|
Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZSADE(b Helen Folasade Adu, 16 January 1960, Ibadan, Nigeria) UK singer. Her mother was British, father Nigerian; he taught at Ibadan U; Sade came to the UK in 1963. As a teenager she searched bargain bins for LPs by Peggy Lee, Julie London, Nina Simone, Astrud Gilberto; she studied fashion design at St Martin's School of Art and opened a boutique, but 'to be a good designer, you have to be a good businesswoman, which I am not'. She sang harmony with Latin-funk group Ariva '81; the group evolved into Pride, and hired saxophonist Stuart Matthewman (b 1961), who recruited bassist Paul Denman (b 1958); Pride changed its name to Sade (the name of both singer and group, pronounced Shah-day, an abbreviation of Folasade) and added pianist Andrew Hale (b 1963). They signed with CBS labels in January 1984: the label wanted just the singer, but she insisted the band came with her. She appeared on the cover of trendy mag The Face April '84; the band attracted the smart set in London clubs and was featured in Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle; when she made the cover of Time (6 April 1986) she was the Queen of Cool, two albums selling 12m worldwide: Diamond Life '84 and Promise '85, the second no. 1 in USA. She won the Best New Artist Grammy '85, appeared in film Absolute Beginners '86. Album Stronger Than Pride '88 was still top ten in USA; Love Deluxe '92 reached no. 3. The understated cabaret style which had made her rich was not convincing on songs which had her trying to connect with social and economic problems; nevertheless, though the London smart set thought she wasn't fashionable any more, her supple, sensuous, less-is-more style kept her one of the biggest UK pop acts in the world. Best Of '94 was top ten USA and went triple platinum by October '97; she had her first child, a daughter, in July '97; her band released an album as Sweetback '96. The length of time between albums had begun to increase; Sade's Lovers Rock 2000 came eight years after Love Deluxe, and Soldier of Love took another ten years. But the band's personnel hasn't changed. When they got together for the 2010 album, Hale and Matthewman brought songs on their laptops, and Adu had notebooks full of lyrics, but nobody had any idea what a new album would sound like. Yet the result feels like they've never been away. The album entered the Billboard album chart at no. 1 in February 2010, and when sales fell off 62% the second week, they were still good enough to keep it at no. 1. (For a good article by Jim Fusilli about the new album with quotes from Andrew Hale, go here.) |