Adele back and better than ever after throat surgery
Britain’s assaults on the United States pop music scene were once collective efforts by bands of young men who called themselves things like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
The latest invasion is different: a onewoman show led by a down-to-earth soul singer from Tottenham.
In Los Angeles on Sunday, Adele Adkins, 23, walked away with six prizes from six nominations at the pop music industry’s most prestigious awards show, the Grammy. Her haul included the prizes for best record, best song and best album. She also used the event to make a storming comeback, performing live for the first time since cancelling a sold-out American tour last October to undergo career-threatening throat surgery.
As if to dispel doubts over her recov- ery, she began a brooding rendition of Rolling in the Deep, the best-selling single of 2011, unaccompanied. There were no pyrotechnics, no choreography. By the close, the crowd was on its feet. ‘‘She made it clear that her vocal prowess isn’t going anywhere,’’ blogged one critic.
The performance was the stand-out moment in a show that also included the first live performance by the Beach Boys in more than two decades and a haunting tribute to Whitney Houston, who died on Saturday, sung by a visibly shaken Jennifer Hudson.
Rolling in the Deep won best song and best record. Adele also took the Grammy for album of the year for 21 and added prizes for best pop solo performance, pop vocal and short video.
Adele, who was discovered in 2006 after a friend posted a demo on Myspace, is tied with Beyonce for the most Grammy wins by a woman in one evening.
All in all, then, not a bad result for a singer-songwriter who just months ago was forced to stop performing because of haemorrhaged vocal cords. Picking up her award for best vocal performance, she hinted at how close she had come to never singing again, thanking ‘‘my doctors . . . who brought my voice back’’.
One of those doctors, Steven Zeitels, a professor of laryngeal surgery at Harvard Medical School, said: ‘‘It was like being a parent.’’
Dr Zeitels hopes that his successful removal of a polyp from her voicebox will reassure singers after a similar procedure left Julie Andrews with scarring and curtailed her career.
He had examined Adele’s voicebox using a laryngoscope that he invented himself. He then used a laser, directed via a 0.3 millimetre glass fibre, to treat the unstable blood vessels that led to the creation of the polyp. ‘‘The surgery went beautifully. I might even hazard that she has an easier time singing now. For most people I operate on, the polyp has been there for years,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Adele reminded America that she is an unusually matter-of-fact star. After being awarded the best album prize for 21, she told the crowd: ‘‘This record is inspired by something that is really normal and everyone’s been through it – just a rubbish relationship.’’
The New York Times called Adele the ‘‘new queen of popular music’’ after the show. ‘‘A perfect champion for a beleaguered record industry: a pure, no-frills singer able to fuse heartbreak and melody and sell millions of records without outlandish costumes or titillating lyrics.’’