Emeli Sandé was born in Sunderland and grew up in Scotland from the age of four. She studied medicine at the University of Glasgow, but broke off her studies to devote herself to her musical career.
She released her solo single Heaven in August 2011 and its follow-up Daddy in November that year, both singles as precursors to her February 6, 2012 debut album, Our version of events. She was also featured on Chipmunk's debut single and on Professor Green's Read all about it, both of which achieved hit singles. Sandé has already written songs for Cher Lloyd, Susan Boyle, Preeya Kalidas, Leona Lewis, Cheryl Cole and Tinie Tempah, among others. She won the 2012 Brit Award Critics Choice on December 15, 2011 as the most promising new artist, a category in which Jessie J, Ellie Goulding, Florence and the Machine and Adele preceded her in recent years. In 2012, she performed in both the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in London.
Emeli Sandé won a European Border Breakers Award in 2013. The European Border Breakers Awards are awards presented annually to ten young promising European artists who successfully debuted outside their home countries the previous year.
She announced in early 2012 that she was engaged to her boyfriend, a scientist, who wished to remain anonymous. In September 2012, they married in Montenegro and his name became public after all. A year later, they divorced.