- Katie Markham, 39, started impersonating Adele in 2011 and performed her act on "X Factor" in 2013.
- Being selected for a BBC special where she sang with the real Adele skyrocketed her tribute career.
- She shared how the singer inspired her own weight loss and how she stays up to date on new material.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Katie Markham, a 39-year-old Adele impersonator from North Lincolnshire, England. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I've always loved performing. I've been doing musical theater since I was 3. It was something I enjoyed, but I didn't think that was a career path that was possible, so I made a living from doing agency work in factories.
When I was 25, I'd won several singing competitions, including one where I won 1,000 pounds and another where I won a trip to Las Vegas.
So I decided to take the plunge. I quit packing cameras in a factory and became a full-time singer in 2007.
I started singing in working men's clubs and bars. I charged between 140 pounds and 160 pounds per gig, but after fuel and agency fees, I only earned about 100 pounds. I was doing as many gigs a week as possible to pay my bills.
Soon after I went full time, Adele's first album blew up in the UK. "Chasing Pavements" and "Hometown Glory" were key to my sets.
At gigs I was always being told that I sounded like Adele and even looked like her, despite being 10 years older. In 2011, my management entered me in a talent showcase as an Adele tribute, and it went from there.
I wasn't sure how to put the tribute across at first. Adele and I are similar in personality, but I'm from a different part of the UK. Our accents are completely different.
A lot of people pretend to fully be Adele in their acts, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that. I'm very much me.
I've picked up her mannerisms, and I definitely have the same sense of humor as Adele. I've got a proper cackle when I laugh, like she does.
On holiday in Ibiza, I sang Adele at my resort's karaoke night. The hotel management was so impressed, they offered me the chance to perform 30 minutes a day for the rest of my vacation. The managers at the hotel paid for me to fly from the UK to Ibiza to perform my tribute show several times a year.
Each time I went, there would be a new crowd of people, all of different ages, so I learned how to interact with the crowd and what songs each age group liked to hear. The Ibiza crowds get rowdier as the night goes on, so it helped build a rapport with the audience as they were willing to be more brazen.
After two seasons performing in Ibiza, I found that lots of bars and clubs where I gigged at home were closing. I wasn't booking many jobs in the UK, and I was beginning to lose confidence. Then, in 2013, I managed to get through to the Six Chair Challenge of "X Factor."
This gave me the boost I needed. I started gigging in hotels as Adele. Later, I went on to casinos. I then took the show on cruises.
My career really took off after I was scouted by the BBC for a show about Adele tributes in 2015
It felt off right from the start, with the producers following me around — even to the toilet.
As we were watching "Jenny" sing, I was the first to clock that it was Adele in prosthetics. It was such an emotional moment when we all sang with her. She was so lovely — gossiping backstage with us.
The exposure from the BBC skit led me to my current gig as Adele in the stage show "Someone Like You: The Adele Songbook." I perform in theatres internationally. This year, I've been in Germany and Finland.
The theater show provides an alternative for people who can't go to see Adele or don't have the money to pay for tickets. Pricing for the theatre show can be around 25 pounds.
Despite being one of the most-followed and highly regarded Adele acts, I'm one of the cheaper tributes. My prices start at around 500 pounds per gig.
Lockdown was hard for everyone, but particularly performers. I was in Finland performing at the time, and we had to scramble to get back before the borders shut.
Pictures of Adele came out showing her weight loss. I hadn't been very healthy while touring, so seeing Adele's new look helped me get fit.
I used the 1:1 Diet and became a weight-loss consultant for it during lockdown, which sustained my income while I couldn't do my tribute.
I don't get any special treatment when it comes to Adele's new music. I have a Google Alert for her on my phone, and I keep up to date with her interviews and appearances. When Adele released "Easy on Me," I was up at midnight like everyone else, learning the song by heart.
We've added eight songs from her new album to the theater show, and I've been rehearsing them so that we're ready for the first performance.
Work is chockablock now. I've spoken on radio shows and television about Adele's comeback. If there are no new restrictions, I'll be performing five shows a week, plus my own smaller tribute shows.
As an Adele tribute, I've sang in massive theaters and had people sing back to me. Feeling a tiny bit of what Adele must feel is incredible. No wonder she's always bawling her eyes out on stage.