Sade Biography

Introduction

It's been a decade since Sade first burst upon the international popular music scene. Her four albums -- all of which have placed in the Top Five on Billboard's Pop and R&B charts -- have sold more than eleven million copies in the U.S. and more than 27 million worldwide, while such singles as the Top Five Pop smashes "Smooth Operator" and "The Sweetest Taboo" and Top Ten R&B hits like "Never As Good As the First Time," "Nothing Can Come Between Us," "No Ordinary Love," "Kiss of Life" and the #1 R&B entry "Paradise" have become modern standards.

Sade was born Helen Folesade Adu on January 16th, 1959 in Ibadan, Nigeria, the daughter of a Nigerian teacher and an English nurse. Her parents separated when she was four, and she moved with her mother to London's North End. In her teens, she worked a succession of part-time jobs from waitress to bike messenger, yet devoted all of her free time to music, inspired by the likes of Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye and Al Green. Subsequently, Sade studied fashion design at St. Martin's College in London, and even saw some of her work shown in New York in conjunction with Spandau Ballet's first U.S. appearance. But her musical passions quickly overtook her budding fashion and modeling career, and soon Sade was performing as one of three vocalists in a promising jazz-funk collective known as Pride.