Fashion designer, London, 1979-83; backup singer for the funk band Pride, 1982; formed band Sade, 1983; signed with Epic Records, 1984; toured throughout the United States, Europe, and the Far East, 1985--; appeared in the film Absolute Beginners, 1986.

Music writers love Sade's name almost as much as they love her music. Whenever a critic is trying to describe a pop act with a smooth, laid- back, sophisticated, vaguely jazzy sound, her name is immediately invoked. Since taking the pop world by quiet storm in the mid-1980s, dozens of bands have tried to copy the restrained style she and her band have pioneered. Not one has yet managed to replace Sade as the standard for sultriness.

In 1959, Sade (pronounced Shar-day) was born Helen Folasade Adu in Ibadan, Nigeria. Her father, Adebisi Adu, was a Nigerian-born economics professor. Her mother, Anne, was a British nurse. Her parents met while Adebisi Adu was a graduate student at the London School of Economics. After marrying and having a son, the couple moved to Ibadan, where Adu had landed a teaching job. Sade--a diminutive of Folasade--was born shortly after their arrival in Nigeria. Sade's unique and exotic looks--her skin is a fairly light shade of brown, while her features have an unmistakably African quality--represent a striking blend of her parents' ethnic backgrounds.

By the time Sade was four, her parents had separated, and, in 1963, she moved with her mother and brother back to England. They lived with Sade's grandparents while her mother finished nursing school, after which they moved out on their own. The family eventually settled in a working-class town called Holland-on-Sea, where, according to a 1986 People magazine interview, "50 percent of the population was over 65 [years of age]." In a Chicago Tribune interview the same year, Sade described it as "a miserable little seaside town full of go-carts, old ladies, cotton candy, and poodles." Sade and her friends found solace from their dismal surroundings in dance clubs. By her teens, Sade had developed a passion for jazz, funk, and soul music.

At 17, Sade left for London to study fashion and design at St. Martin's College of Art in the city's West End. Upon graduating, she and a friend launched their own business designing men's clothing. The design business never became very profitable, and Sade supplemented her income by taking modeling jobs, which she did not especially enjoy. Meanwhile, she continued to spend as much time as possible at dance clubs, where she felt most at home.

Sade's entry into the music world did not take place through any plan of her own. A popular London funk group called Pride was looking for a backup singer. Her lack of any experience as a vocalist notwithstanding, their manager thought that Sade's stunning looks made her a good candidate. She auditioned for the spot and was initially rejected. When nobody better showed up over the next few weeks, however, Sade was given the job. She continued designing clothes for a living, but music became her main evening hobby.

As a backup singer, Sade quickly developed a following of her own, and at the suggestion of Pride's manager, she and a few other members of the band worked up a set of songs to perform during Pride's between- set breaks, with Sade taking center stage. Sade and Pride saxophonist Stuart Mathewman teamed up to write several catchy songs for the splinter group, and, before long, the newly-dubbed band Sade was overshadowing Pride.

As a band, Sade created a stir almost immediately. Its first break came in 1983, when they were engaged to play a concert at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, sponsored by the glossy British music and fashion magazine The Face. The artsy crowd was captivated by Sade, who was backed only by Mathewman and a small rhythm section. By October of that year, the band, which now included bassist Paul Denman, keyboardist Andrew Hale, and drummer Paul Cooke (later replaced by Dave Early), had signed with Epic. Sade's first single, "Your Love Is King," was released the following February. The Diamond Life album came out just five months later. With one exception, all of the songs on Diamond Life were cowritten by Sade and Mathewman.

Sade quickly became a favorite among trendy artistic types, and Diamond Life soared to the top of the British charts. Fearing that Sade would not go over as well among American listeners, however, Epic did not release the album in the United States until early in 1985. The company need not have worried. On the strength of the single "Smooth Operator," the album became a huge hit there as well. Diamond Life sold six million copies worldwide by the end of 1985, becoming the best selling album ever by a British female singer. It won the British Phonographic Institute's Best Album prize, and Sade received the Grammy for Best New Artist.

Sade spent much of 1985 touring to promote Diamond Life and recording the follow-up album, which was released late in the year. Like its predecessor, Promise carved a quick path up the charts in both Britain and the United States, fueled by its Top 5 single "Sweetest Taboo." And like those on the band's debut album, the new songs were characterized by Sade's subtle, restrained crooning over smoky, swirling soul/jazz riffs. For eight months in 1986, the band toured across the United States and Europe. As the tour wound down, Sade was surrounded by rumors that she was depressed about a busted love affair, hooked on drugs, having a nervous breakdown, or beset by some combination of the three. Her ongoing aversion to public scrutiny only gave the rumors more room in which to perpetuate themselves.