KCA is a non-profit organization responsible for delivering health care services to more than 250,000 families from underdeveloped and AIDS-prevalent countries such as India, Rwanda, Uganda and other African nations. Since its conception in 2003, it has raised more than $10 million through its annual charity event and also through the help of some big-name benefactors like Mary J. Blige, Halle Berry, Virgin CEO and owner Richard Branson, and former President Bill Clinton.

In May, KCA also organized a same benefit but this time, in London – the Black Ball London benefit – where British rock act Kasabian and Bryan Ferry graced the stage in front of a crowd of about a thousand. This year’s Black Ball NY is also expected to accommodate about a thousand guests similar to last year’s benefit which was also held at the Hammerstein Ballroom and with Keys, Padma Lakshmi and supermodel Iman hosting the event while Chris Martin, John Mayer, Keys and Senegalese artist Youssou N’Dour performed.

While it is confirmed that Jay-Z and Sade will be performing along with Keys, the very pregnant and newly-wed R&B chart topper and philanthropist hinted in a statement that there might be more performers added to the line-up, “There are more surprises coming up! Stay tuned!”.

The music-related nominees for this year are rounded out by Ester Dean, Chrisette Michele, Trina, Fabolous, Ludacris, Nicki Minaj and Monica. The nominees were announced on May 18.

Rihanna, one of the leading female artists, received three nominations. For her work on “Rated R,” her 2009 album, Rihanna has been nominated for Best Female R&B Artists. She has also been nominated for her collaborations with Kayne West and Jay-Z on “Run This Town.” Tied with two nominations are Sade and Monica, singer of “Still Standing.”

The first nomination for Sade is the first BET Best International Act Award. Sade is featured along with Hip Hop Pantsula, Kojo Antwi, Estelle, K’Naan, M-I, P-Square, Dizzee Rascal, Corrinne Bailey Rae and Chipmunk. Her and Monica have been nominated for the Centric Award, which was previously called “BET J Cool Like That.” For her song “Everything To Me,” Monica was nominated for Viewer’s Choice Award.

Names missing from the nominees list for this year’s BET Awards, including the new Best International Act Award, included Alexandra Burke, JLS, R. Kelly, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.

Host for the 2010 BET Awards will be Queen Latifah. The ceremony will take place on June 27 in Los Angeles, CA at Shrine Auditorium.

VENUE/CITY Events

The ten Soldier tracks flow together seamlessly showing the spiritual and harmonious connection between Sade Adu, lead singer, Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale and Paul Spencer Denman. According to the electronic press kit for the band, they don’t ever go into the studio with prepared lyrics or a set agenda. They allow the music to organically create itself.

That type of free-flowing natural process occurs only rarely in today’s contemporary scene, particularly over the last thirty years. Originally the band was formed in 1982. However to date they have released only five studio albums. When the musical history of Sade’s is considered, the wait of ten years for the new album “Soldier of Love,” wasn’t intentional. The group believes ultimately that the only time music should be created is when is when there is something to say.

Sade band members, being the “soldiers of love” that they are, trust and know love does have the power for conquering all- confusion, tragedy and pain. “The Moon and the Sky,” the opening track for the album addresses a lover unknown. The song’s final notes make a segue into “Soldier of Love’s” military cadence. Adu finds herself situated on the “hinterland of her devotion” and “border line of her faith.” Despite the drama, rays of sunshine are on the fringes of Sade’s despair. On “Morning Bird,” the following track, delicate notes from a piano rise softly as the morning sun.

Sade, with her spirits refreshed, moves into “Babyfather.” The songs speaks of a fine man catching her eye with her being “stuck in a daze.” On the song “Long Hard Road” Sades assures that “everything is gonna be alright.” On the next track Sade asserts everything won’t be easy, however in the end love “will light the sky.”

“Bring Me Home” is a standout track from the album. Sades notes during the second verse she’s “seen the Devil’s eyes,” feeling at times “close, yet so far from God.” However, love brings her home although “the last leaf has fallen” while “the ground is full of broken stones.”

“In Another Time,” another remarkable track on the album, is where Sade vents and is “tired of waiting for something to change.” After spending plenty of time with love that didn’t know when something was good, Sade assures “tears won’t leave a trace.”

“Skin,” fittingly enough is a very appropriate track as the kiss-off. Adu starts to wash him from her skin. The task turns out to not be all that simple, “but sometimes love has to let go.” Sade, with her body and mind free, discovers her heart has a soft spot. “Safest Place,” closes out the album. Sade’s love for her beau gets stored in her sacred place.

Since it was released on January 1, the song has been played over 55,000 a day and topped the jazz charts of MySpace. The video is for the title single from her forthcoming album set to be released February 8.

The growth of plays has slowed with a total of 68,580 plays. MySpace is a very popular social networking website. The plays may not be in the millions, however the chart shows comparatively that interest for the songstress from Nigeria is still strong.

“Soldier of Love,” set to be released on Epic Records, is the first studio album for Sade since “Lovers Rock” in 2000. In 2002 she released a live album as well. Every one of Sade’s seven albums has peaked in Billboard’s top 200 in the Top 10 positions. Since 1984 with the release of “Diamond Life,” her debut album, her sales worldwide have exceeded 50 million albums. The new album “Soldier of Love” was produced by Mike Pela, long time collaborator, and her band. They recorded the album in England.

There are ten tracks on the album, including The Safest Place, Skin, In Another Time, Bring Me Home, Be That Easy, Long Hard Road, Baby Father, Morning Bird, Soldier Of Love and The Moon And The Sky.

During the 1990s, Sade was a resident of Ocho Rios, Jamaica. She lived there with a producer from Jamaica. However, Sade left the island after failing to appear in court and face dangerous driving charges.

The entire “Soldier of Love” album is due to be released on February 8. It will be the first studio album released by Sade in ten years. That must be nice to get to the point where you can take a decade off.

For all Sade fans who are web savvy, it looks like they are looking for moderators for their official website. The due date for applications is Wednesday so you will need to brush up quickly on your skills.

The sultry, dark video for the Sade single “Soldier of Love” features red smoke, crashing waves and sexy people twirling lassos while in the desert and doing push ups.

Preliminary plans for Sade, who on January 16 will turn 50, is to have her tour Europe during March. During April and May she will then tour the U.S. Additional details will be announced during the next few weeks.

“Soldier of Love,” Sade’s sixth album, is the first new album for her since “Lover’s Rock” from 2000. The title track from the album has been released already online and to radio. According to data from Nielsen Soundscan, her first five albums to date have sales of over 17 million units.

The question is has it taken Sade too long to come back? Or is this the right time for her to hit the charts once again?

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.

The band will be in the studio until June. A release date has not been set by Sony yet, however they are hoping the album will be out sometime in 2009.

A Sony source said that they were in the studio recording, and that the album would come out when it was ready. You don’t wait this many years and then rush things.

Stuart Matthewman, the longtime band mate of Sade and also known as Cottonbelly, confirmed as well that they were working on new material. He said the project still was in the early stages and wouldn’t be close to being finished until towards the end of the year.

Rumors that there would be a new album from Sade surfaced last week when sade2009.com, an official looking website went live and had a message that claimed a November 24 release date for a new Sade album. Sony sources denied having any connection with the site, stating that they didn’t know where the fan site got a release date but that it wasn’t true.

The site’s owner was contacted by Billboard who insisted it was an official release date. However, since then the posting on the site has been updated and states that the date had been changed and that a Sony representative had confirmed that the album’s release date was unknown and to check back for updates on the album release from Sade.

No details regarding the new music from Sade have been released yet. However there is one artist who might have heard some snippets. Maxwell, longtime friend and fellow Sony recording artist of Matthewman, is releasing a new record soon after his own multi-year hiatus. In March he sent his fans a message over his Facebook indicating that he had heard new recordings from some label mates. He wrote, trust me, this is so monolithic you will be shaking in your shoes.

“Lovers Rock,” the 2000 release from Sade, sold 3.9 million U.S. copies. “Love Deluxe,” her previous album from 1992, sold 3.4 million copies. According to date from Nielsen SoundScan, since Sade’s debut in 1985 with “Diamond Life,” she has sold almost 17 million units just in the U.S.