Sade Adu (her full name is Helen Folasade Adu) is an unearthly beautiful woman but moreover she is a gifted author of music and lyrics, skilful arranger and experienced producer. She didn't set out to be a role model. She is spent her life trying to do what feels right, honest and true. By always being true to herself, and never once compromising either her principals, or her music, Sade is one of the most potent musical icons of our generation. When Sade emerged on the music stage in the mid 80s, seemingly out of nowhere, beautiful and exotic, playing soul music with a hint of jazz, she was the icon of cool. Time went by, and she was recast as an icon of womanhood. But her music, extremely sensitive and honest, always excites the response in audience hearts. Ironically Sade is both an icon, and an iconoclast. She denied the diffused opinion that if the nature has endowed someone with pleasant appearance so one's mental faculties require to be much better. She didn't fit into the established scheme of things where female artists were eye candy in a male driven record industry. She has dismantled many of the old music business ways, taking the power of creative control away from the men in suits and entrusting it to the musicians themselves. Sade and the band quite promptly became a fully functioning autonomous unit with a firm grip on every aspect of the recording process. Sade always determined to maintain a private life. She seldom gave interviews. For those who cared to listen she felt there is enough of her, and her life, in her songs. This aspect of Sade's character so annoyed the british media and the rumour machine frequently swung into action. Sade was born in Ibadan, Nigeria, on 16 January 1959. Her parents, Bisi Adu and Anne Hayes, met in London when her father was studying at the London School Of Economics. The couple moved to west Africa when Bisi was offered the post of university professor. Later, when the marriage ran into difficulties Anne returned to England, taking four year old Sade and her older brother Banji, to live with her parents. By the early 70s, living in Colchester, Essex, England, Sade had learnt to ride and kept a horse, that she paid for with a succession of saturday jobs. She read a good deal, developed an interest in fashion and acquired a taste for dancing and soul music at discos at nearby American Air Force Bases and at local clubs in Ilford and on Canvey Island. Sade listened to soul artists like Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye, singers uniquely attuned to the complex sensibilities of heartache and hope, who were skilled enough to create from those feelings, something lasting and transcendent. Still she didn't think about singing herself. In 1977 Sade arrived in London for a three year course in fashion design at St. Martin's School Of Art. Graduating she set up a small fashion company, making mens' clothes, in London's Chalk Farm, with a friend, Gioia Mellor, who still designs many of Sade's stage outfits to this day. But new business was hardly advanced. And she began to work as a photo model. In 1980 Sade met Lee Barrett, the manager of a Latin-soul group Ariva, who was to subsequently become her manager. He famously asked Sade if she could sing and she found that she could. She joined Ariva despite failing the audition and began to write her own songs. She very much enjoyed the process of songwriting, and in many ways, living hand to mouth out the back of tour bus, this sustained her. In 1981 Sade moved into the top floor of a disused fire station in north London, with a large record collection. This was where many of the songs on the forthcoming debut album were written. In 1982, being the memeber of a Latin-soul group Pride, Sade met Stuart Matthewman and Paul Spencer Denman. Together with Paul Cook they formed splinter group named Sade and began to write their own material. Later they joined by Andrew Hale, but Paul Cook left the band. On 18 October 1983 Sade signed with Epic Records. All posterior Sade albums — Diamond Life (1984), Promise (1985), Stronger Than Pride (1988), Love Deluxe (1992), The Best Of (1994), Lovers Rock (2000), Lovers Live (2002) — were released through this label. In 1985 Sade appeared in the film Absolute Beginners, directed by Julian Temple. She played singer Athene Duncannon, performing Killer Blow, co-wrote by her with Simon Booth of soul/jazz band Working Week. In 1986 Sade moved to Madrid, Spain. On 11 October 1989 in the old castle Vinuelas in Madrid, Spain, Sade married to Carlos Scola, a Spanish film-maker. But the marriage has appeared unhappy and soon they began to live separately. In 1990 Sade bought a large Victorian house in north London. During one and a half years she renovated and put it in order with her brother. She took an active part in the decorating process. Thanks to her imagination the house has turned to a stylish residence with studio. In the early 1990 Sade worked with famous photographer Albert Watson. The result of that session was Nu style photographs one of which was used later on for a cover of the album Love Deluxe and another one was included into the Albert Watson's "Cyclope". In the mid 90s Sade moved to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, where she lived with Bob Morgan, a Jamaican producer. On 21 July 1996 she gave birth to her daughter Ila. In 1997 Sade was articled for dangerous driving and disobeying a police officer in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She was detained and was taken to the police station. Then she was released on bail. Later a Jamaican court issued an arrest warrant for Sade after she failed to appear in court to face charges. But she stated that she was unable to appear in court due to the hospitalization of her daughter. Medical proof of her daughter's hospitalization allowed the arrest warrant to be "stayed". In 2002 Sade received the title Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her services to the music industry. She dedicated the title to all Afro-British woman. In 2005 Sade recorded a new track Mum specially for the Voices For Darfur DVD. On 8 December 2004 a host of stars performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England, UK, to raise awareness and funding for the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region. Voices For Darfur DVD of this concert was released in the United Kingdom on 5 September 2005 – World Refugee Day – with all profits went to aid the refugees in Sudan and Chad. As a part of her involvement, Sade gave an interview to the UNHCR (the United Nations Refugee Agency). She told that Robin Millar, who organised the benefit concert at the Royal Albert Hall, asked her to become involved in the project. He committed Sade by telling her a really harrowing story about a young girl in a camp. According to her it was probably the hardest song she have ever written. The song is about the experience of the mother and what it must have been like for her to know that she was dying and to see her child watching her die. "When you look at it humanity there just seems so fragile, everything seems fragile - the people, the buildings, the landscape, so inhospitable and bleak. It is such a bleak, inhospitable place and they are faced with this huge challenge and then on top of everything the fear, constant fear, the fear of another human's aggression. There is nothing more horrific." 
Sade - Mum music video 2:41 • In 2008 Sade along with other participants, such as Helen Bonham Carter and Amy Winehouse, took part in a charitable action in support of the Lavender Trust at Breast Cancer Care and was photographed without clothes. A Nu style Sade's photo was published in the British magazine Easy Living and was included into a book of the photographer Carolyn Djanogly. Moreover Sade Adu has given a short exclusive interview to Easy Living. Easy Living: How do you feel about your body? Sade: When I was younger, I had a tendency to be underweight which bothered me, but mostly now, I don't think too much about my body. EL: How was the experience of being photographed naked? S: It's weird being naked when everyone else has clothes on. And there in the cold North sea, I just kept reminding myself why I was doing it. EL: What message do you hope Carolyn's project convey? S: That undernath our clothes we are all flesh and blood and vulnerable to the same unknown fate. There's an element of solidarity for those women who've suffered what we all secretly fear. EL: Who will you let see you naked? S: Anyone who asks nicely. EL: How do you feel about your body getting older? S: At this point, I've reached the age where Iam grateful to be healthy and alive. There are times when I can be critical of my physique but mostly I'm sympathetic to my flaws. Strange as it sounds, I quite admire some of my various scars. They are like my own personal tattoos - proof of what I've made it through. Now Sade lives in her house in London. She cherishes her private life more anything else and prefers the company of old friends to the glitterati lifestyle. She likes to drive fast her old mercedes and is trying to quit smoking for long. And she still stays up very late most nights, a habit that is proving to be quite tiring with a beautiful young daughter to attend to. Sade seldom records new albums and it could appear that each new album is in some way her comeback from retirement. Of course, the sheer length of time between last Sade albums could provide grounds for such a misconception. But the real reason is that Sade albums aren't products that come around with punctuality of trains, they are individual pieces of work that require both a purpose and a reason. From album to album her songwriting matured, progressed and shifted away from the jazzy soul, and her production skills also grew from strength to strength. Her fashion stylist of minimum fuss for maximum effect applies that same principal to her music. "If you have nothing to say, don't say it!" The modern media — television, video internet — provided the perfect tools for artists to promote their music across the globe. But Sade and the band are first and foremost a live act. "When we play I know that the people love the music. I can feel it." Throughout their history, Sade have always attracted a diverse, multi-racial audience who are drawn by the band's open-minded approach to music. "And that's the best thing we've achieved." To her millions of fans around the world, and the countless singers and musicians who offer Sade their thanks, Sade Adu is a constant source of inspiration. |
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Vocal Profile
Voice type: Lyric Contralto Highest note: F#5 Lowest note: C3 Vocal range: 2.5 octaves (C3—F#5) |
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