-year-old Adele with her mother, struggled with alcoholism.

“When she sings, it’s so beautiful,” he told the Daily Mail in 2012, “but it brings back too many memories.”

“There’s so much regret on my part — regret that I wasn’t a better father to her. I let her down badly, and I wish I could turn the clock back and do things differently,” he added.

Matt Sayles, Associated Press

She began singing at an early age: “I’ve always been obsessed with voices since I was 4 years old,” said Adele in 2009, of discovering and falling in love with Ella Fitzgerald. Her friends introduced her to Destiny’s Child, Faith Evans and P Diddy.

First song

While “Hometown Glory” was a part of her first studio album, the song was first released on Oct. 22, 2007, as a stand-alone single. It was inspired by her mother, who at the time tried convincing her to leave her life in West Norwood, London, to go to a university.

“My mum said if I wanted my independence, I should go. Because I depend on her so. I love her so much. She’s my best friend. I’m such a mommy’s girl. She told me, if I stayed in London, ran out of money and couldn’t pay the rent, she would always be around to help me. And that’s not learning to live on my own or standing on my own two feet,” she said in a 2011 interview.

“And we had a big argument about it, and I ran upstairs, cried my eyes out, wrote ‘Hometown Glory,’ came back down, sang it to her and told her I was staying. And she said, all right.”

Instead of going to Liverpool, Adele stayed in London and attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, which accepted her at the age of 14. The song was re-released as a follow-up to “Cold Shoulder.”

Her first album

Shortly after graduating from a creative arts school in 2006, two of her songs — “Daydreamer” and “My Same” — were published in an online art magazine called Platforms.

She was more interested in A&R — scouting talent and overseeing artists — but when her friend posted the three demos that Adele recorded for class caught on My Space, it caught the eye of XL Recordings, a record company that signed her when she was just 18.

Under the record company, which also represented the White Stripes, MIA, Dizzee Rascal and Peaches, she produced her first album “19” in 2008, winning a Grammy for best new artist, and best female pop vocal performance for “Chasing Pavements,” which she wrote after learning her boyfriend cheated on her. According to American Songwriter, this ex came back asking for royalties.

“He really thought he’d had some input into the creative process by being” a bad person, Adele told American Songwriter. “I’ll give him this credit: he made me an adult and put me on the road that I’m traveling.”

Finding success in America

The debut album quickly became an international success as she went on tour in North America and the U.K.

In a 2008 episode of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” the up-and-coming singer made an appearance alongside the U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, garnering nearly 17 million viewers. After that, her “stars aligned,” she said in an interview during a BBC special, per Mashable.

When Adele first began getting noticed in the U.S., she was often compared to Amy Winehouse and Duffy. Still, the singer set herself apart with her “working-class London accent” and “a relaxed attitude about her un-pop star body,” wrote Nicole Freshée for Rolling Stone in 2012.

Joel Ryan, Associated Press

It was “21,” her sophomore album, that brought her worldwide recognition. Inspired by a breakup, the album drew influences from her time in the South while touring the U.S.

She told Spin Magazine in an interview that she was inspired by Elvis Presley and called “Rolling in the Deep,” released two weeks prior to the album, a “gospel disco.”

Adele earned three Grammys for “21,” among them was album of the year.

Her ‘make-up’ record

Titled after her age, again, her third studio album, “25,” was just as spectacular, featuring the well-known single “Hello,” which was viewed an average of one million times an hour upon its release in 2015, as BBC reported.

”My last record was a break-up record, and if I had to label this one, I would call it a make-up record. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did,” Adele said in a statement on Twitter. “‘25’ is about getting to know who I’ve become without realising. And I’m sorry it took so long but, you know, life happened.”

In 2016, she hit the road for a world tour after five years.

Adele’s time in Las Vegas

Her single “Easy on Me” launched prior to her fourth album, “30,” opening the door to her Las Vegas residency. Due to COVID-19 and other delays, her show, Weekends with Adele at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, was postponed by a year to November 2022, lasting until March 2023.

Billboard called the long-awaited performance in Sin City “utterly and breathlessly spectacular.”

“It was remarkable to see a performer at her level be so present and take in all she had accomplished in arriving at this moment,” the review added. Meanwhile, The New York Times said that Adele cried several times throughout the show, creating an experience “full of drama and elegance.”

Now, fans wait and watch to see how the album pans out at the Grammys this year.