Emeli Sande

Adele Emily Gouraguine, born 10 March 1987, better known as Emeli Sandé, is a Scottish recording artist and songwriter.

Adele Emily Sandé was born in Sunderland, to a Zambian father, Joel Sandé, and English mother, Diane Sandé-Wood, on 10 March 1987.

Her father moved from Zambia and met her mother while they were both at university in Sunderland. The family moved to Alford, Aberdeenshire when she was four.

Sandé wrote her first song at age 11, for her primary school talent show. She remembers "That was the first time I thought I might be a songwriter. I always knew I wanted to be a musician and I knew I wanted to write because the people I was listening to all wrote. I never thought it was an option to sing anyone else's songs.”

The first song she wrote was called "Tomorrow Starts Again" – the song had proper structure and even a middle eight.

2008–10: Career beginningsSandé's sister made a video of her playing the piano and singing to one of her favourite songs, "Nasty Little Lady".They sent the

clip to Trevor Nelson's BBC Urban music competition. Sandé won the show and was offered a record deal,

2011–13: Our Version of Events and breakthrough

Sandé revealed her first solo single would be released in early 2011.

2013–present: Upcoming second studio album and community presence

In May 2013, she performed at the White House in Washington, D.C., as one of the featured artists at the award ceremony when President Obama presented Carole King

with the Library of Congress Gershwin Medal. From June 2013, Sandé will be writing her second upcoming studio album, which was slated for release in summer 2014. She has already written several songs, which include "Pluto" with Naughty Boy, "Enough", "Call Me What You Like", "You and Me" and "This Much Is True" which was written for her

husband, Adam. During U.S. Summer Tour in July 2013, Sandé performed "Free" from Rudimental's album Home, "Lifted" from Naughty Boy's album Hotel Cabana.

Musical style Sandé possesses a soprano vocal range. Sandé said she wanted her music to be remembered as that of Nina Simone, one of her favourite artists. She went on to say, Nina Simone achieved this for herself and writing her own songs is the best way possible. At the age of 8, Sande was first exposed to Simone when she performed the song "Why?" after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. After hearing such sorrow yet uplifting lyrics and expression through her performance, Sande was inspired to have a similar future with her music career. She also said; "These days nothing lasts, music is like fast food, you're in then you're out. She said, as much as she would like, she would never play the piano as well as Simone, but she would give it her best shot. She loves the songs Simone produced, including "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and Simone's version of "I Think It's Going to Rain Today". She said that Simone's original songs are very poetic and she said "So when I listen to commercial stuff at the moment, I’m just thinking ‘haven’t you heard Nina Simone, haven’t you heard how a song should be written?“ She went onto say "We choose and consume, feast and forget, then rush on to the next hot thing. There's no point chasing that kind of success because it's so transient. Far better to follow (our) own paths and be true to (ourselves)."