During the 1980s when Sade first hit the recording scene Epic, her record company, made the point of printing that her name was pronounced “shar-day” following her name on the album labels. The world soon enough wouldn’t have any problems pronouncing her name correctly. Born as Helen Folasade Adu in the town of Ibadan, Nigeria, approximately 50 miles away from Lagos, Sade’s mother is English and father is African. After her mother went back to England, Sade finished growing up in London’s North End.
In her teens, Sade started to develop a good singing voice. She worked part time jobs both outside and inside the music business, while listening to the music of Billie Holliday, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Nina Simone and Ray Charles. While doing modeling part time, Sade went to St. Martin’s School of Art where she studied fashion design.
Around 1980, Sade started to sing harmony with Arriva, a Latin funk band. One of the group’s more popular numbers that they performed was “Smooth Operator,” an original Sade song that was co-written with Ray St. John, one of the band members. Later the song would became the first stateside hit for Sade. The next year Sade joined Pride, a funk band, as one of the backup singers. The band included Stuart Matthewman, saxophonist/guitarist (who was instrumental in Maxwell’s success) and Paul Denman, bassist. Both Matthewman and Denham later became Sade band members.
The 8 piece group’s concept was there would be some off-shoots. A few members, in essence, within Pride’s main group formed mini-groups for the opening act to the band’s shows. Pride was doing lots of shows all around London and caught the attention of record companies. Labels initially only wanted to sign Sade, with group members wanting the whole band to get a deal. Other Pride band members after a year told Sade, Denman and Matthewman to sign a deal. Andrew Hale, keyboardist was added to the group and they signed with Epic Record’s U.K. Division.
“Diamond Life,” Sade’s debut album with production overall from Robin Millar, by late 1984 made the U.K.’s Top Ten. In January 1985 Portrait, the CBS label, released the album. By spring the album went platinum from the success of “Hang on to Your Love,” and “Smooth Operator” Top Ten singles. “Promise,” Sade’s second album released in November 1985, featured her signature song “The Sweetest Taboo” and “Never As Good As the First Time.” “The Sweetest Taboo” remained for six months on U.S. pop charts.
The popularity of Sade was so high that there were radio stations reinstating the practice from the 1970’s of playing other album tracks. “Tar Baby” and “Is It a Crime” were added to radio play lists. Sade won the 1986 Best New Artist Grammy award. The third album for Sade, “Stronger Than Pride” released in 1988, featured number one hit soul single “Paradise,” “Keep Looking,” and “Nothing Can Come Between Us.” Sade didn’t release a new album for four years. “Love Deluxe” from 1992 continued her unbroken streak for multi-platinum albums, spawning the hit singles “Pearls,” “Feel No Pain,” and “No Ordinary Love.”
Although Denman, Matthewman and Mike Pela, album producer, went on to do other projects, a new scene was sparked for Sade in the new millennium. In Fall 2000 “Lovers Rock” was released, incorporating more mainstream elements into her music than her previous work. “By Your Side,” the debut single, was a hit with listeners of adult contemporary. The next summer, Sade went on the first tour for her in over a decade. Countless dates were sold out all across the U.S. In early 2002, to celebrate the tour’s success, “Lovers Live,” was released. It was her first DVD and live album to ever come out.
