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Helen Folasade Adu, OBE, (born 16 January 1959), better known as Sade (pronounced /ʃɑːˈdeɪ/ shah-DAY), is an Nigerian-British ^[1] singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the popular Brit and Grammy Award winning English group Sade.

[edit] Biography

Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Her middle name, Folasade, means wealth confers your crown.^[2] Her parents, Bisi Adu, a Nigerian lecturer in economics of Yoruba background, and Anne Hayes, an English nurse, met in London and moved to Nigeria. Later, when the marriage ran into difficulties, Anne Hayes returned to Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, England, taking four-month-old Sade and her older brother Banji to live with her parents. Living in Colchester, Essex, Sade read a good deal, developed an interest in fashion, acquired a taste for dancing and listened to soul artists like Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, and Marvin Gaye.

[edit] Early life and career

Later she joined Ray St. John's band Pride, which also included guitarist Stuart Matthewman, bassist Paul Denman, and drummer Paul Cooke. However, St. John left Pride shortly after, later resurfacing in the band Halo James, and Pride eventually petered out.

The other four members then formed a new group, the eponymous "Sade" and began to write their own material. Keyboardist Andrew Hale joined the band in mid-1983, and in 1983 she signed a solo deal with Epic Records and sister imprint Portrait Records for the U.S. and Canada until the Portrait label folded in 1986. In 1985, Sade appeared in the film Absolute Beginners, directed by Julien Temple. She played singer Athene Duncannon, performing "Killer Blow," co-written by her with Simon Booth of soul/jazz band Working Week.

In 2005, Sade recorded a new track, "Mum", which appeared on a DVD Voices for Darfur to support charity concert of the same name at the Royal Albert Hall in London, to raise awareness and funding for the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region.

Recently, Sade's record label has announced that she will be releasing a new CD titled "Soldier of Love" in February 2010. It would be her first installment in 10 years.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Sade

For more details on this topic, see Discography of Sade

• 1984: Diamond Life
• 1985: Promise
• 1988: Stronger Than Pride
• 1992: Love Deluxe
• 1992: Remix Deluxe
• 1994: The Best of Sade
• 2000: Lovers Rock
• 2002: Lovers Live CD
• 2010: Soldier of Love

[edit] Collaboration

• Absolute Beginners OST (Virgin, 1986)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• New release info
• Official website
• Sade discography at MusicBrainz
• Sade at the Internet Movie Database
• Sade at Allmusic