16-01-2018, 22:03
Helen Folasade Adu, CBE, aka Sade Adu, or simply Sade, was born on this day in 1959, in Ibadan, Nigeria. She grew up in Essex having been relocated there at the age of four by her English mother; she seldom grants interviews and is famously private.
Sade has not released an album since 2010’s Soldier of Love. In the same year, she was described by The Sunday Times (English, presumably) as “the most successful solo British female artist in history” - not too shabby for someone who’s recorded a grand total of six studio albums! Also, her debut album, Diamond Life, has been said to be the best-selling debut ever by a British female vocalist - I’m not sure whether the honour still stands. For that album, she’s been credited with bringing the ‘quiet storm’ genre (a format named after Smokey Robinson’s album of the same name) to a wider audience - a blend of smooth jazz, soul and what is now termed sophisti-pop all wrapped up in an understated, elegant and very smart package.
A clip from a live performance - the track is on her fourth album Love Deluxe ...
Sade has not released an album since 2010’s Soldier of Love. In the same year, she was described by The Sunday Times (English, presumably) as “the most successful solo British female artist in history” - not too shabby for someone who’s recorded a grand total of six studio albums! Also, her debut album, Diamond Life, has been said to be the best-selling debut ever by a British female vocalist - I’m not sure whether the honour still stands. For that album, she’s been credited with bringing the ‘quiet storm’ genre (a format named after Smokey Robinson’s album of the same name) to a wider audience - a blend of smooth jazz, soul and what is now termed sophisti-pop all wrapped up in an understated, elegant and very smart package.
A clip from a live performance - the track is on her fourth album Love Deluxe ...
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson