Helen Folasade Adu, known as Sade, was born on 16 January 1959 in Ibadan, Nigeria. Her father, Adebisi Adu, was a Nigerian lecturer in economics from a Yoruba background, and her mother, Anne Hayes, an English nurse. They met in London, married in 1955 and moved to Nigeria. When Sade was around four her mother returned to England with her and her brother Banji, and they lived with their grandparents near Colchester in Essex.
Sade studied fashion at St Martin's School of Art in London, and did some modelling, with no ambition at first to make music her career. She sang with a band, Arriva, and her solo performances of the song Smooth Operator, co-written with Ray St John, drew the attention of record companies. With the producer Robin Millar she formed a quartet, and signed to Epic.
Their debut album Diamond Life, released on 16 July 1984, was a blend of soul, jazz and pop that became one of the best-selling albums of its era and the best-selling debut by a British female vocalist. It reached number two in the UK, sold more than 1.2 million copies there, and won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 1985. The single Smooth Operator was a hit in the United States, and Your Love Is King reached the UK top ten.
In 1986 Sade won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, the first Nigerian-born artist to win a Grammy. She performed at Live Aid at Wembley, and the band went on to release Promise (1985), Stronger Than Pride (1988), Love Deluxe (1992), Lovers Rock (2000), which won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album, and Soldier of Love (2010), which brought another Grammy in 2011. Sade has sold more than 50 million albums, and the media dubbed her the First Lady of Cool.
She was appointed OBE in 2002, saying that the award was a great gesture to me and all black women in England, and promoted to CBE in 2017. She has always been intensely private, and is known for rarely appearing in public, releasing music only occasionally, and for the quiet, elegant style that made her one of the most influential voices in contemporary soul.
- Diamond Life, the best-selling debut by a British female vocalist
- First Nigerian-born Grammy winner, 1986
- Grammy Awards including Best Pop Vocal Album, 2002
- More than 50 million albums sold
- Hit singles including Smooth Operator, Your Love Is King and The Sweetest Taboo
- Less can be more. Sade's restraint and elegance defined a sound that others have followed for decades.
- Stay yourself. She resisted the demands of celebrity and let the music speak.