“Skyfall” was released at 12:07
a.m. on October 5, 2012 as part of the Global James Bond Day, which was a
celebration of the 50th anniversary of the release of Dr. No. The song was an
immediate success, going to number one on the UK’s iTunes online store less
than 10 hours after it was released. It
reached number two on the UK singles chart and eight on the Billboard Hot 100. It has sold more than 1.6 million copies in
the US and is the first Bond song to sell a million digital copies. Among worldwide music charts, “Skyfall”
peaked in top 10 among several countries, reaching the top spot in Belgium, the
Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Switzerland.
From initial contact to final
product, it took Adele and Epworth 18 months to complete “Skyfall.” Included in the music is an intentional
reference to Monty Norman’s “James Bond Theme” after the first chorus. Reviews were particularly positive, with many
comparisons being made to the Shirley Bassey themes. Along with Bassey’s influence, Epworth
watched the first 13 Bond films for additional inspiration.
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born
May 5, 1988, in Tottenham, north London, England. At the age of 4, Adele took an interest in
singing and cites the Spice Girls as major influences in her singing. She later became interested in R&B
artists, including Aaliyah, Destiny’s Child, and Mary J. Blige, and after
accidentally stumbling upon albums for Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald, Adele
started experimenting with her voice. In
May 2006, she graduated from the BRIT School for Performing Arts &
Technology.
Due to a posting of her demo on
MySpace in 2006, Adele was signed to a contract with XL Recordings, which led
to her debut album, 19, being
certified four times platinum in the UK and double platinum in the United
States. Her second single from the
album, “Chasing Pavements,” reached number two on the UK chart and stayed there
for four weeks. Subsequently, she won
Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Other awards included an Urban Music Award
for “Best Jazz Act,” a Q Awards nomination for Breakthrough Act, a Mercury
Prize nomination, and a Music of Black Origin nomination in Best UK Female.
Following an appearance on Saturday Night Live in 2008, Adele’s
popularity in America climbed sharply.
The day after her performance, 19
topped the iTunes charts and ranked at number five at Amazon.com and “Chasing
Pavements” rose into the top 25. The
album jumped 35 spots to number 11 on the Billboard
200.
Her second album in 2011, 21, was a critical and commercial smash,
surpassing the first. The album went on
be certified 16 times platinum in the UK and diamond in the United States. Adele’s record held the top position longer
than any album since 1985 and is the longest running number one album by a
female solo artist in the history of the UK and U.S. It won a record-tying six Grammy Awards,
including Album of the Year, two Brit Awards, and three American Music
Awards. In total, it has sold 30 million
copies worldwide. Adele became the first
artist ever to sell three million albums in the UK in one calendar year.
While her first and second
singles from 21, “Rolling in the
Deep” and “Someone like You,” respectively, were in the top five of the UK
singles chart, it made her the first living artist to achieve such a feat since
the Beatles in 1964. With the release of
her third single, “Set Fire to the Rain,” Adele became the first artist ever to
have an album hold the number-one position on the Billboard 200 concurrently with three number one singles.
Billboard named Adele Artist of the Year in 2011 and 2012. In 2012, she was listed at number five on
VH1’s 100 Greatest Women in Music and Time
magazine named her one of the most influential people in the world.
Adele has one child, with charity
entrepreneur Simon Konecki.
Paul Epworth, born July 25, 1974,
is an English music producer, musician, and songwriter who has worked with
artists that include Coldplay, Paul McCartney, Cee Lo Green, Florence and the
Machine, Foster the People, John Legend, and Bruno Mars.
Along with his producing and
songwriting, he is also known for remix work under the pseudonym Phones. His remix catalogue of music includes selections
from U2, P-Diddy, Nine Inch Nails, Interpol, and Coldplay. Epworth briefly did work under the name Epic
Man.
For Epworth’s work with Adele he
has won four Grammies and an Academy Award.
His production on the number one debut album Made of Bricks by Kate Nash included a writing credit on the hit
single “Foundations,” which earned him an Ivor Novello nomination. Epworth is a member of the Music Producers
Guild. In 2009, Epworth won best
newcomer at the inaugural Music Producers’ Guild Awards and the following year
he won the Brit Award’s, Music Producers’ Guild Award’s, and Music Week’s
Producer of the Year awards.
Jonathan Alfred Clawson Redford,
born July 14, 1953, is an American composer, arranger, orchestrator, and
conductor whose work spans across concert, chamber, and choral music, film,
television, and theater scores, and recorded music. Redford’s youth was influenced by arrange of
music, from symphonic, nineteenth-century opera, and film composition to the
Beatles, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, and jazz artists.
As a teenager, Redford worked as
a music arranger for rock ‘n’ roll bands and by his early 20 he was scoring
documentaries and educational films.
After moving to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, he started working in
television, with early composing for Starsky
& Hutch. During a 1980s American
Federation of Musicians strike, Redford used the time wisely, continuing his
education with Hal Johnson, Frederick Zweig, and Walter Scharf.
Excluding the time he was on
strike, Redford has been writing music at a steady pace since 1976, working
with such artists as Steven Curtis Chapman, Bonnie Raitt, and Sting. Artists that have performed his work include
the Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Kansas City Chorale, New York
Philharmonic, and Utah Symphony. His
work has also been featured in programs at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center,
Walt Disney Concert Hall, St. Peter’s Basilica, and London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Redford has written scores for
more than three dozen feature films and 500 episodes of television. His music on St. Elsewhere earned him Emmy nominations in 1984 and 1985.
Redford has authored a book,
titled Welcome All Wonders: A Composer’s
Journey.
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