Read on Twitter
here’s my sade appreciation thread. im going to be discussing her back story, how she got famous, her contributions to the music industry, her impact, etc. it’s going to be LONG. this is my first ever thread, so I really hope everyone enjoys. 
“But I was an old soul even when I was a child” born, as Helen Folasade Adu, in Ibadan, Nigeria, 1959. The family moved to England when she was 5, & she grew up in a village. Her family was accepted really well. her mom was a single parent, which was pretty unusual back then.
even more unusual was that she had two black kids and the village was pure white as the driven snow. however they were still accepted and there were no problems. her parents divorced when she was very little. and she didn’t see her dad much growing up.
She has always felt "accepted," but when she was 11 and living in England, she recalls being surrounded by white schoolboys and assailed with taunts such as, "Go black home, you'll be all white in the morning."
She was perfectly happy about being black and didn't consider it an insult. So she singled one of them out — he had really lank, greasy hair and acne — and she said to him, 'What about the way you look? You should look in the mirror. I know who I am.'’ they left her alone after.
she didn’t have a lot of music around her as a child. her mother wasn’t into music, so it was just never around her. when she got to be about 13, she started listening to pirate stations, which she says changed her life, & wasn’t very interested in the pop stations.
when she was growing up there weren’t as many options for music choices. the pirate stations got her to start collecting albums, and at the time not many girls brought records. they usually listened to what their boyfriend had.
as she got older she listened to people like, The greats – Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye and Sly Stone. She also liked the heavier stuff as well, like Gil Scott-Heron.
she went to school for fashion, but eventually found dissatisfaction with it. “I wanted to do painting but I ended up in fashion ’cause I wanted to make a living out of it, to have a trade, which was very much how I was brought up. But I didn’t fit in, I wasn’t reverent about it”
she modeled briefly. legend has it, that she was first approached about singing in a band. “She said, ‘Well, I don’t sing at all,’” recalls Watson, and they said, basically, ‘You must be able to – you’re black.’ Once she got going, there was a tremendous commitment.
and then she began backup singing with the british band pride.
her solo performances of the song smooth operator attracted record companies so in 1983, sade & matthewman (saxophonist/guitarist) split from pride along with andrew hale (keyboardist) and paul denman (bassist).
she signed with epic records in 1983, the rest of the band signed in 1984. here is one of their first concerts.
following the record deal, they began recording diamond life. it took six weeks to record and was released on july 16th, 1984. It reached number two on the uk charts, sold 1.2 million copies in the uk, top 10 in the us where it has sold four million copies to date.
this led the band & sade to become one of the top-selling debut recordings of the '80s, and the best-selling debut ever by a British female vocalist.
side note: sade wrote one of the songs on her debut album “when am I going to make a living” about her struggle, she had no money, & was wondering is she was going to make it, and look how far she is now.
In late 1985, the band released their second album, Promise. Sade stated before in an interview that she didn’t feel the group was ready to tour during their second album, and that they needed more experience.
It became the bands first album to reach number one on the US billboard 200. The album topped the chart in 1986 and spent two weeks at the peak position. Eventually, the album went on to sell four million copies in the America.
here is the song, tar baby.
here is the song, tar baby.
The album spawned five singles. And is probably my third favorite sade album, enjoy one of my favorite songs.
Sade rarely grants interviews, but here’s one of my favorite interviews and it happens to be from the love deluxe era. I do wish she gave more interviews because a lot of what she says is really helpful advice to me, but I’m gonna take what she gives us and soak it all in.
A recording for sade’s Love Deluxe world tour, was in San Diego, 1993, the last two shows of the tour. They released the recording in, 1994. Here is one of my favorite performances.
During the hiatus leading up to their 5th album, She got together with, Bob Morgan, and had her first child, Ila. Now Izaak. Sade: "My happiest moment was definitely when I was in the hospital holding Ila. I just looked at her, and I wanted the moment to go on forever.”
She had also encountered drama outside her romantic life. In 1998 a judge in Kingston, Jamaica, ordered an arrest warrant for Sade after she failed to appear at a hearing on reckless-driving charges. Anyways, Here’s sade talking about her daughter.
I really love this interviewer, he wasn’t intrusive and was very understanding. I could tell she seemed relaxed with him which is probably why we got so much out of this. But it also just shows you she’s just a normal person who enjoys her privacy.
In the meditative song Immigrant, Sade revisits the discrimination her father faced when he came to England. "He didn't know what it was to be black," she sings, "'Til they gave him his change but didn't want to touch his hand."
On "Slave Song," she draws inspiration from the suffering of her African ancestors: "Teach my beloved children who've been enslaved/ to reach for the light continually."
Here is sade talking about the meaning behind king of sorrow, and then performing it.
After another 10 year hiatus, in which she raised her daughter (now son) peacefully, she released soldier of love, on February 8th, 2010. Upon release, the album received positive reviews and became a success.
In the United States with first-week sales of 502,000 copies. Soldier of Love became the band's first album to debut at number-one and the band's second album to peak at number-one on the chart.
Here’s my favorite song from the album, In Another Time, which has helped me alot
Here’s my favorite song from the album, In Another Time, which has helped me alot
keep in mind she was 51 years old here, and still looking like that. those african genes came tf through!!! and the name of this song is baby father.
In 2016 on National coming out day, Mickailia, now known as Izaak, came out as transgender. In September 2019, Izaak posted a heartfelt message online, thanking his legendary mum for her support through his transition.
