What Happened? Sade

Sade (/ʃɑːˈdeɪ/shah-DAY)

Helen Folasade Adu OBE (born 16 January 1959); is  better known as Sade. Sade is composer, singer and record producer. Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Her middle name, Folasade, means honour confers your crown. 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. When Sade was 11, she moved to Holland-on-Sea to live with her mother, and after completing school at 18 she moved to London.

Music was not her first choice as a career. She studied fashion at St Martin's School Of Art and in the early 1980s, when Sade had given up on modeling in disgust, a friend persuaded her to try out as a backup singer for a group specializing in jazz and funk, Pride. Thinking that singing would be a pleasant hobby, she auditioned, and though she was rejected at first, she was called back when no one more suitable could be found.

Sade squatted in Tottenham in the 1980s, with her boyfriend Robert Elms.

While in college, she joined a soul band, Pride, in which she sang backing vocals. 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. Sade and her band produced the first of a string of hit albums.

In May 1983 the band performed its first US show at Danceteria Club in New York City. Andrew Hale joined the band in 1983, but Cook left in 1984.

Their debut album Diamond Life was in 1984.

At the time of her first album, Diamond Life, her actual life was anything but diamond-like. Sade was living in a converted fire station in Finsbury Park with her then boyfriend, the style journalist Robert Elms. There was no heating, which meant that she had to get dressed in bed. The loo, which used to ice over in winter, was on the fire escape. The bath was in the kitchen. "We were freezing, basically."

In February 1984, Sade released their first single, "Your Love Is King", which became a Top Ten hit. A second single, "Hang On to Your Love" barely made the Top 40, but the band's debut album, Diamond Life, was released in July 1984 and peaked at #2. It spent over six months in the UK Top Ten and was later certified 4x Platinum by the BPI. Diamond Life won the 1985 Brit Award for Best British Album. The band embarked on their first major UK tour, augmented by Dave Early (drums), Martin Ditcham (percussion), Terry Bailey (trumpet) and Gordon Matthewman (trombone). A third single, "Smooth Operator", was released from the album with a video directed by Julian Temple. The single became their first US hit in Spring 1985, propelling the album in the US Top Ten. Also in 1985, the band were nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards—"Best Female Video" and "Best New Artist". On 13 July 1985, Sade performed at the Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in London. Sade Adu became the only African-born artist to appear in front of the live audience of 75,000, and an estimated worldwide television audience of 1.4 billion in 170 countries.

Sade released their second album, Promise, which peaked at No. 1 in both the UK and the US. It was certified double platinum in the UK, and quadruple platinum in the US.

In late 1985, Sade released their second album, Promise, which peaked at No. 1 in both the UK and the US. It was certified double platinum by the BPI in the UK, and quadruple platinum in the US. In 1986, Adu was nominated for an American Music Awards for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Video Artist, and the band won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

On 28 June 1986, after touring for the album, the band performed at the Artists Against Apartheid Concert in the Freedom Festival on Clapham Common in London. In 1987 the band was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for Promise.

Sade's third album, Stronger Than Pride, was released in May 1988. The album peaked at No. 3 in the UK and has been certified platinum by the BPI. It was preceded by the single, "Paradise", which made the UK Top 30 and US Top 20. The band toured across the world again, augmented by Blair Cunningham (drums), Martin Ditcham (percussion), Leroy Osbourne (vocals), Gordon Hunte (guitar), James McMillan (trumpet) and Jake Jacas (trombone & vocals). In 1989, Sade Adu was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist.

In 1989, she married Spanish film director Carlos Pliego.

Sade's fourth album, Love Deluxe, was released in November 1992. The album peaked at No. 3 on the US Album charts and was certified quadruple-Platinum, and peaked at No. 10 in the UK

In 1993 the band recorded a cover of the Percy Mayfield song, "Please Send Me Someone to Love", for the Academy Award-winning film, Philadelphia, before launching the Love Deluxe world tour. Joining the band were Leroy Osbourne (vocals), Gordon Hunte (guitar), Trevor Murrell (drums), Karl Vanden Bossche (percussion), and Rick Braun (trumpet).

The 1994 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded to Sade for "No Ordinary Love", featured in the 1993 film, Indecent Proposal. In November the group released their first compilation album, The Best of Sade. The album was another Top Ten hit in both the UK and US and was certified Platinum and Quadruple-Platinum respectively.

Sade marriage ended with Carlos Pilego in 1995.

She gave birth to a daughter, Ila Adu, in 1995 after a relationship with Jamaican music producer Bob Morgan. (She moved briefly to the Caribbean to live with him in the late Nineties, but they later separated.

In 1996 Hale, Denman, and Matthewman formed their own band as a side project, Sweetback, and released a self-titled album.

1998 A Kingston, Jamaica, judge has issued an arrest warrant for soul-jazz singer Sade after she failed to appear at a Wednesday hearing to answer reckless driving charges. The singer is charged with leading police on a high- speed chase last year in Montego Bay and greeting the officers with a string of four-letter words when they finally pulled her over. She pleaded innocent to reckless driving and using abusive language with police -- offenses that could lead to fines of no more than $200. Last year, Sade won a stay of trial after a police officer failed to show up in court. Resident Magistrate William Campbell issued the warrant Wednesday after Sade's lawyer, Clive Mullings, told the court that Sade had previous engagements out of the country.

In October 2000 Sade Adu came out of retirement to perform at the prestigious MOBO Awards, her first live performance in several years. The following month, Sade released their fifth studio album, Lovers Rock, their first album in eight years. The album peaked at number 18 in the UK (their only studio album not to make the top 10) though was certified Gold by the BPI. It fared better in the US, peaking at number 3. The band toured the US throughout 2001.

The group Sade won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2002.

The tour resulted in a live album, Lovers Live, which was released in the UK and US in February 2002.

In 2002, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to popular music.

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.

In 2005 the band contributed the track, "Mum", to the Voices for Darfur DVD.

Sade's sixth studio album, Soldier of Love, was released worldwide on 8 February 2010, and peaked at No. 4 in the UK, and No. 1 in the US. In 2011, the band won their fourth Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

Sade's sixth studio album Soldier of Love was released worldwide on 8 February 2010, the band's first album of new material in ten years. Following the release of the "Soldier of Love" single on 8 December 2009, the track debuted at number 11 on the Urban Hot AC chart, making it the highest debut of the decade and the third highest all-time on the Urban Hot AC chart. "Soldier of Love" debuted at number 5 on the Smooth Jazz airplay chart and became the first ever vocal to hit number 1 on the Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown.

The album peaked at No. 4 in the UK. In the US the album sold 502,000 copies in its first week and topped the Billboard 200 chart. The album stayed at at No. 1 in the US for three weeks. The group released the second single from the album, "Babyfather", in April 2010, followed by a video in May.

On 13 April 2010, the band performed "Babyfather" and "The Sweetest Taboo" on the US TV show Dancing With The Stars.

In 2011 Sade received their fourth Grammy Award (Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals) for Soldier of Love, and released a second greatest hits album, The Ultimate Collection which made the UK Top Ten. A new video for the track "Love Is Found" premiered in July 2011.

Sade's US certified sales so far stand at 23.5 million units according to Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and have sold more than 50 million units worldwide to date. They were ranked at #50 on VH1's list of the "100 greatest artists of all time."