Sade Adu

Sade Adu (born 16 January 1959) is a British-Nigerian songwriter who is best known as the lead singer of Sade.

Quotes

I am fairly classless because it is very difficult to class someone who comes from a mixed marriage. There isn’t a class structure in Nigeria, there’s a tribal structure and prestige as far as money is concerned. My mother comes from a family where her mother was very working-class and her father was middle-class stroke artsy-fartsy.
- On her maternal side in “Sade: Our 1985 Interview” in SPIN (2019 Jul 20)

One bloke approached an entire interview as if I was trying to be a jazz musician. I’ve never said that. I’ve never even tried it. And if we did we’d do a darn sight better job than we are doing now.
- On her comparisons to torch singers such as Billie Holiday in “Sade: Our 1985 Interview” in SPIN (2019 Jul 20)

Most things around are very similar in every respect, the music and the way people look. In order to be in a band, you have to have certain colors in your hair—still! Our image is striking because it is different, not because it is particularly outstanding.
- On the appeal of her band in “Sade: Our 1985 Interview” in SPIN (2019 Jul 20)

I don’t like segregation…Music is something which should be available to all people. When you go into a club there is no color bar on the dance floor, so why should it apply to radio station? Unfortunately it does. It does not only apply to black and white, it also applies to heavy metal, pop, all that. It’s such a big place with such big corporations everywhere that in order to feel safe they have to categorize things.
- On how the music scene was divided between Black and White musicians during the 1980s in “Sade: Our 1985 Interview” in SPIN (2019 Jul 20)

You sort of feel like you’re a gladiator going out there because even though you know most of these people have come from a good place and they love your music and they come with a feeling of love, which is what you walk away with…It’s a bit like being thrown at the lions when you go out there because you have this sort of fear, even though it’s irrational, (that) you’re going to get torn apart, so you go out and you have to be good.
- On still having stage fright despite having performed for years in “SADE AT 60: “I STILL GET NERVOUS…” at BlackDoctor.org