Who the hell is Adele?

She's won a Brit Award, topped something called the 'Sound of 2008' poll and, most importantly of all, been dubbed a 'One To Watch' by Digital Spy. But who the hell is this bloody Adele woman? To avoid further confusion, The Sound's put together a handy fact file. Tempting as it might to be to print it out, pop it in your pocket and use it as a reference guide every time you read her name in a trendy broadsheet/ hear someone on the radio call her "amazing", we'd advise against it for the sake of the rainforests. What would Sting say, eh?

Full name: Adele Laurie Blue Adkins

Age: 19

Place of birth: Tottenham, London

Education: She attended the Brit School, the Croydon performing arts college where Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash, Katie Melua, Luke from The Kooks and Leona Lewis learned how to hum and strum.

What's her music like? "Heartbroken soul - pathetic love songs about being pathetic!" she reckons.

Who are her musical influences? Mainly soul singers like Etta James, Roberta Flack and Ann Peebles, but, rather intriguingly, she's also name-checked East 17.

Has she actually released anything yet? 'Hometown Glory', her debut single, came out on vinyl in October, but her new tune 'Chasing Pavements' gets a proper release on January 21. Her debut album 19 follows a week later.

Is she popular on MySpace? Yes, but who isn't these days?

Is it permissible to compare her to another British soul singer who has become very popular, both in the charts and in the tabloids, over the last 12 months or so? In this case, yes.

Is she as marvellous as everyone says she is? Decide for yourself. Here's the video for 'Chasing Pavements':



Do you think Adele's worthy of all the hype? Just hit the usual button to let us know. Oh, and in case you missed it, we managed to grab Adele for a little chat a while back.