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SADE PERFECT SOUNDS

Sade Singer Biography

What’s Sade? Or, more accurately, who is Sade?

If you’re not a music aficionado, you may not be familiar with this rockin’ English group, but this band is nonetheless quite popular throughout much of the world, with a strong musical presence stemming back into that glorious, crazy, and unforgettable 1980s decade and continuing all the way into the present day.

Sade is famous for a number of hit songs, including 1984’s sexy single “Smooth Operator” and particularly for combining the musical flavors of jazz, R&B, soul, and “funk” quite successfully, creating a legacy in contributing to the development of modern popular music. Sade’s lead vocalist and band frontwoman is Nigerian-born Sade Adu (full name Helen Folasade Adu), who is the band’s only female, has so far been the only consistent band member, and is also the only one portrayed on any of the album’s covers.

In fact, many may mistake the band name Sade for the lead singer Sade Adu, considering her a solo act or artist. In fact, Sade has included the following band members in addition to Adu: Stuart Matthewman (guitar and saxophone), Paul Spencer Denman (bass), Andrew Hale (keyboards), and Paul Anthony Cook, who played drums from 1982—when Sade was first formed—to 1984, when Cook was actually kicked out of the band. Sade signed on with Epic Records (which was then Portrait Records) in 1986.

Sade has released a total of seven main albums throughout its existence spanning across three decades: Diamond Life (1984), Promise (1985), Stronger Than Pride (1988), Love Deluxe (1992),The Best of Sade (1994), Lovers Rock (2000), and Lovers Live (2002). Stronger Than Pride and Lovers Rock went three times platinum,Diamond Life, Promise, Love Deluxe, and The Best of Sade went an impressive four times platinum, but their latest release, Lovers Live, “only” hit gold status.

Diamond Life, the band’s debut, breakthrough album, included the hits “Smooth Operator”—which today remains as one of the Sade’s trademark hits—as well as “Your Love is King” and “Hang on to Your Love.” Diamond Life ended up winning a British Phonographic Institute Award for Best Album of 1985. A year later Adu was nominated for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Video Artist by the American Music Awards but ended up picking up a Best New Artist Grammy Award instead (not too shabby for just starting out!).

Around this time, Sade embarked on its first world tour; Adu accompanied by Dave Early, Martin Ditcham, Gordon Matthewman, Jake Jacas, Leroy Osbourne, and Gordon Hunte. The band members would continue to change for Sade’s other albums and tours for the rest of the 1980s, throughout the 90s, and into the 2000s.

Sade frontwoman Adu has largely stayed out of the public eye—which is very unusual for a celebrity and honestly quite refreshing—save for the time in 1997 when she was charged with dangerous driving and disobeying a police officer in Montego Bay and then failing to appear in court. Adu offered proof her daughter was hospitalized, allowing the arrest warrant to be stayed.