From The Straits Times    |

Singer Adele cancelled the last two sell-out shows of her world tour due to take place at London’s Wembley Stadium last weekend after damaging her vocal cords. She also said she might retire from live performances.

The 29-year-old Grammy winner said her throat doctor advised her not to perform.

She had already performed last Wednesday and Thursday night to sell-out crowds of 100,000 at Wembley, but said she had been struggling vocally.

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“To say I’m heartbroken would be an understatement,” she said on her Twitter page.

She said she was so desperate to perform that she had even considered miming at the shows. “I’ve never done it and I cannot in a million years do that to you,” she said. “It wouldn’t be the real me up there.”

She said refunds would be available if the shows could not be rescheduled.

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In a handwritten note included in last Thursday’s concert programme at Wembley, where she was playing four final shows on a 123-date global tour, she hinted she might retire from touring.

“Touring is a peculiar thing. It doesn’t suit me particularly well,” read the note, which several fans posted on social media.

“I’m a real homebody and I get so much joy in the small things. Plus I’m dramatic and have a terrible history of touring,” she wrote.

“I wanted my final shows to be in London because I don’t know if I’ll ever tour again and so I want my last time to be at home.”

She has defied pop conventions by winning massive fan bases with heart-rending ballads Someone Like You and Hello.

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Adele, who has frequently spoken of suffering stage-fright, disappeared from the public eye for several years and had a son before releasing an album, 25, in 2015.

In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine last year, she said she would be happy if she never had to tour again.

“I’d still like to make records, but I’d be fine if I never heard (the applause) again. I’m on tour simply to see everyone who’s been so supportive. I don’t care about money.”

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