It was arguably the biggest music industry party of the summer so far.
Held earlier this month at the sprawling Wiltshire home of Lucy Dickins – the long-serving agent and close friend of singer Adele – the three-day extravaganza to mark her 50th birthday had gathered together some of the biggest stars and executives in the business and beyond.
Oscar-nominated actress Keira Knightley was among the guests on the dance floor, alongside Rivals and EastEnders actor Danny Dyer.
Former TV presenter Denise van Outen presided over the DJ booth, while Rob
Stringer, the global CEO of Sony Music – Adele’s record label – had jetted across the Atlantic for the event and was, I’m told, enjoying himself immensely.
Also seen mingling with the A-list crowd was Simon Konecki, Adele’s ex-husband and the father of her 12-year-old son Angelo. He had flown in from California to attend the bash.
But such an esteemed guest list made the absence of one particular person all the more curious. Where, everyone asked, was 37-year-old Adele herself? There was no sign of the Tottenham-born singer, who – as observers have told me – was expected to be the ‘belle of the ball’ alongside birthday girl Lucy.
Adele is engaged to American sports agent Rich Paul (pictured), after four years of dating, and they are said to be ‘joyously happy’
After all, everyone describes the pair, who have known each other for 20 years, as incredibly close. And Adele is known to have some time on her hands at the moment, having taken an extended hiatus from work following the conclusion of her hugely successful two-year Las Vegas residency, Weekends With Adele, in November last year.
As far as anyone knows, there is no new album in the offing, or any performing commitments, which might have held her back.
And without an obvious reason to stay away, it’s no surprise that Adele’s absence became the talk of the party. As one insider tells me: ‘It’s a massive mystery – where was Adele? She and Lucy are best friends. They are so close, and it was a huge milestone for her.
‘It’s most strange – utterly bizarre. She doesn’t have any current touring or concert commitments. In fact, she said some months ago she wasn’t even working at the moment. There must have been a good reason.
Adele can be a woman of mystery, but not when it comes to her nearest and dearest.’
Despite her split from Eton-educated Konecki in 2019, after eight years together and a year of marriage, his presence alone was certainly not enough to keep her at bay.
I’m assured that the couple have remained on good terms as they co-parent Angelo. She is also now happily engaged to American sports agent Rich Paul, after four years of dating, and they are said to be ‘joyously happy’.
But perhaps this relationship offers some clues to her absence.
Lucy Dickins – the long-serving agent and close friend of hit singer Adele – earlier this month held a three-day extravaganza to mark her 50th birthday
While Adele gives away virtually nothing about her private life – indeed, she is one of the most guarded celebrities I have ever come across – she offered fans some tantalising insight last year as to her plans for the immediate future.
Speaking on stage at Caesars Palace in May 2024, during one of her Las Vegas shows, she described how she wanted to have a second child – preferably a girl – once she had finished performing in the US and in Germany, where she also had a residency in Munich last summer.
‘Once I’m done with all of my obligations and all of my shows, I want to have a baby,’ she told the delighted crowd in footage shared by a fan.
‘And I want to have a girl because I’ve already got a boy. I feel like she might be the person I love the most in the world and I’ll probably hate the most in the world as well. She’s going to put me in my place all the time, isn’t she?’
The Easy On Me singer quipped that any new baby was going to inherit a rather quirky personality from her parents. She added: ‘With me as her mother and Rich as her father, my daughter’s going to be a bossy little queen, isn’t she?’
Whether this particular dream is something that has come true for the couple is, of course, a matter for Adele and Rich. But, given how public she has been about her desire for another child, it is understandable that this – along with her unexpected no-show at the party – prompted excited chatter.
‘It was certainly being talked about – in a really, really nice way – at Lucy’s party,’ says my insider. ‘How lovely would that be?’
Simon Konecki (pictured), Adele’s former husband and the father of her 12-year-old son Angelo flew in from California specifically to attend the bash
Observers point out that it has been three months since Adele was last seen in public. In April she was pictured more than once at an LA Lakers game.
On the last occasion, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles with Rich, she wore a loose-fitting grey shirt with matching trousers and a camel coat. Rich, 44, who has basketball legend LeBron James as a client, already has three children from a previous relationship but has hinted at wanting more, telling an interviewer in 2022 that he was ‘looking forward to being a different dad, a more patient dad’.
‘They are a power couple but Adele also finds him absolutely hilarious and they have a wonderful time together,’ a source says.
‘He gets her level of fame in a way that many others would not.’ Rumours that they were dating first emerged in July 2021 when they were seen together at a basketball match, having met at a party a few months before.
The following year, Adele – best known for her 2011 hit Someone Like You – fuelled speculation that the couple were engaged by wearing a huge pear-shaped ring to the 2022 Brit Awards.
But it was another two years before Adele confirmed the engagement. During a concert in Munich last summer, Adele told a fan who was holding up a sign asking for her hand in marriage: ‘I can’t marry you – because I’m already getting married.’
The singer with Lucy’s husband, Jonathan Dickins, before accepting her award during The BRIT Awards 2022 at The O2 Arena on February
Whether the couple have actually tied the knot remains unclear.
Adele’s bond with Lucy is also not in question. The pair have been inseparable for almost 20 years since Lucy met the singer at a gig with musician Jack Penate.
Lucy’s brother Jonathan is now Adele’s manager, and between them they have been credited with orchestrating her rise to global fame and fortune. Describing meeting Adele for the first time, Lucy said: ‘So I’m at the venue, and Jack’s there with this girl and she says, “Hi, I’m Adele.”
‘She was just the most hilariously funny, warm, lovable character. I told her that I’d heard she was a singer and asked if she had any music. She said, “Hold on a minute” and tapped this guy next to us to whom she’d just given a CD.
‘She made him give it straight back to her so she could give it to me! The next day I’m home doing housework, and I popped her handwritten demo into my little JVC stereo system. It was the most insane thing I’d ever heard.’
When Lucy moved back to the UK from Los Angeles last year there was speculation that Adele would follow suit, though she has remained in California where she recently rebuilt her £45million Beverly Hills home, which she bought from Sylvester Stallone in 2022.
Distance, I’m told, has not affected their relationship.
So, as one fellow friend of the two women tells me: ‘It is unfathomable that Adele would miss the party unless it was for something very special indeed.’
