Newspaper Page Text
February 26, 1985/The Maroon Tiger/Section A
Page 5
SADE
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eria
When Africa rhythms and
harmonies merged with Euro
pean forms, jazz and blues were
born. That too is the story of
Portrait recording artist SADE
and her debut album DIA
MOND LIFE. There is another
story, as well, of how a promising
young fashion designer became
the new singing sensation of his
Britain and of how she’s brought
her voice and songs to America,
birthplace of the jazz, blues and
soul music she loves.
SADE (pronounced Shar-DAY)
was born Helen Folasade Adu in
a Nigerian village 50 miles from
the capitol city of Lagos, the child
of an African father and an
English mother. ("Sade” is an
affectionate, diminutive form of
her African middle name.) When
she was four, her parents
separated and she moved with
her mother to London’s North
End.
I n her teens, SADE worked at a
succession of part-time jobs,
from waitress to bicycle
messenger, while devoting all
her spare hours to music. She
was especially enchanted by the
sophisticated soul sounds of
Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Nina
Simone and Billie Holiday. At St.
Martin’s College in London, she
studied fashion design and later
created her own line of
menswear; some of her work
was shown in NewYork in 1981 in
connection with the first U.S.
appearance of Spandau Ballet.
But soon her musical passions
overtook her fashion career, and
SADE became one of several
vocalists in a promising London
jazz-funk group called Pride.
Despite a strong club follow
ing and glowing press, Pride
never recorded and eventually
disbandedbut not before SADE
had come into her own as a voice
and (given her statuesque good
loo*ks) a stage presence to be
reckoned with. Just two years
after her initial entry into the
SADE is a group, a nucleus
of four musicians and friends,
supplemented by a roster of
five instrumentalists like
drummer Dave Early and
percussionist Martin Ditcham
who work together to project
the voice and words of SADE
Adu and the songs they write
together. Stuart Matthewson,
Paul S. Denman and Andrew
Hale are the boys, SADE the
girl and the name they go by.
‘sade is a soul group with a
jazz feel.’
It began with a series of
accidents, coincidences and
half chances and continued
with a measure of pride. ‘Can
you sing' asked manager Lee
Barrett one day in 1981, ‘she
just look as if she probably
could.’ ‘I said yes. ‘I just
thought I probably could.’
That was how Sade was
recruited as a backing singer
for a young north London
London scene, SADE became
one of several vocalists in a
promising
Despite a strong club follow
ing and glowing press, Pride
never recorded and eventually
disbandedbut not before SADE
had come into her own as a voice
and (given her statuesque good
looks) a stage presence to be
reckoned with. Just two years
after her initial entry into the
London scene, SADE emerged
with a new backing band and a
lush new album.
"All she has to do is stand
there," wrote Record Mirror.
".That she sings is a bonus. And
sing she does...She’s taut,
restrained, but never icy or
distant. At once she's haughty
and unobtainable, then the girl
next door. A star!”
DIAMOND LIFE is a sparkling
showcase of SADE’s musical
moods. To the sensuous clip of a
samba or a pounding Motown
pulse, her close collaborator
Stuart Matthewman provides
atmospheric guitar accompani
ment and tasty sax fills. He is
joined by the percussive
pianistics of Andrew Hale and
the seamless rhythm section of
Paul Denman (bass) and Paul
Cooke (drums).
But at the heart of DIAMOND
LIFE is SADE. On tracks like
"Smooth Operator” and the
U.K. hit “Your Love is King,” her
jazzy phrasing meshes with stur
dy rhythm ’n' blues changes to
create a musical synthesis of
grace and power. SADE herself
co-wrote every song on DIA
MOND LIFE except for "Why
Can’t We Live Together,” the
1972 Timmy Thomas hit here
given a thoughtful reworking as
the album’s closing track.
All in all, this is a multi-faceted
work which celebrates the spirit,
style and soul of a striking new
talent in SADE for a taste of
DIAMOND LIFE, on Portrait
Records.
funk band called Pride. But
when it came to the audition
they turned her down. ‘I had
no intention of being a
singer.’ But a week later, they
asked her again, 'but I
thought I’d do it to help them
out.'
A few months later there
was a resuffle of the Pride
pack and a new saxophone
player was needed.
Somebody suggested a kid
from Hull called Stuart who’d
just appeared in town, he
turned up for the audition
with a Selmar mark six and
two old Humberside mates
called Paul, one a bass player,
the other a drummer. Pride
now had three new members.
They also had a song called
"Smoth Operator" where
Sade stepped to the front and
sang the lead. With its
dramatic, jazzy sound and
Sade's dark brown voice it was
a contrast to the hard angular
funk of the Pride set, and it
became a highlight of their
club gigs. It was also a hint of
things to come.
Bored with simply singing,
backing, SADE, along with
Stuart and the two Pauls
worked out a few numbers of
their own in the ballad and
mid-tempo vein which best
suited Sade’s voice. The small
set they called it, covers of a
couple of their favorite soul
songs “Be Thankful For What
You’ve Got” and “Why Can’t
We Live Together,” The old
Julie London standard “Cry
Me A River” and two new
songs that Sade and Stuart
wrote together. One of them
was called "Cherry Pie,” the
other ’’Hang On To Your
Love.”
The small set was
premiered as support to Pride
at Ronnie Scotts, the four-
piece becoming a seven-
piece after their half-an-hour
of sparse, tingling soul. But
from that night on it was
obvious that the band called
after the girl with the yoruba
name were not just a past
time, this was a serious thing.
Somehow the blistering
potential of Pride was never
fully realized, but the prin
ciples which fired that band
were continued by Sade. The
commitment to no com
promise, the search fpr
mature, well-executed music,
the desire to reveal the simple
soul at the heart of a good
song, Sade was growing with
new songs from the
collaboration of Adul
Matthewson and growing
due to the arrival of Andrew
Hale on keyboards. It took a
year from debut to deal, a
year when there were oc
casional doubts about ever
making a living, but also a year
in which as the band got more
proficient and more powerful
so the confidence grew.
We’re hungry but we’re going
to win.’
It was the recording of two
songs which finally clinched
it. Producer Robin Millar was
introduced to the band by a
mutual friend, Simon Booth,
who had just formed Working
Week, and it was immediately
obvious that he was right for
the job. Despite having fairly
limited experience he instant
ly understood the Sade
sound. A fellow dissident
from the synthesised world he
(Continued, pg. 16)