Sade (pronounced "shah-day") can refer to both the name of the group and that group's lead singer. The singer was born Helen Folasade Adu in Ibadan, Nigeria. Her father, Bisi Adu, was a Nigerian economics lecturer from Africa, while her mother, Anne Hayes, was a nurse from England. As a biracial child, Helen's racist neighbors in Nigeria began to call her Sade after they refused to call her by her real name, Helen. While Sade is the short form of Helen's middle name, Folasade, ironically, it means "honor confers a crown."
When Sade was only 4 years old, her parents separated and Sade moved with her mother to London's North End, where she grew up. As a teenager Sade developed a soulful singing voice by listening to Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Nina Simone. She got some jobs singing around London, but to pay the bills she worked as a bike messenger and a waitress. Her educational focus turned to fashion design when she attended St. Martin's School of Art in London.
After her studies, Sade began to do some modeling and fashion designing. She even designed some of the outfits worn by Spandau Ballet during the group's first US tour. Spandau Ballet, a London all-male band, was one of the most successful groups of the '80s. However, Sade decided to pursue her passion for music rather than continue as a successful fashion designer. In 1980 Sade began writing songs and joined the Latin-soul group Ariva, and then joined Pride in 1982 before creating the group Sade in 1983.
The breakout hit by Sade was "
Smooth Operator," from the group's debut album,
Diamond Life. The song was written by Sade and Ray Saint John from the band Pride; it's about a high-society man living a luxurious lifestyle. Lines like, "Across the north and south, to Key Largo, love for sale" imply that the women in his life are also how he makes his money. Later in the song, we hear, "His heart is cold," meaning he had no love interest in his ladies; a real smooth operator in that sense.
Sade made her acting debut in 1986 as Athene Duncannon alongside David Bowie in the musical rock movie Absolute Beginners, an adaptation of the novel by Colin MacInnes. She also performed the song "Killer Blow" for the film's soundtrack. The movie was initially a flop but later became a cult classic mainly because of the soundtrack.
Sade appeared on the front and back covers of a special edition of Essence magazine in March 2001, but she generally stays out of the public eye when she's not performing. In general, she avoids the media and rarely grants interviews. "I'm a diva, of course, but I'm not shy or reclusive," she said. "I just spend my time with people rather than journalists."
In a 1984 interview with the British magazine Number One, Sade listed her passions as "eating, music... and sex."
Time magazine
put Sade Adu on the cover in 1986 and called her "a new princess of pop." She really stood out in America, where the young female singers on MTV were often flashy and immodest. Many in the older guard welcomed her, hoping she would catch on so they didn't have to keep hearing Madonna.
After their 1992 album
Love Deluxe (the one with "
No Ordinary Love"), they toured, then took a long break, returning in 2000 for the album
Lovers Rock. They waited even longer to release another:
Soldier of Love in 2010. Sade Adu explained: "I only make records when I feel I have something to say."
Sade were the only act from outside of America to have a #1 album there in 1986.
Promise (the one with "
The Sweetest Taboo") spent two weeks at the top that February.
Long before
Diamond Life made her an overnight sensation, Sade Adu was studying menswear at London's Saint Martins art college and earning a living designing clothes. She spent a year making what
she called "soul clothes" after graduating, right around the same time she was asked to sing backing vocals in a funk band called Pride. For a while, she ran both careers in parallel, only committing fully to music when time made the decision for her.
Sade never originally intended to be the frontwoman of her band Pride. In the group's early days, she often stood to the side of the stage, more comfortable blending in than commanding attention.
The famously sleek, all-black look that later became synonymous with songs like "
Your Love Is King" was simply how she already dressed. Sade didn't create an image for pop stardom; pop stardom just caught her wearing it.
