‘I’m not sure why she’s chosen James,
other than a reference to James Bond, and God alone knows where Angelo
has come from. It’s very LA, isn’t it?
‘If only she’d called him John. That would have meant so much to me – and to Dad, God bless him. He’d have been so touched.
‘She
spent every minute with him when she came to stay at weekends and
school holidays as a kid. She adored him and he always had so much time
and patience for her.
‘It’s
Dad I think of when I see Adele on television now. It tears me apart to
see her living her dream because I know how much my father would have
loved to have seen her succeed. I can’t watch her live shows, it is too
painful for me because all I would think about is what my father, who
loved her so much, was missing.
‘The
same goes for the Oscars. I know she’ll win because she’s brilliant
but I won’t be there and I won’t even watch it on television. It would
upset me too much to know that I was watching something that my dad
never got to see. I’d break down and fall apart.
No-go : Mark says Adele views him as 'dead' to
her - and has barred him from seeing her son, Angelo James, who was born
in October
Superstar: Adele at the Golden Globe Awards
earlier this month, where she won Best Original Song, Skyfall, the theme
of the Bond film of the same name
‘And believe me, if Adele
caught a glimpse of my face at the Oscars and saw how upset I was, she’d
know straight away what I was thinking and the kid would crumple. I’d
never want to put either of us through that.’
He
said the current situation meant he was ‘missing out on so many of the
joys of being a grandfather. Simple pleasures like taking him out for a
walk in his buggy along the promenade at Penarth like I used to with
Adele, then stop off for an ice cream on the way back.
‘I want to do all the grandad stuff with him – feed the ducks in park, skim pebbles in the sea, splash around in the surf.
‘And
then there’s all the music we could listen to together. I’d play him my
old blues records and sing him lullabies to help him close his eyes at
bedtime.
‘I just want
normality. I want to be like any other grandad. I’ve got mates who I see
with their grandchildren and I can’t bear to watch. It shows me what
I’m missing out on.’
The
family rift can, it appears, be traced back to an interview Mark gave in
2011 as his 24-year-old daughter stood in the brink of global stardom
following the release of her autobiographical album 21, which laid bare
the painful breakdown of a relationship and which went on to win six
Grammy awards.
In it he took
full responsibility for his failings as a father – walking out when his
daughter was three, leaving her mother Penny Adkins to raise her
single-handedly. Despite the breakdown of his relationship with Penny,
Mark remained close to Adele, who would spend school holidays in Wales
with her grandparents Rose and John Evans and her half-brother Cameron,
now 18.
Icon: Adele has become one of the biggest solo artists on the planet and has amassed a fortune of an estimated £20million
He admits he lost touch with his
daughter when he suffered a breakdown following the death of Adele’s
grandfather John in 1999 and the collapse of a relationship that
triggered a long battle with alcoholism.
But
after a three-year hiatus, father and daughter were reunited when Adele
was 15 and he became her most loyal fan, watching proudly as her career
took off with the release of critically acclaimed debut album 19 in
2008.
‘When Adele was
growing up I wasn’t a great example of what a father should be, but I
always kept in touch and saw her regularly. She came to stay with me and
my parents at weekends and school holidays and we were very close,’
said Mark.
‘Things went wrong when she was 12
because I had issues to deal with, including the deaths of my father and
my closest buddy, but we overcame that and we were best mates again by
the time she was 15.
‘I
remember trying to explain my absence to her then and she cut in and
said, “It’s OK Dad, I love you.” Since then, we’d always got on great
again and no one has enjoyed her success more than me.’
But
the relationship took a turn in 2011, after the release of Adele’s
second album 21, which produced the hits Rolling In The Deep and Someone
Like You and went to No 1 in 26 countries. Mark says that as the world
went into overdrive to find out who had inspired the record, he was
besieged by requests for interviews about his now-famous daughter.
‘A
journalist had called at my mother’s home and tried to get an
interview with her. My mum immediately rang Adele and a few minutes
later, Adele’s management were on the phone to Mum telling her to say
nothing.
‘The same
afternoon, I also got a call asking if I wanted to do an interview. I
immediately told the guy to leave me alone, but not as politely as
that, and called Adele. She told me the same man had been at my mother’s
house and then said, “Tell you what Dad, we’ll do it together. We’ll do
a joint interview and get it all out in the open.”
‘I
was surprised but I said, “I’ll do whatever makes you happy sweetheart,
you know that.” Adele said she’d make the necessary arrangements.
‘The
next morning, she rings up and says, “Sorry Dad, I can’t do the
interview, I’m about to catch a flight to America.” That’s rock and
roll, I thought. But I assumed from the fact she wanted to do an
interview with me, she wouldn’t mind me going ahead on my own. I
genuinely believed I was doing her a favour by speaking about how proud I
was of her and how ashamed I was for my shortcomings as a parent,
because it would put it out there on the record and stop people
bothering her about it.
‘I
called her several times to double check she was happy for me to speak
but I couldn’t get hold of her. I still assumed she didn’t mind.
‘Even
afterwards I thought everything was fine because I got feedback from
her management that she was very happy with the piece. Then, a few days
later, I got a call from Adele’s mum, Penny, shouting down the phone,
“You shouldn’t have done that.” Before I could reply, she hung up. That
was the last contact I had with either of them.
‘It’s
so sad it’s come to this, and all over an honest account of my feelings
for her. I’ve never said a bad word about Adele and I’m absolutely
gutted she’s cut me out of her life.’
Golden Voice: Adele became a star after talent spotters heard a demo of her voice on My Space after a friend had put it online
Since
then Mark says he’s gone to extreme lengths to get in touch with his
daughter – even travelling to London to try to reach her through her
record company.
The wall of
silence has been especially painful for Mark given the close
relationship Adele shared with her grandfather. ‘It breaks my heart that
Adele is so hell-bent on cutting me off like this,’ he said. ‘I knew
she had met her new fella and although I hadn’t met him, I liked the
sound of him. But it was a bolt out of the blue when I found out she was
expecting.
‘As soon as I
found out, I wanted more than ever to get in touch and meet up so I
could see how she was with my own eyes and let her know I’m here for
her.
‘In desperation, I even
went to London to see her management at her record label XL Recordings,
to try to contact her. I poured my heart out to some numpty publicist
and begged him to persuade her to ring me. It was embarrassing and
humiliating revealing everything to a complete stranger. The guy said
he’d pass my message on but I never heard back from him or Adele, I’m
sorry to say. I don’t even know if that message got to her.
‘But
she can’t be in any doubt that I want to see her, to find out what’s
wrong and show her I want and need to play a part in her life other than
Mr Rotten Dad. She’s obviously taken against me and I feel powerless to
change her opinion. I think none of this would be happening if Dad was
still alive. My dad and Adele were incredibly close and he’d have got us
all together and united us again.’
Despite
the breakdown of her relationship with her father, Adele is still in
touch with Mark’s mother Rose Evans and half-brother Cameron, Mark’s son
from a later relationship.
On
his Twitter page Cameron, a student, appears to suggest he met his
nephew on a trip to London earlier this month, writing: ‘Nephew is
A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.’, adding: ‘Not being able to share photos of the baby and
sister on Twitter is so ******* annoying. All of my camera phone photos
weren’t allowed.’
And
while Mark, who grew up in Penarth on the South Wales coast, freely
admits he may ‘not have been the best father in the world’, he claims he
did give Adele – whose full name is Adele Laurie Blue Adkins – her
greatest gift, the unique voice that has helped her earn an estimated
£20 million.
Mixing with the stars: Adele and actor Jamie Foxx shared a joke at the Golden Globe Awards earlier this month
‘My mother has a
voice like an angel and still sings in the choir at our local church,
All Saints. She used to take me every Sunday. I practised in the week
and I was solo chorister. I sounded like Aled Jones until my voice
started breaking, then they found someone else and I moved on to jazz. I
loved singing so much I planned to go to the Welsh School of Music and
Drama after school. The problem was, I had zero confidence and I bottled
it. Thank God Adele picked up where I left off and made something of
the family voice.
‘Adele was always a very happy and confident girl when she was young. I never knew her to suffer from nerves or stage fright.
‘From
the age of four or five, she used to sing and dance for me and my
family and play her little guitar she bought for £3 at a charity shop in
Tottenham and she loved it. She was a natural performer. If nerves came
in, it must have been much later.
‘When
she was a baby I’d lie on the sofa all night cradling Adele in my arms
and listening to my favourite music – Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong,
Bob Dylan and Nina Simone. We’d lie there listening to all the great
singers who were influenced by Blues. Night after night and all weekend
I’d play those records. I’m certain that is what shaped Adele’s music
today.
‘The music I loved is
what gave me the idea for one of Adele’s middle names, Blue, as in the
Blues. I wanted it to be her first name, but Penny, who wanted to call
her Adele, won that one. But I’ve always loved the name – I’ve given it
to one of my cats now – and I always think of Adele as Blue.’
Additional reporting: Nick North.
