Emeli Sande
Biography
Emeli Sandé, born Adele Emely Sandé on 10 March 1987 in Sunderland (North East England), is a British singer and songwriter. Her father is Zambian and her mother British; she studied medicine at the University of Glasgow before focusing on writing for other artists.
She has written for Cher Lloyd, Susan Boyle, Gabrielle, Preeya Kalidas, Rihanna, Leona Lewis, Alesha Dixon, Cheryl Cole, Tinie Tempah, Ella Henderson, Mutya Keisha Siobhan, Alicia Keys and the group Parade. In 2010 she signed with EMI and later with Virgin Records.
Her first single, Heaven, was released in August 2011 and her debut album Our Version of Events came out on 13 February 2012 (released in France in March 2012). The singles Read All About It (Part III), Next to Me and Beneath Your Beautiful reached the top three in the UK and Ireland; the album sold more than three million copies worldwide and was certified seven-times platinum in the UK.
She performed at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics, opened for Coldplay on the Mylo Xyloto tour (including Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy on 14 December 2011) and appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival 2012 on the Miles Davis Hall stage. At the NRJ Music Awards 2012 she performed Titanium with David Guetta; in 2013 she sang a duet with Louis Delort, performing Read All About It (Part. III).
At the Brit Awards 2013 she won Best Female Solo Artist and Album of the Year.