Adele paid a musical tribute to her late idol Amy Winehouse on her birthday, insisting she owes "90 per cent" of her career to the singer.

The British star brought her tour to Boston, Massachusetts on Wednesday (15Sep16), on what would have been the Rehab singer's 33rd birthday, and paying her respects to Winehouse, Adele told the sold out crowd at the TD Garden venue that she wouldn't be as successful as she is today had it not been for Amy.

"I feel like I owe 90 per cent of my career to her," Adele admitted to the audience. "Because of her, I picked up a guitar and because of her, I wrote my own songs. The songs I got signed on were the songs that I wrote completely on my own - if it wasn't for her, that wouldn't have happened.... Her first album, Frank, it really changed my life."

Adele, who was 15-years-old when Amy's breakthrough album Frank was released, continued, "I'd see her on TV or in magazine shoots with a pink electric guitar and I used to think she was the coolest motherf**ker on the face of the Earth."

The star then dedicated her performance of Bob Dylan's Make You Feel My Love to Winehouse. Adele originally covered the moving track as a tribute to Winehouse on her debut album 19.

The musical tribute came hours after Adele took to Instagram to post a throwback image of the Rehab star, who died of alcohol poisoning in 2011, and added a heartfelt caption.

She wrote: "Happy Birthday Amy X."

Both Adele and Amy attended talent academy the Brit School but the Hello singer admits they were never close.

The gig was Adele's second of two nights in Boston, where she underwent successful vocal cord surgery in 2011.