By Lucy Santiago
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins MBE (/əˈdɛl/; born 5 May 1988), known mononymously as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. Adele has received numerous accolades including 16 Grammy Awards, 12 Brit Awards (including three for British Album of the Year), an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a record deal with XL Recordings. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 and included the UK top-five singles “Chasing Pavements” and “Make You Feel My Love“. 19 has sold over 2.5 million copies in the UK and was named in the top 20 best-selling debut albums of all time in the UK. She was honoured with the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Adele released her second studio album, 21, in 2011. It became the world’s best-selling album of the 21st century, with sales of over 31 million. 21 holds the record for the top-performing album in US chart history, topping the Billboard 200 for 24 weeks, with the singles “Rolling in the Deep“, “Someone like You“, and “Set Fire to the Rain” heading charts worldwide, becoming her signature songs. The album received a record-tying six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. In 2012, Adele released “Skyfall“, a soundtrack single for the James Bond film Skyfall, which won her the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Adele’s third studio album, 25, was released in 2015, breaking first-week sales records in the UK and US. In the US, it remains the only album to sell over three million copies in a week. 25 earned her five Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year. The lead single, “Hello“, achieved huge success worldwide. Her fourth studio album, 30, released in 2021, contains the chart-topping and Grammy-winning single “Easy on Me“. 25 and 30 became the best-selling albums worldwide, including the US and the UK, in 2015 and 2021, respectively. As of 2023, all of her studio albums, except 19, have topped the yearly best-selling albums chart worldwide in the 21st century.
Adele is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with sales of over 120 million records worldwide. The best-selling female artist of the 21st century in the UK, she was named the best-selling artist of the 2010s in the US and worldwide. Her studio albums 21 and 25 were the top two best-selling albums of the 2010s in the UK and both are listed among the best-selling albums in UK chart history, while in the US both are certified Diamond, the most of any artist who debuted in the 21st century.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Celebration of Easter by Orthodox Christians around the world following the Julian calendar. Learn how Easter’s dates are calculated.
On the fifth of May, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the commemoration of Mexico’s victory over the French at the Battle of the Puebla in 1862. France’s Napoleon III wanted to establish a French empire in Mexico. On May 5, 1862, his well-trained army was defeated at the Battle of Puebla by a far smaller force of Mexican militia. The events of May 5 unified the Mexican people during a long struggle to maintain their own independence. Many Americans, especially those with Mexican heritage, celebrate the outcome of the battle with festivals, food, and music.
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Søren Kierkegaard (philosopher) –
- Karl Marx (philosopher) –
- Nellie Bly (journalist) –
- James Beard (chef & food writer) –
- Alice Faye (actress) –
- Ann B. Davis (actress) –
- Tammy Wynette (American country music singer ) –
- Michael Palin (actor) –
- Will Arnett (actor) –
- Adele (singer) –
Died
- Napoleon I of France –
- Bobby Sands (IRA activist) –
- Hugo Banzer (former president of Bolivia) –
- Irvine Robbins (co-founder of Baskin-Robbins) –
- Claude Stanley Choules (the last known combat veteran of World War I died at the age of 110) –
Events
- The Billboard (later known as just Billboard) magazine began weekly publication–
- Cy Young became the fist major league pitcher in baseball’s modern era to throw a perfect” game”–
- Chanel No. 5 introduced–
- Kilauea erupted–
- Picasso’s Boy With a Pipe set a new world record for the most expensive painting ever sold at auction when it soared to $104,168,000 at Sotheby’s. The price, which included the auction house’s commission, easily eclipsed the old mark of $82.5 million set by van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet, which had stood since 1990–
Weather
- In downtown Sacramento, California, the temperature soared to 100 degrees F–
- Stormy seas capsized 3 recreational fishing boats off Port Angeles in Washington–
- A supercell thunderstorm blasted Tarrant County, Texas, with hail, 80 mph winds, and torrential rains, which caused flash flooding in Fort Worth–
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