Helen Folasade Adu was born on 16 January 1959 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, and after her parents separated when she was four years old, she moved to Colchester, Essex with her mother. After completing her education at Clacton County High School and Colchester Institute at the age of 18, she moved to London and completed a three year fashion design course at Saint Martin's School of Art, after which she began backup singing with British band Pride. During this time, she formed a songwriting partnership with Pride's guitarist/saxophonist Stuart Matthewman, and they began doing their own sets at Pride gigs. Her solo performances of the song 'Smooth Operator', co-written with Ray St. John, attracted record companies' attention, and in 1983 Sade and Matthewman split from Pride, along with keyboardist Andrew Hale, bassist Paul Denman, and drummer Paul Cook, to form the band Sade. In October 1983 she signed with Epic Records, and the group began recording their debut album, 'Diamond Life', which took six weeks to record, and was recorded entirely at The Power Plant in London. The record was released on 16 July 1984, and reached number two in the UK Album Chart, selling over 1.2 million copies in the UK, and it won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 1985. 'Your Love Is King' was released as the album's lead single on 25 February 1984, charting at number seven in Ireland and number six on the UK, while third single, 'Smooth Operator', was her most successful song in the US, peaking at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. In late 1985, the band released their second album, 'Promise', which peaked at number one in both the UK and the US, spawning two singles in 'Never As Good As The First Time' and 'The Sweetest Taboo', the latter of which was released as the album's lead single and stayed on the US Hot 100 for six months.
In 1986, Sade made her acting debut in 'Absolute Beginners', a film adapted from the Colin MacInnes book of the same name, playing the role of Athene Duncannon, and she lent her vocals to the film's accompanying soundtrack. Sade's third album, 'Stronger Than Pride', was released on 3 May 1988, and like her previous albums it was a commercial success, providing four hit singles, most notably 'Paradise', which peaked at number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100. 'Love Deluxe' was released as the band's fourth studio album on 26 October 1992, peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200, and in November 1994, the group released their first compilation album, 'The Best of Sade', which was another top ten hit in both the UK and the US. After this the band took a hiatus for the next eight years, reappearing with their fifth studio album, 'Lovers Rock', in 2000, and despite her time away, it received positive reviews from music critics, and earned Sade the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2002. In the first part of her musical career, Sade often added previously unreleased songs or instrumentals to the b-sides of her singles, and so we are able to gather up those non-album tracks from 1983 to 1992 for a very nice smooth jazz album from the singer.
Track listing
01 Love Affair With Life (b-side of 'Your Love Is King' 1983)
02 Should I Love You (b-side of 'Hang On To Your Love' 1984)
03 Red Eye (b-side of 'Smooth Operator' 1984)
04 Spirit (b-side of 'Smooth Operator' 1984)
05 Wired (b-side of 'Is It A Crime' 1985)
06 Killer Blow (from the film 'Absolute Beginners' 1986)
07 Make Some Room (b-side of 'Nothing Can Come Between Us' 1988)
08 Super Bien Total (b-side of 'Paradise' 1988)
09 Room 55 (b-side of 'Kiss Of Life' 1992)
