Shade hell biography. Sade's only daughter

The girl, who was later given the beautiful name of Helen Folashade, was born in Nigeria on January 16, 1959. Only the father of the newborn, Bizi Adu, was the native inhabitant of this country, and her mother was a nurse from England, Ann Hayes. Parents at one time met in London, but then moved to West Africa, since it was here that Busy was offered a professorship at a local university. Ann and Busy lived in harmony for some time after the birth of Sade, but difficult times quickly came in their family, the couple decided to divorce. Then Sade was only 4 years old, her brother Bagni was a little older, and her mother decided to move them to London shortly after the dissolution of the marriage. Apparently, the mother then made the right decision: in England, the children had a wonderful childhood. Sade was very interested in many things - the girl liked fashion, dancing, horseback riding and singing, which she mastered in local clubs.

Sade began her higher education at the famous St. Martins College, where she studied fashion design, and, it would seem, found a job that she would like to do in life.

Star Trek

After graduating from college, in 1977, Sade decided to open a tailoring shop for men's suits with her friend Joya Mellor. But this undertaking turned out to be not as promising as it initially seemed to friends, and did not bring them income. Sade started modeling. But in this field she was not destined to become a star, and she herself did not feel disposed to this occupation.

Everything changed after she met Lee Barrett, the manager of the Arriva group. Then Sade realized that she had a craving for music, and, moreover, the opportunity turned up to prove herself in this matter. The girl was accepted into the group, she started writing her own songs, which brought her great pleasure. She contributed to the development of the team, but also created for her own pleasure, creating texts and thinking over compositions. Further, Sade managed to visit the backing vocalist of the Pride group, but this did not bring her outstanding success.

In 1982, Sade had the opportunity to form the band Sade with Paul Cook, Stuart Matman and Paul Spencer Denman. Andrew Hale soon joined them. They immediately began to release albums one after another, using Sade's early work. In 1984, the album Diamond Life appeared, which brought the group worldwide fame, in 1985 the album Promise was released, in 1988 - Stronger Than Pride. In 1985, she was also invited to play in the film Absolute Begginers, in which she played the role of a singer.

Sade moved a lot: first she ended up in Spain, in 1990 she settled in London, and in 1995 she left for Jamaica. The year before, in 1994, the album of the best songs The Best of Sade was recorded, after which the famous group broke up, but not for long. In 2000, they reunited and recorded another album, after which they did not declare themselves for a long time, until 2010. Then Sade released the album Soldier of Love.

Personal life

Sade's first husband was Carlos Scolo, a Spanish film director. They got married in 1989 in one of the old castles in Madrid. Their happiness did not last long: when the singer ended up in Jamaica in 1995, she found a new lover, Bobby Morgan. They had a daughter, Ila, in 1996.

Sade Adu - quotes

I don't think music has to be sad. I know that there is a sense of melancholy in the tone of my voice, but in almost all songs there is hope.

Mystery Woman

Helen Folasade Adu is a woman of unearthly beauty, but in addition she is a talented composer of music and lyrics, a skilled arranger and an experienced producer. She never tried to be a role model. She built her life, trying to do as her feelings prompted, honestly and sincerely. Always true to herself and never compromising her principles and her music, Sade is one of the brightest musical phenomena of our generation.

When Sade first appeared on the music scene in the mid-80s, seemingly out of nowhere, attractive and exotic, playing soul music with a hint of jazz, she was the epitome of restraint. Time passed, and she turned into the personification of femininity. But her music, extremely sensual and frank, always resonated in the hearts of the listeners.

Ironically, Sade is both a goddess and a rebel. She refuted the popular belief that if nature endowed someone with a pleasant appearance, then his mental abilities leave much to be desired. It did not fit into the established pattern of the state of affairs, where female performers only feasted on the eyes of the men who ran the recording industry. She destroyed many of the stereotypes of the music business, taking away the ability of officials to control the creative process and entrusting it directly to the musicians. Sade and her band quickly became a completely autonomous team with constant leadership in every aspect of the recording process.

Sade has always sought to protect her privacy. She rarely gave interviews and believed that for those who wanted to listen to her, there was enough information about her and her life in her songs. This trait of Sade's character was very annoying to the British media and the rumor machine often came into action.

Carier start

Shade was born in Ibadan, Nigeria on January 16 1959 of the year. Her parents, Bisi Adu and Anne Hayes, met in London while her father was studying at the London School of Economics. The couple moved to West Africa when Busy was offered a position as a university professor. Later, when the marriage was going through difficulties, Ann returned to England, to her parents, taking four-year-old Sade and her older brother Banji (Banji).

In the early seventies, while living in Colchester, Essex, England, Sade learned to ride and got a horse, which she kept, constantly moonlighting on Saturdays. She read extensively, was interested in fashion, and mastered the art of dance and soul music at discos at nearby American air bases and at local clubs in Ilford and Canvey Island. Sade listened to soul artists such as Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye, performers who conveyed the whole gamut of feelings inimitably heartache and hope, and who possessed an amazing skill that allowed them to create something lasting and extraordinary from these experiences. However, she did not think about singing herself.

AT 1977 Sade came to London to study a three-year fashion design course at St. Martin's College of Art. After graduating, she and her friend Gioia Mellor, who still designs stage costumes for Sade, opened a small menswear design studio in London's Chalk Farm. But new business hardly developed. And she began to work as a fashion model.

AT 1980 Sade met Lee Barrett, the manager of the Latin soul band Ariva, who later became her manager. He famously asked Sade if she could sing and she found that she could. She joined the group Ariva despite an unsuccessful audition and started writing her own songs. She enjoyed the process of writing songs more and during numerous moves, when she had to live with an insecure future in the cabin of a tourist bus, he gave her strength.

AT 1981 Sade, with a large collection of records, settled on the top floor of an unused fire station in north London. Many of the compositions of the future debut album were written here.

The emergence of the group

AT 1982 In 2010, while a member of the Latin soul group Pride, Sade met Stuart Matthewman and Paul Spencer Denman. Together with Paul Cooke, they formed a separate group called Sade and started writing their own material. Later, Andrew Hale (Andrew Hale) joined them, and Paul Cook left the group.

18 October 1983 Sade signed a contract with Epic Records. All subsequent albums by Sade - Diamond Life ( 1984 ), Promise ( 1985 ), Stronger Than Pride ( 1988 ), Love Deluxe ( 1992 ), The Best Of Sade ( 1994 ), Lovers Rock ( 2000 ), Lovers Live ( 2002 ) - were released on this record label.

AT 1985 Sade starred in Absolute Beginners, directed by Julian Temple. She played the singer Athene Duncannon, singing Killer Blow, which she co-wrote with Simon Booth of the soul jazz band Working Week.

AT 1986 Sade moved to Madrid, Spain.

October 11 1989 Years in the ancient castle of Vinuelas in Madrid, Spain, Sade married Carlos Scola, a Spanish film director. But this marriage was unhappy and they soon began to live separately.

AT 1990 Sade bought a large Victorian house in north London. For a year and a half, she and her brother repaired and put it in order. She took an active part in the renovation process. Thanks to her imagination, the house turned into a stylish residence with a studio.

In the middle 1990 's Sade moved to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, where she lived with Bob Morgan, a Jamaican producer. 21 July 1996 She gave birth to a daughter, Ila.

AT 1997 In Montego Bay, Jamaica, Sada was charged with driving in an accident and disobeying a police officer. She was arrested and taken to the police station. She was then released on bail. A Jamaican court later issued an arrest warrant for Sade when she failed to appear in court to answer the charges. But she stated that she was unable to appear in court because of her daughter's hospitalization. The medical report of her daughter's hospitalization allowed her arrest warrant to be suspended.

AT 2005 Sade recorded the composition Mum exclusively for the DVD Voices For Darfur with a recording of a charity concert held on December 8 2004 year at the Royal Albert Hall in London to promote awareness and fundraising to address the crisis in the Darfur zone, Sudan.

The present

Today Sade lives in his house in London. She guards her private life more than anything else and prefers the company of old friends to a social life. She loves to drive fast in her old Mercedes and is constantly trying to quit smoking. And she still often goes to bed very late - this habit turned out to be quite tiring when you have to take care of a beautiful little daughter.

Sade rarely releases new albums and it can seem like every album is in some way her comeback from her retirement. Of course, the considerable time gaps between Sade's latest albums could justify such a misconception. But the real reason is that Sade's albums are not goods that appear with the precision of trains, they are separate elements of a single work that need both an idea and a basis. From album to album, the songs she wrote were perfected, developed and moved further from jazz soul, and her professional skills became more and more perfect. The principle of her manner of dressing is to achieve with minimal means maximum effect- applicable to her music as well. "If you have nothing to say, don't speak!"

Modern media - television, internet video - have provided the perfect means for artists to promote their music around the world. the globe. But Sade and her band are originally and above all a band that performs live. “When we perform, I understand that people like this music. I can feel it." Throughout their history, Sade have always attracted a diverse, multi-ethnic audience, who are won over by the band's open-minded approach to music. "And that's the best we've achieved."

For millions of his fans around the world and for the many singers and musicians who express their gratitude to Sade, Sade Adu remains a constant source of inspiration.

New album 2010 -Soldier of Love

February 8 2010 year, after ten years of silence, Sade released her new album called Soldier of Love. Of course, the delight and joy of her fans knew no bounds. Although this album no longer contains such cult melodies as Smooth Operator or No Ordinary Love, it pleased with such amazing songs as Soldier of Love, The Moon And The Sky, Morning Bird, as well as other minor compositions.

Initially, the release of the album was scheduled for the beginning 2009 , but in the end the disc was released only in February of the following year.

After the release of the album, a real turmoil began in the press and among the singer's fans: Soldier of Love sold 501,000 copies in the United States in the first week, hitting the top of the American hit parade.

However, Sade herself admits that it is difficult for her to cope with her own popularity: “I am not comfortable because of fame, so I try to avoid places that will attract a lot of attention to me.”

The first single, Soldier of Love, has already made history by debuting at number 11 on the Urban Hot AC chart, the highest debut position in over a decade and the third highest position ever on the chart. The single also debuted at number 5 on the Smooth Jazz airplay chart. pivot table number of plays on jazz radio stations, climbing to #1 and becoming the very first song with vocals to reach the top spot on the Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown chart.

December 14 2009 2009, the Lincoln Center in New York hosted an official presentation and a party with listening to the new album for the press and invited guests.

It is noteworthy, but in the native British hit parade, Sade's album takes only fourth place. Nevertheless, music critics and producers assure that the return of the singer and her band can rightfully be called one of the most impressive successes of this year.

Sade emerges from his solitary residence

She is Britain's most successful female solo artist, but she still remains a charming mystery. Sade emerges from her secluded residence to reveal that deep down she remains a tree-climbing tomboy.

Sade is so protective of his privacy, is so wary of extreme media attention that her friends - all of whom also avoid the hype - have nicknamed her "Howie" named after Howard Hughes ( Howard Hughes). The most secretive British artist of the 1980s has maintained such a low profile towards the press since her hit "Smooth Operator"- one tour in 14 years - so when we meet at her record company's London office to hear songs from her new album, SOLDIER OF LOVE, I - only person in this room who had met her before.

10 years have passed since the release of her last album, offered to the attention of listeners in 2000, Lovers Rock. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the authority she wields is quite palpable. She is the most successful solo artist the UK has ever given the world, having sold more than 50 million albums in her 27-year career. And more than half of those copies have been sold since the mid-1990s, when Sade almost disappeared from view. Since then, she has appeared only a few times - and this interview is the only one, private, to which she now agreed.

Paradoxically, she herself is open, kind and gentle - she generously allows me to enter her spacious Gregorian house in green north London - and is ready to laugh at herself. Unlike her songs, which are often filled with inner sadness and regret, her speech is interspersed with lively and very "English" self-irony. She tells me about a graffiti of her that her guitarist Stuart Matthewman saw in New York. Above her charming image, some wit wrote a note: "This bitch sings when she wants to." Sade finds this amusing. This quite convincingly sums up her career. She creates music by her own rules.

She tells me how, having recently noticed a poster for an album Lady Gaga "The Fame Monster", she wondered, "Why can't I be so angry about being famous?" She is a tough, ambitious woman. “In terms of creativity, I have a strong desire and lofty aspirations. I don't want to do anything other than the best I can do,” she says. In addition, she scorns the music industry's promotional fuss, despite knowing that it's hard to win public sympathy if you ignore her.

She learned the underside of fame - "not the sweet and rosy one that anyone expects" - very early. As her albums sold in the millions around the world, the paparazzi climbed the trees around her London home to take an intimate picture of her. Rumors about her personal life plagued her, even as amusing as the rumor that she was going to buy the Fulham Football Club. “I've come to think that the recording devices journalists use must be mixing what you're saying like a blender. It’s terrible that there is such an attitude that something seems simple, then there must be something funny about it.”

During one grueling interrogation by a female tabloid journalist about the affairs of the heart in her life - which, as we will see later, was not entirely honest - she burst into tears and vowed there and then to stop all interviews altogether. “There was a feeling that you open yourself to everyone, even to those with whom you once sat next to the bus. Why should you do this?” In the same way, she did not want to appear as “some kind of representative of a refined life,” although she does not regret this. “When the music fades appearance, it is absolutely not perceived correctly.

She does not look much aged during her long absence. On the eve of her 51st birthday, her face remains without braces and she is still amazing. Taller in real life than she appears on stage (she is approximately 5'8") with a large, rounded head, wide-set eyes, and curls of jet-black hair, she has an exotic charm that she claims she didn't care for on purpose. . “People always tend to ask, ‘What do you feel when you see your face on the cover of a magazine?’ But that doesn’t mean anything to me at all. I really don't notice it. I don't try to advertise my image.”

Despite the fact that she was awarded the Order British Empire (OBE ) in 2002, currently the largest number of her fans live in the States, where approximately 4 million copies of the album were sold. Lovers Rock. Her dressing rooms at American concerts were regularly adorned with flowers donated by "celebrity" admirers such as Aretha Franklin ( Aretha Franklin). The audience is always noisy and enthusiastic to greet the performer, who, unlike any other representative of Brit-soul, does not try to portray a gospel diva, and even more so with an American accent. Our transatlantic brethren love Sade, it seems, because she looks like no one but herself.

The reviewers here meanwhile are complaining that she can't really sing. The first time I hand it to her, she chuckles, as she often does to fend off ridicule. “She can be very hostile, England. Not only to me, to everyone. England is like an angry old aunt. You can leave, but still stay with her, although she criticizes you all the time and does not accept you properly, even when you are doing your best. But you continue to love her, in a certain way. And then you die.” She is laughing. “Those bitches will eventually outlive you!”

So she's still a bouncy resident of the unkind UK and has no plans to leave even if the income tax goes up a lot or the album SOLDIER OF LOVE will be received here no better than her two previous studio albums. She keeps her London house for business meetings, but she herself now lives in a village near the town of Stroud, Glaucestershire, where she settled in 2005 with her thirteen-year-old daughter Ila and her boyfriend, Ian, a former Royal marine, with whom they have been with for four years.

Stroud may seem like an odd choice for a half-Nigerian soul artist whose music and lifestyle are usually assumed to be downright "urban". She never corrected her image - moving smoothly in an extravagant dress and singing "Smooth Operator". But, like much of what little is known - or believed - about Shad Adu, this is not true. She is well aware that her family is the subject of ridiculous speculation in the English provinces. But deep down, Sade, and always has been, feels like a country girl.

Sade, born Helen Folashade Adu ( Helen Folasade Adu), was born in Ibadan, Nigeria, and is the daughter of an English district nurse, Ann Hayes ( Anne Hayes), and a Nigerian university lecturer, Bizi Adu ( Bisi Adu), who had met in London five years earlier. But the marriage fell apart and four-month-old Sade - her neighbors in Ibadan refused to call her by an English name - returned to England with her mother and older brother Bagni ( Banji). Her parents' divorce left a lasting impression that is felt in her songs: "I have a lot of them, probably even more than I realize." Love is often portrayed as an almost unattainable great patience or long hard work. All this, as she herself admits, comes from the past, from the troubled marriage of her parents. “My mother left my father because she found it impossible to live with him, although they loved each other very much. It was hard for my mom because he was the man of her life. On the wedding day my father gave her a red rose and when he died she threw it in his grave. She kept it for 30 years. That was the moment I realized how much she cared about him.”

The couple maintained a relationship and even talked about possible return to each other when Sade was 21, but this did not happen. “He was a very strange man, my father, he always remained a boy. But he definitely loved my mom very much.” And this despite the fact that he became the father of four more children - two boys and two girls - from three different women. Sade maintains relationships with all his half-siblings who live in Switzerland and America.

After the breakup of the family, they went to their English grandparents on the border of Essex and Suffolk, not far from Colchester, and while her mother worked day and night as a nurse in the local villages, Sade was mostly raised by her grandparents. It was unusual story radical English non-conformism. Grandfather Hayes was a small farmer, a Catholic socialist, the son of parents who had wealth above average, who were members of the White Way movement ( whiteway), a pseudo-socialist utopian community formed at the turn of the century on a "back to the earth" ideology, promoted in Russia at the end of the 19th century by the writer Leo Tolstoy.

Her great-grandparents eventually left the White Way, as Sade later learned, “because they were deeply religious and found something in the communal property in the White Way a bit risky. They were not part of "open communes", which basically meant the division of property between partners.” Her grandfather settled in the Stroud area, quickly trained as a clergyman and tried to enlist in the ranks of the "left" during the Spanish Civil War. After his marriage, he moved to the east. “But he always sang verses about the Western Lands brilliantly. He knew novelist Laurie Lee ( Laurie Lee) and he loved the area. We ended up stopping five minutes from the old land in Slad Valley where his feet had taken him.” Not far from her cottage, there is a place where Sade says she always introduces her grandfather when she drives by.

When Anne Hayes announced in 1955 that she was marrying a Nigerian, her parents “thought it risky, but fortunately my grandfather was a big fan of the African-American singer and human rights activist Paul Robeson ( Paul Robeson) and that alleviated the problem.” In recognition of this, Ann gave her first child, Bagny, a middle name, Paul.

Sade grew up, as has often been reported, not as an ordinary Essex girl, but as a tree-climbing tomboy from East Anglia who loved to watch cowboy films. She retains many "boyish" traits - a deep, masculine voice, a loud, open laugh, and a habit of sitting openly - which, in a strange way, are combined with her elegant appearance. A shadow of embarrassment occasionally covers her when this is pointed out to her. “There were no girls my age in the area, so I played with the boys from my brother's company. I didn't have a girlfriend until I was nine years old. But I had complete freedom, riding my bike from morning to night, helping my grandparents dig their garden. I was very independent. My mom gave me freedom even though she didn’t have much choice because she worked all day.” She still loves to work in the garden. “It's so comforting after you've spent the whole day trying to write songs!”

When her mother changed jobs, at age 11, Sade moved to a coastal town near Clacton, "which I didn't like. Most of the people who lived there were over 65 years old, and this place was not suitable for me." The next stop was London, where, showing a talent for art at school, she landed a place at Central St. Martin's College of Art and Design, where, over time, she traded her provincial earthiness for a rough urban equivalent: roaming the countryside in a shabby transit van, usually driven by herself. , singing backing vocals in a soul band called Pride. Her London residence was an illegally occupied space in a disused fire station, with an outdoor bath, briefly shared with her then-boyfriend, fashion journalist Robert Elmes ( Robert Elms).

Music was not her number one priority. After graduating from college, Sade set out to make clothes. But she was a fan of American soul giants Donnie Hathaway ( Donny Hathaway) and Bill Withers ( Bill Withers), and as a black performer in a mostly white surrogate soul band, gave the group credibility. “I didn’t have any confidence in my vocal abilities, but I felt that I enjoyed writing songs.” Song "Smooth Operator", which she performed solo, quickly attracted the attention of record company agents, although, at first, her ardent devotion to her band meant that she ignored their suggestions. According to one longtime friend, Sade is obsessed with "community loyalty."

Finally, in 1983, she signed with the Epic label on the condition that she take three of her bandmates (guitarist and saxophonist Stuart Matthewman, keyboardist Andrew Hale and bassist Paul Danman) with her. Even their income from record sales and live concerts has always been split into four parts. There have been arguments over the years - "because my 'meter' is much more sensitive than theirs," she insists - but there have been no band breakups or new members. The group remains one compact block under the control of a founder who likes the nickname "Aunt Sade". None of the other three ever contradicted "Head". “They look like old family friends,” she says. “There are times when it becomes like Christmas and all the skeletons from the closet appear. But, in general, it's good.”

It was not very good that they were active supporters and breathlessly related to Thatcher values. But rightly noting, they themselves did not provide any assistance, only titled their debut album Diamond Life and, to a large extent, exuding an aura of glamour, in keeping with Britain's materialistic impulse in the 1980s. Sade defends his early youth image as an echo fashionable style sung by her American soul heroes.

But the old accusation that Sade was a reflection of the yuppie era still torments her, making her unusually touchy. “Given the history of my family, this really annoys me. And that pissed me off so much at a time when we were secretly giving away money we didn't even really have ourselves yet to Arthur Scargill. Arthur Scargill) and these amazing miners.”

With quite a lot of money in the bank - the Sunday Times list of Britain's richest people recently put her at £30 million - Sade has moved into the lower tier of people who continue to operate and devote more time to her personal life. It was not an "easy ride". As a stubborn and independent woman, long accustomed to taking care of herself, Sade, as one old comrade put it, is “not a weak player” in matters of the heart. “I paid a big price,” she says of her romantic relationship. Her six-year marriage to Spanish director Carlos Pliego ( Carlos Pliego) ended in 1995 "because he found it difficult to share me with the rest of the world." Despite buying her apartment in Madrid and spending as much time with Pliego there as she could, it wasn't enough, and the marriage fell apart after her long absence from the American tour.

A subsequent romance with a Jamaican musician whom she met in London resulted in the birth of her daughter Ila in 1996, but unfortunately the affair did not last long. This confirmed the difficulties of life for the African-British woman who, with her complex inner world, at times struggled to feel that she was needed by someone. As a teenager, she saw Jackson 5 on television and was “more fascinated by the audience than what was happening on stage. They attracted children, mothers with children, old people, whites, blacks. I was really touched by it.” Motivated by a desire to find out her boyfriend's Jamaican roots, they visited Kingston, but were arrested for speeding, returned home and dispersed. Relations between the three are now tense.

Her new man, Ian Watts ( Ian Watts), whom she met after moving to Stroud, she is convinced is The One - and a true villager. “Ian was a Royal Marine, then a fireman, then a Cambridge chemist graduate. I always said that if I could only find a guy who could cut wood and had a great smile, then I wouldn't care if he was an aristocrat or a thug, as long as he was a good guy. In the end, I found an educated thug!” - at the same time, Sade laughs until she drops, and continues to laugh when she remembers her mother introducing Ian to someone as "'Sade's current boyfriend', as if he came off the assembly line or something like that."

Ian's 18-year-old son, Jack, lives with them in a cottage in Stroud, making them a modern "nuclear" family. “Ian is Ila's real father. He does all the things a father should do and she really cares about him.” Her daughter has a caring stepfather and an older half-brother whom she adores. Sade says, "I feel like I finally won the lottery."

“I'm not the kind of person who needs a lot of money. You could break into this house and leave in half an hour without finding anything worth stealing,” Sade says, and it’s hard to disagree with that. The living room on the ground floor of her London home is a large but sparsely furnished space with several white upholstered sofas, hardwood floors and bare walls. For the past hour, we have sat on a red rug in front of a single-chamber electric fireplace, which, in terms of age, should be the same as herself. She has a few of those old-fashioned burners that she says, “They are my favorites.”

Thrift, another traditional provincial habit, is her style, but for all that, she is generous. Once the royalties rose, she helped her mother buy a house in Clacton, bought her brother Bagni a home in the States, and supported various unknown friends in their "business projects." The musicians touring with her comment on how fair she was to mention their names as collaborators in writing music - a rare thing in the stingy world of popular music accounting.

She did this with the absolute knowledge that none of the rewarding participants would ask for it themselves, “or ever write anything about me” that she didn't give them something. It's not just a personality trait or eccentricity of control, as she claims, "I don't like being solely in charge, even when it's supposed to be." She is not shy about talking about money in substance. “I have always wanted to have money. When I was a little girl, I used to create football "common funds". But it’s a completely different thing when you have them, and your life is no longer tied to making money.”

She is completely incomprehensible. Today she is dressed in a simple black blouse and hard-to-describe black trousers. As we speak, she rolls her own cigarettes and blows the smoke into the chimney above the empty fireplace. (She quit smoking five years ago, but started again when she started making a new record.) Outside on the road is her own old stocky Volvo, which she traded in her vintage BMW for after she got Ila. Her stylist, video director and friend Sophie Muller ( Sophie Mueller) used to say that driving Sade “looks like a young man in the body of a woman.” It's hard to imagine her like this in this Volvo.

With her sensible provincial mind, she realizes how lucky she is. She has sorted out her family life, earned as much money as she needs, and continues to create music in her spare time and in her own way. “Does it still make sense? I think it has. After every album, I think, ‘That’s it, I’ve had enough, never again.’ But how lucky am I that at my age I can still do this without any outside pressure?!”

Her home in Stroud is a small house she calls a “cave” built from rubble that, five years after she moved in, is “partially completed. There are still wires sticking out in some places.” She and Ian are now tidying up the neighboring country house, "but God only knows when we'll finish this." She enjoys a quiet, secluded life in Stroud, where the local papers don't pay any attention to her. "They're more interested in Eddie Eagle ( Eddie the Eagle), he is a bigger star in these parts than I am.” And Ila respects the province. “She is enamored with frogs and newts and worms and all sorts of snails, just like I used to be.”

How to combine career and family is now a big question for her. “Being a mom is the most important and hardest job I have ever done. I'm not complaining, but I've never had a babysitter. For many years after her birth, I put Ila to bed every night. As soon as she appeared, she became the center of my life.” She took her five-year-old daughter on her last world tour in 2002, "but I didn't let her watch any of the shows because I didn't want her to hear people screaming at her mom. She wasn't ready for that." Ila sings on one of the tracks on the album SOLDIER OF LOVE[composition "Baby Father"- approx.] - but Sade is at a loss as to what to do with her when she inevitably has to deal with the promotion of a new album with a long tour.

She claims to have loved performing as her concerts were the last blow to her critics. “Regardless of what anyone might say about me, when I feel the warmth coming back to me from the audience, especially in America, I think that it is much more important than all this nonsense. In fact I prefer to sing live now, I feel much more comfortable than before. I used to get a little numb and worried about my vocal performance, like I didn't learn this "language" properly.” Today, Sade feels great being at home, by herself. “Now it’s much easier for me to express myself.”

Sade is an English singer of Nigerian origin who has been popular for more than a quarter of a century. Heartfelt lyrics and a sensual voice brought the girl well-deserved success. Sade compares favorably with all the pop queens and princesses, becoming over the years, like expensive wine, only better.

Singer Shade. Biography

Helen Folashade Adu was born on January 16, 1959 in the family of an economics teacher and a nurse in Nigeria. After the collapse of the marriage, the girl's mother returned to Colchester (UK) with her children.

In the early 70s, Sade was interested in literature, fashion, dance and soul artists. The girl decided to connect her choice of profession with the fashion industry and in 1977 came to apply to St. Martin's College of Art in London for a fashion design course. After receiving a diploma, Sade, together with a friend, decided to open an atelier for tailoring men's clothing. In addition, the young beauty moonlighted as a fashion model.

While still a student, Sade, at the request of her friends, agreed to be in their group as a temporary vocalist, but, as it turned out, the girl was afraid of the stage, so she had to leave the group. For several years, Sade battled her fear by performing backing vocals in the funk band Pride.

Robert

All the work of the girl is closely connected with men. Sade the singer transferred all her emotions and experiences into music and songs.

her first big love name was Robert Elms. They met in London after one of the singer's performances. The young man was amazed and fascinated.

Robert supported the emerging star and managed to persuade the owners of a major record label to come to the Pride concert. From this moment, the star Sade rises. The girl was immediately offered to sign a contract, but she resisted persuasion for another year and a half, not wanting to leave the team that had become her own. In the end, she nevertheless agreed, but on the condition that some of the musicians (keyboardist, bassist and saxophonist) would leave with her. Sade was born in 1984.

All this time, Sade lived with Robert in a poor quarter, in a house without heating, but she was happy. However, due to the demand for the girl, constant concerts and recordings, young people increasingly moved away from each other and eventually broke up.

Carlos

In 1985, a new man appears in Sade's life: the sultry Spaniard Carlos Scola. According to the singer, she fell in love with him as soon as she saw him. The feelings turned out to be mutual, and already in 1986 the girl moved to her lover in Madrid. And two years later he recorded his third disc - Stronger than pride.

Having lived with her lover for four years, Sade accepts a marriage proposal, although she does not consider herself fit for marriage. Remembering the previous sad experience, the girl tries to spend as much time with Carlos as possible. But the relationship still began to deteriorate, which is noticeable on the album Love Deluxe, released in 1992. Singer Sade received very positive reviews for the album. However, if the creative career went uphill, then personal life rolled into the abyss. In 1995, the couple divorced, and Sade decides never to marry again.

Bean

Looking for peace and solitude, Sade (singer) leaves London and moves to Jamaica. The girl meets Bob Morgan. Their romance was bright, temperamental. In 1996, the couple had a daughter, Ayla. But the singer can only dream of a peaceful life: it seems that failures haunt her. First there was a traffic accident, because of which an arrest warrant was issued. The case dragged on for several years, but managed to resolve the situation peacefully. Then Sade found out about Bob's betrayal...

The singer returns to London with her child. In 2000, a new album, Lovers Rock, was released. Singer Sade wrote songs for him herself, putting into them the experiences that tormented her.

Yen

And then the star disappeared from view. No public appearances, no performances, no new songs. As it turned out, the soul diva moved to Gloucestershire, where in 2006 she met her new, so far last, love - chemist Ian Watts. After meeting him, she believed that it was still possible to live happily with one person.

After a ten-year break, in 2010, Sade (singer) recorded her sixth album Soldier of love. According to the songs, it is felt that the woman has finally found the desired happiness and peace.

Despite the fact that the singer does not indulge fans with frequent interviews and tours, she still remains a well-deserved queen of soul. And the next album that she records, no matter how many years later, will definitely be in the first lines of Billboard. Because it's a talent.