The Iconic Sade Adu At 60

Today, Sade Adu clocks 60. Folasade Helen Adu was born on this day in 1959 in Ibadan, Nigeria to a professor father Adebisi and a British nurse Anne Hayes. Her father is the first graduate of statistics in Nigeria. She spent her early years in Nigeria having contacts with her hometown, Ikere-Ekiti where her grandfather was one of the most influential men.

After her parents separated when she was four, her mother, Hayes moved to Essex, England with Sade and her brother Banji. After her secondary school education, she moved to London to study fashion design at Saint Martin’s School of Art.

In between her time in school, she took up modelling jobs. Later on, she joined a band, Pride and became a backup singer. An enthusiast, she came into songwriting partnership with the group’s guitarist, Stuart Matthewman and they performed at gigs. One song that caught the attention of recording companies was “Smooth Operator.”

In 1983, Adu and Matthewman left Pride to start a band, Sade. They were joined by the keyboardist Andrew Hale, bassist Paul Denman and drummer Paul Cook. Adu became so popular so that at her first show in Heaven’s nightclub, over 1000 people did not get access to the club. That same year, she performed at the US and by October, Epic Records signed her and in 1984 signed her band.

After the group’s signing, Adu dropped an album, “Diamond Life”. The album became the best-selling debut by a female vocalist and one of the best-selling albums of all-time with an international sale of over six million copies as well as stayed at number one on music top charts.