myuzik.is.sexy: rhythm & blues: sade

Sade was born Helen Folesade Adu in 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 career, and soon Sade was performing as one of three vocalists in a promising jazz-funk collective known as Pride.

Early in 1984, Sade reemerged as lead singer and principal songwriter of the group bearing her name, accompanied by her former Pride cohorts Stuart Matthewman (sax and guitar), Andrew Hale (keyboards) and Paul Spencer Denman (bass). Their instrumental and compo- sitional talents brought additional form and color to Sade's words and melodies, providing a solid base for her natural vocal charisma. The team would continue to play and write together for the next decade.

well.. here's my version of how i came to know about sade..

simply put.. i grew up listening to smooth operator and the sweetest taboo.. one of my uncles used to say i look like sade *gasp/lol* - must be the way i used to tie my hair up..

years down the road, it happened one day.. a long distance phone call from goob.. telling me to "hey.. go grab sade's cd and listen to track no. 8" and so i did.. and there's no turning back from then on..

now, sade is like our mutual favourite female vocalist..

once again.. as promised.. enjoy the videos..

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