SADE / BADU, ERYKAH - VOLUME 1 DSO EDITS

Sade is an English band formed in London in 1982 and named after their lead singer Sade Adu. The band consists of Sade Adu on vocals, Paul Denman on bass, Stuart Matthewman on saxophones and guitars, and Andrew Hale on keyboards and piano. The band has not had a permanent drummer since 1986 and employs session musicians for recordings and live performances. Sade's musical style spans soul, quiet storm, smooth jazz, and sophisti-pop. The band's debut studio album "Diamond Life" was released in 1984, topped the charts in several countries, and sold over four million copies worldwide. It won the Brit Award for Best British Album. Their second studio album "Promise" was released in 1985, reached number one in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and won the band their first Grammy Award. Their following two albums "Stronger Than Pride" released in 1988 and "Love Deluxe" released in 1992 achieved further commercial success. After an eight-year gap the band released their fifth studio album "Lovers Rock" in 2000, which won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. Ten years later their sixth studio album "Soldier of Love" was released in 2010 and became their first number one debut in the United States since "Promise". It won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. All of Sade's albums, including compilations and a live album, have charted in the United States Top Ten. As of 2012 their sales in the United States stood at 23 million units, and by 2014 their worldwide sales stood at 75 million. The band was ranked at number 50 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2026. The musical group Sade was formed in London in 1982 by members of the Latin soul band Pride. Sade Adu, Stuart Matthewman, Paul Denman, and Paul Anthony Cooke formed the breakaway group and began to write material. They named the band after lead singer Sade Adu and made their debut performance in December 1982 at Ronnie Scott's Club in London in support of Pride. In May 1983 the band performed its first United States show at Danceteria in New York City. Andrew Hale joined on keyboards in mid-1983. Paul Anthony Cooke was replaced on drums by Dave Early in early 1984. Sade received more attention from the media and record companies than Pride and eventually separated from that group. On 18 October 1983 the singer signed with CBS Records, which was later absorbed by its parent label Epic Records. As the singer and band established themselves Epic Records printed "Pronounced Shar-day" on the record labels of the band's releases. In February 1984 Sade released its first single "Your Love Is King", which became a Top Ten hit in the United Kingdom. A second single "When Am I Going to Make a Living" barely made the Top 40, but the band's debut album "Diamond Life" was released in July 1984 and peaked at number two in the United Kingdom. It spent over six months in the UK Top Ten and was later certified four times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. "Diamond Life" won the 1985 Brit Award for Best British Album and was later included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The band embarked on its first major United Kingdom tour, augmented by Dave Early on drums, Martin Ditcham on percussion, Terry Bailey on trumpet, and Gordon Matthewman on trombone. A third single "Smooth Operator" was released from the album with a video directed by Julien Temple. The single became the band's first hit in the United States in spring 1985 and propelled the album into the US Top Ten. Also in 1985 the band was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video and Best New Artist. On 13 July 1985 Sade performed at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London. Sade Adu became the only African-born artist to appear in front of the live audience of 75,000 and an estimated worldwide television audience of 1.4 billion in 170 countries. In late 1985 Sade released its second album "Promise", which peaked at number one in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry in the United Kingdom and quadruple platinum in the United States. In 1986 Sade Adu was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Video Artist and the band won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. On 28 June 1986, after touring for the album, the band performed at the Artists Against Apartheid Concert in the Freedom Festival on Clapham Common in London. In 1987 the band was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for "Promise". Sade's third album "Stronger Than Pride" was released in May 1988. The album peaked at number three in the United Kingdom and has been certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. It was preceded by the single "Paradise", which made the UK Top 30 and US Top 20. The band toured across the world again, augmented by Blair Cunningham on drums, Martin Ditcham on percussion, Leroy Osbourne on vocals, Gordon Hunte on guitar, James McMillan on trumpet, and Jake Jacas on trombone and vocals. In 1989 Sade Adu was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist. Sade's fourth album "Love Deluxe" was released in November 1992. The album peaked at number three on the US Album charts and was certified quadruple platinum. It peaked at number 10 in the United Kingdom and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. In 1993 the band recorded a cover of the Percy Mayfield song "Please Send Me Someone to Love" for the Academy Award-winning film "Philadelphia" before launching the Love Deluxe world tour. Joining the band were Leroy Osbourne on vocals, Gordon Hunte on guitar, Trevor Murrell on drums, Karl Vanden Bossche on percussion, and Rick Braun on trumpet. The 1994 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded to Sade for "No Ordinary Love", which was featured in the 1993 film "Indecent Proposal". In November the group released its first compilation album "The Best of Sade". The album was a Top Ten hit in both the United Kingdom and the United States and was certified platinum and quadruple platinum respectively. In 1996 Andrew Hale, Paul Denman, and Stuart Matthewman formed their own band as a side project called Sweetback and released a self-titled album. In October 2000 Sade Adu came out of retirement to perform at the MOBO Awards, her first live performance in several years. The following month Sade released its fifth studio album "Lovers Rock", its first album in eight years. The album peaked at number 18 in the United Kingdom though it was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. It peaked at number three in the United States and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2002. The band toured the United States throughout 2001. The tour resulted in a live album "Lovers Live", which was released in the United Kingdom and the United States in February 2002. In 2005 the band contributed the track "Mum" to the Voices for Darfur DVD. In mid-2009 an official-looking website posted that an upcoming Sade album would be released on 24 November 2009 before Sony Music released any news or marketing for an upcoming album. However Sony denied having any affiliation with the site. The site was later found to belong to a web developer who used the buzz around the album's release to drive traffic and earn money on pay-per-click advertisements. Sade's sixth studio album "Soldier of Love" was released worldwide on 8 February 2010, the band's first album of new material in ten years. Following the release of the "Soldier of Love" single on 8 December 2009 the track debuted at number 11 on the Urban Hot AC chart, making it the highest debut of the decade and the third-highest all-time on that chart. "Soldier of Love" debuted at number 5 on the Smooth Jazz airplay chart and became the first-ever vocal to hit number 1 on the Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown. The album peaked at number 4 in the United Kingdom. In the United States the album sold 502,000 copies in its first week and topped the Billboard 200 chart. The album stayed at number 1 in the United States for three weeks. The group released the second single from the album "Babyfather" in April 2010, followed by a video in May. On 13 April 2010 the band performed "Babyfather" and "The Sweetest Taboo" on the US television show "Dancing With The Stars". In September 2010 the group announced the first dates of its global tour "Sade Live", which began in April 2011. In 2011 Sade received its fourth Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "Soldier of Love" and released a second greatest hits album "The Ultimate Collection", which made the UK Top Ten. A new video for the track "Love Is Found" premiered in July 2011. The band returned in 2018 for the soundtrack to the Disney film "A Wrinkle in Time" with the song "Flower of the Universe" and for the song "The Big Unknown" for the motion picture "Widows". On 13 July 2018 Stuart Matthewman told Rated R&B in an interview that the band was in the studio working on its seventh studio album. A remastered vinyl box set of Sade's six albums titled "This Far" was released on 9 October 2020. Their longtime engineer and co-producer Mike Pela died in 2022. The band reportedly began recording new material for a seventh album in the summer of 2022 at the rebuilt Miraval Studios, where they had previously recorded "Promise" and "Stronger Than Pride". Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sade_(band) Studio albums Diamond Life (1984) Promise (1985) Stronger Than Pride (1988) Love Deluxe (1992) Lovers Rock (2000) Soldier of Love (2010) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Influenced by R&B, soul, and hip-hop, Badu gained prominence in the late 1990s with her debut studio album "Baduizm" (1997), which positioned her as a leading figure in the neo soul movement and earned her the nickname "Queen of Neo Soul" from music critics. Her career began after opening for "D'Angelo" in 1994, which led to her signing with Kedar Entertainment. "Baduizm" produced four singles—"On & On", "Appletree", "Next Lifetime", and "Otherside of the Game"—and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Her first live album, "Live" (1997), included the song "Tyrone" and was certified double platinum. Badu released her second studio album, "Mama's Gun", in 2000, featuring singles including "Bag Lady", which reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100, "Didn't Cha Know?" and "Cleva". The album was certified platinum. Her third album, "Worldwide Underground" (2003), featured the singles "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)", "Danger", and "Back in the Day (Puff)", with the first reaching number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified gold. Badu's fourth album, "New Amerykah Part One" (2008), included the singles "Honey" and "Soldier", while her fifth studio album, "New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)" (2010), featured the lead single "Window Seat", whose music video generated controversy. Badu’s voice has been compared to jazz singer Billie Holiday. Early in her career, she was noted for her distinctive style, often wearing large, colorful headwraps. She was a core member of the Soulquarians and has appeared as an actress in films such as "Blues Brothers 2000", "The Cider House Rules", and "House of D". She has also appeared in documentaries including "Before the Music Dies" and "The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975". Badu was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised by her mother, actress Kolleen Wright, along with her siblings. She began performing at an early age under the guidance of her godmother and uncle and started freestyling for local radio by age 14. She altered the spelling of her first name to Erykah and adopted the surname Badu. She studied theater at Grambling State University before leaving to pursue music full-time, forming the band Erykah Free and recording a demo that led to her signing with Universal Records. In the late 1990s, Badu achieved critical and commercial success with "Baduizm" and "Live", earning multiple Grammy Awards, including Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Album for "Baduizm" and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for her collaboration with The Roots on "You Got Me". In 2000, "Mama's Gun" was released, featuring the single "Bag Lady" and earning platinum certification. Badu continued to collaborate with artists such as Common and Questlove during this period. "Worldwide Underground" followed in 2003, with singles charting on Billboard and critical reception generally positive. Badu toured extensively in support of her albums and co-founded the Sugar Water Festival with Queen Latifah and Jill Scott to promote health awareness among African-American women. Her fourth studio album, "New Amerykah Part One" (2008), received critical acclaim and was supported by the Vortex Tour and the Jam Tour. In 2010, she released "New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)", which charted internationally and included the single "Window Seat". The music video, filmed at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, drew media attention and led to a disorderly conduct charge, which Badu later resolved through probation. Badu has continued to collaborate with various artists, including Flying Lotus, Tyler, The Creator, Robert Glasper, Bonobo, and Janelle Monáe. She released the mixtapes "But You Caint Use My Phone" (2015) and planned follow-up projects that remain unreleased. Badu has also performed live, including her annual birthday concerts, and contributed to film soundtracks, such as "The Land" (2016). From 2020 onward, Badu has participated in collaborative projects including "Beehoove" with D'Angelo, "Lowkey" with Teyana Taylor, and contributions to Bilal's EP "VOYAGE-19" and RM's album "Indigo". In 2025, she announced work on a new studio album produced by The Alchemist, her first in 15 years, to be released on her independent label Control FREAQ Records, and appeared in the documentary "Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story". Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erykah_Badu Studio albums Baduizm (1997) Mama's Gun (2000) Worldwide Underground (2003) New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) (2008) New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) (2010) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.