Adele. Sean Smith

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СКАЧАТЬ took the surname of his mother, Siobhan O’Sullivan. Marc set up home with them in Llantwit Major, a small resort seventeen miles west of Penarth.

      Adele was thrilled to meet her little brother and, despite an age gap of seven years, has always been fond of Cameron in the manner of a big sister who’s the boss. ‘He looks like my twin,’ she happily observed. ‘We’re identical, same hair and everything. It’s bizarre growing up in a completely different city but then, when you see each other, it’s as if you’ve spent every day of your lives together.’

      Adele got on fine with her father’s new family and occasionally would stay with them, but more usually she remained in Penarth with Nana and Grampy. Her legion of cousins grew even larger when Uncle Richard, who was still in London, started a family and had a son called Jasper, whom she also saw from time to time.

      Marc, meanwhile, flitted from job to job. He worked another season in Barry before setting up a flower stall in Penarth. He subsequently went back to plumbing – this time on his own in Llantwit Major, not the family business.

      Penny and Adele were on the move too: they relocated to Brighton. Adele still refers to herself as a Tottenham girl, but she hasn’t lived there since she was nine years old. Leaving Tottenham was one of two important events in Adele’s young life that would spell the end of her childhood. She commented, ‘I had a great childhood. I was very loved.’

      Bizarrely, they cleared out of the flat in Shelbourne Road so abruptly that they left all sorts of possessions stashed away in the loft, including Adele’s electric guitar, suitable for ages six and up, which had a ‘special singalong head microphone for a really professional performance’, a keyboard, her tricycle and her birth card from the National Childbirth Trust.

      It was a dramatic move for them both, leaving behind the security of close family in Tottenham. It meant an end to whiling away afternoons strolling on the banks of the River Lea to visit cousins. The river, which rises in the Chiltern Hills near Luton and flows through Tottenham on its way to the Thames, figured large in Adele’s childhood memories and is the title of one of the songs on the album 25. ‘It’s a filthy river,’ she once said with some affection.

      Penny thought they would be happier in the trendy coastal town, which enjoyed a reputation as a centre for artistic pursuits. She had met an older man who owned a furniture shop and she went to work there, not only serving customers, but also taking a keen interest in furniture design.

      Mother and daughter settled into a large flat in a Georgian house in East Drive, right next to the agreeable Queen’s Park, which boasts a large pond, ideal for feeding ducks, and a ten-minute walk from the seafront. Brighton should have been ideal for Adele, especially as she was so fond of Penarth. She hated it, however, complaining, ‘The people seemed really pretentious and posh, and there were no black people there.’

      She was delighted when her mother embarked on a much more serious relationship and moved back to London. They settled in Brixton, near the border with Streatham in Cotherstone Road, an unpretentious urban street. They moved in with Penny’s new boyfriend, Simon, who worked as a computer programmer and became the stepfather in Adele’s life. He had been brought up in the Home Counties before starting his career in London.

      Penny took him and Adele to meet the Welsh side of her daughter’s family and he impressed everyone with his easy-going, friendly nature. Marc Evans thought he was ‘a lovely, lovely chap’. He observed, ‘He was a really mellow guy. Nothing would faze him. He would just let it go over his head – he was that type of fellow.’

      Adele was much happier back in the city until a second significant event occurred that was the most traumatic of her young life to date.

      John Evans, her beloved Grampy, had been diagnosed with bowel cancer and the prognosis was poor. He was admitted to the Velindre Cancer Centre in Whitchurch, Cardiff, just before her eleventh birthday in May 1999.

      Penny drove Adele up to see him several times during the last weeks as he slipped away. It was very hard for the young girl to cope. She recalled, ‘I was so uncomfortable with it that I nicked his wheelchair and was just going up and down the hospital corridors because I couldn’t face the fact that the love of my life, my granddad, was dying. I wish that I’d sat with him on the bed and given him a cuddle and told him how much I loved him, but I was just too overwhelmed.’

      He died, aged fifty-seven, on 23 May and Adele was absolutely devastated. She said, movingly, ‘I painted him as this Jesus figure in my life. I loved him so much, more than the world.’

      Despite being so grief-stricken, Adele bravely went with Penny to the funeral at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Penarth. She wanted to be there not just for herself but also for her grandmother: ‘My grampy and my nana had always been my ideal relationship – ideal friendship, companionship, everything. Even though I’m sure there’s loads of shit I don’t know about, as their granddaughter it was bliss, just heaven. I was so, so sad.’

      Even though she coped well on the day, Adele didn’t seem to be able to get over her sense of desolation. After a few weeks, her worried mother decided to seek professional help and took Adele to see a counsellor experienced in dealing with bereavement in children. Adele, it became clear, was a far more sensitive girl than people realised. She needed time to work through her feelings. It perhaps goes some way to explaining her heartfelt and intense response to the trauma of breaking up with people she loved – a mixture of anger and regret at being left and a heightened sense of loss.

      Seeking something positive from her unhappiness, Adele told her mother that she was going to be a heart surgeon. She revealed her ambition: ‘I wanted to fix people’s hearts.’

      3

       The Miseducation of Adele Adkins

      Adele’s ambitions tended not to last long. Her mother was used to her wanting to be all sorts of things as she grew up. She had as many passing fancies as any other girl. At various stages, she wanted to be a weathergirl, a ballet dancer, a fashion writer and a saxophone player. Her mum would try to find a local class that might help, only to discover, as many parents do, that the following week it was all forgotten. Adele appreciated the support and encouragement: ‘She has always said, “Do what you want, and, if you’re happy, I’m happy.”’ She was certainly more content in an urban environment where she could make friends easily.

      Adele may have wanted to be a Spice Girl, but she was never one to announce loudly in class that she was going to be a star. Her musical taste was evolving, however. Simon came home one day with a present for her – a video of the movie Flubber, starring Robin Williams. It was great fun, but after watching it a couple of times, the invention of a magic gel began to lose its appeal. At the same time, he had brought Penny a copy of the ground-breaking album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the first solo album from the acclaimed singer of The Fugees. Penny played it constantly and soon Adele found herself singing along with the help of the lyrics sheet: ‘I remember having the sleeve notes and reading every lyric and not understanding half of them and just thinking, “When am I going to be that passionate about something to write a record about it?”, even though at that age I didn’t know that I was going to make a record when I was older.’

      Her mum heard her singing Lauryn’s break-up song ‘Ex-Factor’ one day and asked her daughter if she understood what it was about. Adele had to admit that she didn’t have a clue. She did, however, understand the anguish in certain love songs: ‘I always loved the ones about horrible relationships. Those were the ones you could relate to and that always made you cry.’ СКАЧАТЬ