ADELE scooped yet another gong at Sunday's Grammy Awards, but seven years ago she was performing for a very different audience as she stole the show in a school talent contest.
Liz Penney, Adele's former music teacher at the BRIT School, remembers the pop sensation leaving audiences awestruck with her performance of Daydreamer, the first track on her debut album, during an annual music show.
She said; "Every year we do a show which is called Best Of. It included the best performances from the year, and when she was about 17 – nearly 18 – Adele sang Daydreamer and stole the show.
"In our feedback session afterwards everyone spoke about how they were really wowed by her performance. It was something special."
Adele joined the Brit School, whose former students include Jessie J and Amy Winehouse, in Year 10 after spending three years at Chestnut Grove school in Balham, south west London.
Miss Penney, who is head of music at the Brit, said Adele showed talent in her early years but that in Year 13 she started to become, "more noticeable as someone who could write and sing".
And she recalled how in Year 11, Adele was happy spending time on her own despite being very popular.
"I remember walking down the corridor and she would be sitting in a little alcove on her own with her lyric book and an acoustic guitar," she said.
"She would take herself off while other people were busy and sit and write.
"That was just in Year 11, but I do have a distinct memory of thinking that was very focused of someone so young not to be gossiping in the canteen."
Miss Penney says she finds Adele's success surreal. She remembers the pop star winning a Fame Academy bursary when she was about 16, which meant she won £1,000 and got to meet Paul McCartney.
"I went along with Adele and her mum, and Adele and I were both really excited about meeting Paul McCartney. We both ran up to him to shake his hand.
"It is all quite ironic now, seeing Adele at the Grammys and Paul McCartney winking and waving at her.
"It is very strange that there she was age 16, and now they are more than acquaintances."
Adele, 24, has been nominated for best original song – Skyfall – at the Oscars this year. She is set to perform the Bond theme at the event on February 24.
It will be the first time she has performed live since the 2012 Brit awards.
The singer said in a statement: "It's an honour to be nominated and terrifyingly wonderful to be singing in front of people who have captured my imagination over and over again."
