Sade 003

Sade's fourth album, Love Deluxe, included the hit "No Ordinary Love" and marked a return to the detached cool jazz backing and even icier vocals that made her debut album a sensation. Although Sade's style is more suggestive than hypnotic and her production and arrangements are in an urbane mode rather than a jazz one, she maintained her popularity among the fusion and urban contemporary audiences. This release also includes "Mermaid," "Pearls," and "Feel No Pain."

Sade’s longest absence yet did not prevent their return from being an event. It at least seemed eventful whenever “Soldier of Love,” released to radio a couple months prior to the album of the same title, was heard over the airwaves…

Helen Folasade Adu CBE (Yoruba: Fọláṣadé Adú [fɔ̄láʃādé ādú]; born January 16, 1959), known professionally as Sade Adu or simply Sade (/ʃɑːˈdeɪ/ shah-DAY), is a British singer, songwriter, and actress, known as the lead singer of her eponymous band…

Lovers Rock, the title of Sade's first album of the 21st century, could be taken on many levels. Never before has the singer infused more mainstream rock elements (prominent strummed guitars) into her music as evidenced by the first single, "By Your Side." That's not to say that she has eschewed her own tried-and-true brand of smoky, dusky ballads. The singer/songwriter is reunited with co-producer Mike Pela and musician/songwriters Andrew Hale, Stuart Matthewman, and Paul S. Denman; and Lovers Rock finds them all in fine form. "Somebody Already Broke My Heart," "Every Word," and "Lovers Rock" are vintage Sade.

Sade's second album improved on the performance of her debut, as "Sweetest Taboo" was a huge hit and "Never as Good as the First Time" landed in both the R&B and pop Top 20. She was once again the personification of cool, laid-back singing, seldom extending or embellishing lyrics, registering emotion, or projecting her voice…