Adele Maria Bertei was born on 1955 and is an American singer, songwriter, writer, and director.
16 Facts About Adele Bertei
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Adele Bertei is the oldest of three children born to Katherine and Umberto Bertei.
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Adele Bertei's father was an Italian immigrant and her mother was of Irish and French Canadian descent.
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Adele Bertei never completed a formal education and is an autodidact.
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Adele Bertei began writing poetry at a very young age and was discovered as a singer by legendary Cleveland musician Peter Laughner, who mentored her and convinced her to pursue a career in music.
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Adele Bertei began her career playing guitar and singing in the Wolves, her first band with Laughner.
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Adele Bertei left Cleveland for New York City in 1977 shortly after Laughner died prematurely of complications due to alcoholism.
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Adele Bertei quickly became a prominent figure in the no wave art and music scene in NYC, playing Acetone organ and guitar in the original line up of the Contortions fronted by James Chance.
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Adele Bertei performed the song live on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1984.
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Adele Bertei has written songs for artists as varied as The Pointer Sisters, Sheena Easton, Thomas Dolby, Arthur Baker, Jellybean Benitez, The Anubian Lights, Lydia Lunch and Matthew Sweet.
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Adele Bertei signed with Chrysalis Records in 1985 and recorded the song "When It's Over", produced by David Gamson and Fred Maher of Scritti Politti and John Potoker, with Green Gartside providing guest vocals.
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Adele Bertei performed the song with Jellybean on the UK's Top of the Pops that year.
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Adele Bertei continued to work as a backing vocalist, most notably for Tears for Fears' Sowing the Seeds of Love tour in 1990 where she sang backing vocals for the opening act, Blondie's Deborah Harry.
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Adele Bertei has been awarded a writing fellowship at the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation fellowship for the Tomales Bay Workshops, specifically to work with Dorothy Allison in 2010.
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Adele Bertei has worked as a US contributing editor-at-large for the Caribbean arts and culture magazine 6 Carlos.
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Adele Bertei launched a website in 2011 and based on writing featured there, has been approached to pen her memoirs.