Born Helen Folasade Adu on January 16, 1959, in Ibadan, Nigeria, Sade was raised in London. In the early 1980s, she signed with Epic Records and recorded her first album, Diamond Life, in 1984. A huge hit thanks to such singles as 'Smooth Operator,' the album won Sade a Best New Artist Grammy, and her subsequent multi-platinum albums established Sade as a top-selling soul and pop artist.
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