Sade Adu
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Helen Folasade Adu |
| Born | 16 January 1959 Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria |
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Genres | Smooth jazz, soul, jazz, R&B, quiet storm, soft rock, adult contemporary |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, composer, arranger, record producer |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | Portrait/CBS Records Epic/SME Records |
| Associated acts | Sade |
| Website | www.sade.com |
Helen Folasade Adu OBE (born 16 January 1959; better known as Sade), is a British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the Brit and Grammy Award winning English group Sade.
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[edit] Biography
Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.[1] Her middle name, Folasade, means honour confers your crown.[2] Her parents, Adebisi Adu, a Nigerian lecturer in economics of Yoruba background, and Anne Hayes, an English district nurse, met in London, married in 1955 and moved to Nigeria.[1] Later, when the marriage ran into difficulties, Anne Hayes returned to England, taking four-year-old [3] Sade and her older brother Banji to live with her parents.[1] When Sade was 11, she moved to Holland-on-Sea to live with her mother,[4] and after completing school at 18 she moved to London and studied at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.[1]
While at college, she joined a soul band, Pride, in which she sang backing vocals.[1] Her solo performances of the song "Smooth Operator" attracted the attention of record companies and in 1983, she signed a solo deal with Epic Records taking three members of the band, Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale and Paul Denman, with her.[1] Sade and her band produced the first of a string of hit albums. Their debut album Diamond Life was in 1984. She is the most successful solo female artist in British history, having sold over 110 million albums worldwide.[1]
In 2002, she appeared on the Red Hot Organization's Red Hot and Riot, a compilation CD in tribute to the music of fellow Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti. She recorded a remix of her hit single, "By Your Side", for the album and was billed as a co-producer.
[edit] Personal life
She squatted in Tottenham in the 1980s, with her then boyfriend Robert Elms.[5] In 1989, she married Spanish film director Carlos Pliego. Their marriage ended in 1995.[1] She gave birth to a daughter, Ila Adu, in 1995 after a relationship with a Jamaican musician.[1]
In 2002, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to popular music.[6] Prior to the release of Soldier of Love in 2010, the Daily Mail described her as "famously reclusive".[7]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Sade
- For more details on this topic, see Discography of Sade
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[edit] Collaboration
- Absolute Beginners OST (Virgin, 1986)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Sandall, Robert (31 January 2010). "Sade emerges from her country retreat". The Sunday Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7005060.ece. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
- ^ Meaning of Folasade in Nigerian.name
- ^ Sade.com
- ^ Jessica Berer (May 1985). Sade. Spin. pp. 12. http://books.google.com/books?id=9ugCQfxwym0C&pg=PA12&dq=spin+magazine+1985+Sade&hl=en&ei=4D5wTOzLOouesQPPk9nUDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
- ^ Mahoney, Elisabeth (22 November 2011). "Radio review: From Frestonia to Belgravia – the History of Squatting". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/22/from-frestonia-to-belgravia-review?newsfeed=true. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
- ^ New Year’s Honours List — United Kingdom - Official announcement in The London Gazette, 31 December 2001, Supplement No.1 S9
- ^ Georgina Littlejohn (2010-03-13). "Sade displays her youthful looks as she dresses down after her glamorous magazine cover hits the shelves". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1257610/Sade-displays-youthful-looks-dresses-glamorous-magazine-cover-hits-shelves.html. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Sade at Allmusic
- Sade Adu discography at Discogs
- Sade Adu at the Internet Movie Database
- Sade discography at MusicBrainz
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- 1959 births
- English female models
- English female singers
- English jazz singers
- English people of Nigerian descent
- English rhythm and blues singers
- English singer-songwriters
- English soul singers
- English-language singers
- Female rock singers
- Funk singers
- Living people
- Musicians from London
- Nigerian singer-songwriters
- Sade (band)
- Torch singers
- Vocal jazz musicians
- Female jazz musicians
- Alumni of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
- Nigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom
- Smooth jazz singers
- British funk musicians
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Yoruba people
- People from Essex
- People from Tendring (district)
- Squatters
