Adele has been named: The Sound of 2008

No, I am not sleeping with this chick or anything. Just throwing mad support because we like.

Teenage soul singer Adele has come top of the BBC's Sound of 2008 poll to find the most promising new music talent.

Almost 150 UK music critics, editors and broadcasters took part in the poll by naming their favourite new acts.

Adele, 19 (also the name of her forthcoming debut album), from London, went to the same performing arts school as Amy Winehouse, Katie Melua and Kate Nash.

She was followed in second place by fellow soul singer Duffy. Mika came top of the list last year, with Corinne Bailey Rae at number one in 2006.

The pundits were asked to pick the artists or groups they thought were the most exciting talents for the coming 12 months.


SOUND OF 2008 TOP 10
1. Adele
2. Duffy
3. The Ting Tings
4. Glasvegas
5. Foals
6. Vampire Weekend
7. Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong
8. Black Kids
9. MGMT
10. Santogold

The participants ranged from the heads of radio and TV playlists to newspaper critics and music magazine editors.

Adele's music has already earned her appearances on Jools Holland and Jonathan Ross's television shows and she has been given strong support by BBC Radios 1 and 2.

She says she discovered her voice by singing along to Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald CDs before going to the Brit school for performing arts in Croydon at the same time as Kate Nash.

She is signed to the XL label, home to the White Stripes, Radiohead and her close friend Jack Penate.

Talking about her rapid rise, she said: "I'm really excited.

"I hope it's always about the music and I hope I don't become scandalous and it takes me an hour to get out of my front door.

"I hope I always enjoy it, and I think I will. I'm having a laugh."

Duffy's wicked and I think people believe me and my music, so I think that's why we're at the top
- Adele

BBC Two's Later With Jools Holland gave her a slot months before her first release, and the show's producer Alison Howe described her as "special".
"Adele's voice melted our hearts when we first heard her last spring and we had to have her on the show," she said.

"We sandwiched her between Sir Paul McCartney and Bjork before she'd even released a record. But like any confident, self-assured, sassy 19-year-old south London girl, it didn't phase her one bit."

Paul Rees, editor of Q magazine, said it was "refreshing to hear something different" after being inundated with "identikit bands who want to sound like The Libertines".

"That Adele also has a voice that could stop traffic makes it doubly so," he said.
Adele, who does not use her surname Adkins in public, said soul singers would do well in 2008 because the music was "believable".

"I think Duffy's wicked and I think people believe me and my music, so I think that's why we're at the top."

Duffy, who has a classic soul sound, has drawn comparisons with Dusty Springfield.

"Garage pop" duo The Ting Tings and Scottish indie group Glasvegas - both of whom have been championed by music weekly NME - are in third and fourth places respectively.

Oxford punk-funk pioneers Foals complete the top five.

The pundits named their favourite three new acts, with the choices tallied up to compile the list.

Acts were ineligible if they had scored a UK top 20 single or were already famous for any reason, such as appearing on a TV talent show or enjoying success in a previous band.

The Sound of... poll is now in its sixth year. Klaxons, Kaiser Chiefs, KT Tunstall and Keane are among the other acts who have appeared on previous lists before making it big.


The BBC News website's Sound of 2008 survey has canvassed almost 150 influential and impartial UK-based music critics and broadcasters to find their favourite new acts. The pundits were: LIST

http://www.adele.tv/
http://www.myspace.com/adelelondon

Watch an interview and tracks from Adele's performance below.
Chasing Pavements
Crazy For You
Day Dreamer
Hometown Glory
Make You Feel My Love
Right As RainAdele's interview with Simon Mayo

Nineteen year old Londoner Adele has been songwriting and playing guitar since she was fourteen. Despite coming from an un-musical family Adele has always felt the desire to entertain. As a child she was a huge fan of the Spice Girls and Gabrielle and used to put on miniature concerts to entertain her Mum and her Mum’s friends. One of her Dad’s best friends, a dance producer thought that Adele had an amazing voice and invited her to record the cover ‘Heart of Glass’. As soon as Adele put the microphone in her hand she realised that this was definitely her calling.

At secondary school Adele was able to hang out with all the “the R&B kids” and “sit around the playground singing.” However it was a pretty rough place and pursuing music there was something of a challenge. So determined to follow her dreams Adele signed up to The Brit School.

During her second year, Adele’s resolve to be a singer was given a little extra boost – Shingai Shoniwa, from The Noisettes moved in next door. Adele and Shingai spent many jamming session together and it made Adele realised that she wanted to become a writer and not just sing Destiny’s Child songs.

In 2004 she set up her own MySpace page and by 2006 record companies had started to take and interest in her. She eventually signed up to XL Recordings who look after The White Stripes and for rappers, like Dizzee Rascal.

A fan of such diverse artists as Jill Scott, Etta James, Billy Bragg, Peggy Lee, Jeff Buckley and The Cure, Adele’s soul-tinged songs are about being eighteen and nineteen and dealing with love. She’s recently completed her first solo UK tour, having toured previously with the likes of Jack Penate, Jamie T, Raul Midon, Amos Lee and Devendra Banhart.

She’ll be releasing her first full single ‘Chasing Pavement’ in January, but you’ll be able to get a taste of her music at this small intimate concert she’s performing for Radio 2.


Source: BBC