Star Emeli Sande opens up on painful break-up

Singer Emeli Sande has spoken about her divorce and struggle for survival as she begins a new series about street musicians.

The 31-year-old says she is now coming into her power as a woman, leaving a shy teenage past behind.

She said: “People say that as you get older you get more confident, these are the best years of your life and until you experience it you’re not sure what they’re talking about, but now I can feel it.

“I just feel I care less. I care what the people who love me think of me but I don’t care what other people think.”

The singer, whose mother was Zambian, grew up in Alford, Aberdeenshire, also spoke about her break-up with Adam Gouraguine who she married in 2012.

As she emerged from a divorce and started rebuilding her life, Emeli – whose debut album Our Version Of Events was a worldwide smash – said it had been a voyage of self-discovery.

She said: “The separation, the divorce, that was very difficult.

“When my world as I knew it fell apart, that was like, ‘Oh, wow, what am I gonna do?’. Rebuilding from that is something I’m proud of myself for doing and also having to do it publicly was very difficult. I think that was survival. And now I just think, ‘Bring it on’.”