July 16, 1984: Sade releases its debut album, Diamond Life. It launches the career of the band's singer, also known as Sade.
Helen Folasade Adu was born on January 16, 1959 in Ibadan, the capital of Nigeria, which gained independence from Britain the next year. Folasade (pronounced "FOAL-ah-SHAH-day") means "crowned with wealth" in the Yoruba language that is native to Nigeria. Her father was a native economist, and her mother was a British nurse. They separated when Helen was 4 years old, and her mother took her and her older brother to the London suburb of Colchester, Essex.
After graduating from high school, she went to London to study fashion design, and worked as a model. A band named Pride hired her as a backup singer, and when the band split up, some members joined with her to form a new band, whose name was taken from her nickname, a diminutive of her middle name: "Sade." Some people may have been confused, thinking it was taken from Donatien Alphonse François, the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814), the French writer/libertine whose title and lifestyle led to the terms "sadism" and "sadistic."
Sade's music was anything but: Her jazz-influenced songs all seemed to be about love, and more positive than sad. The band's debut, Diamond Life, began with "Smooth Operator," which she had written with Pride guitarist Ray St. John. It hit Number 5, and remains her signature song. And yet, it wasn't the album's 1st or even 2nd single: "Your Love Is King" was released first, and while it reached Number 6 in Britain, it didn't crack the Top 50 in the U.S.
Stuart Matthewman played both guitar and the iconic saxophone on "Smooth Operator." Paul Denman played bass guitar. Andrew Hale played keyboards. Dave Early played drums, and Martin Ditcham played other percussion instruments. Robin Millar produced. Early died in 1996. As of July 16, 2022, the others are still alive.
The album was successful enough to win the group the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1986, making Sade the 1st Nigerian-born performer to win a Grammy.
It wasn't just that Sade was a great singer, and was extraordinarily beautiful: She had maybe the sexiest voice ever recorded. I was 14 years old that year, and, between Sade and the comeback of Tina Turner, the expression "Black is beautiful" became obvious.
It didn't matter that there was a curious lyric in "Smooth Operator": Sade could sing, "Coast, to coast, L.A. to Chicago" and absolutely get away with it. Thirty years later, singing with Iggy Azalea on "Fancy," Charli XCX sang, "I'm in the fast lane from L.A. to Tokyo," and while she wore skimpier outfits than Sade, it didn't make the line any less ridiculous.
Sade the band would release the albums Promise in 1985, Stronger Than Pride in 1988, Love Deluxe in 1992, Lovers Rock in 2000, and Soldier of Love in 2010. "The Sweetest Taboo" hit Number 5 in 1985, "Never As Good As the First Time" hit Number 20 in 1986, "Paradise" hit Number 16 in 1988, and "No Ordinary Love" hit Number 28 in 1992.
While "Cherish the Day," also off Love Deluxe in 1992, did not become a U.S. hit, its video, in black & white, showing Sade playing guitar in a crop top on top of a New York skyscraper, with people on the street below trying to look as sexy as she was (a couple of them almost succeeded), gained a revival of popularity on YouTube, in spite of its inclusion of the ill-fated original World Trade Center.
Sade the band has had some long hiatuses (hiatii?), due to Sade the singer being a very private person, rarely giving interviews. She had a 6-year marriage that most of her fans didn't know about until the divorce. During the band's 2000 tour, she mentioned that she had a child with a man she identified only as "my boyfriend." In 2016, that child, then 20 years old, went public as a transgender man (assigned female at birth), taking the name Isaak Theo Adu. In 2019, Sade issued a public statement in support of his transition.
In 2002, Sade was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for services to popular music. She called the award "a great gesture to me, and all black women in England." In 2017, she was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
UPDATE: In 2026, Sade was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This surprised many people, not because they thought she hadn't earned it, but because they thought she'd been elected years earlier. They asked why it had taken so long. The answer is clear: Most of her music is much closer to jazz than to rock. Indeed, the singer she is most often compared to, in terms of style, is Billie Holiday, maybe the greatest jazz singer of all time, who died shortly after Sade was born.
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July 16, 1984 was a Monday. This was also the day that I have a separate entry for that event.
These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 9-8 at Yankee Stadium. This was a wild one. Joe Cowley started for the Yankees, Dickie Noles for the Rangers. It was 4-2 Yankees after just 1 inning, because Dave Winfield hit a grand slam home run. It was 5-4 Yankees after 8. Former Yankee Mickey Rivers and Buddy Bell hit homers off Cowley. In the top of the 9th, the Rangers scored 4 runs, on 2 doubles, a single and 2 walks, to take an 8-5 lead.
In the bottom of the 9th, Dave Schmidt was brought in to relieve Noles. He gave up a leadoff triple to Omar Moreno, then threw a wild pitch to bring him home. Willie Randolph reached on an error by his opposite number at 2nd base, Wayne Tolleson, a future Yankee. With Butch Wynegar up, a passed ball by catcher Donnie Scott got Randolph to 2nd. Wynegar flew out, but Don Mattingly singled Randolph home. Winfield reached on another error by Tolleson. Ken Griffey Sr. singled Mattingly home to tie it. And Roy Smalley singled Winfield home to win it.
Mike Armstrong, who got the last out in the top of the 9th, was named the winning pitcher. Mattingly ended up going 4-fot-5 with 2 RBIs.
* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 13-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. Sid Fernandez outpitched former Met -- and future Met nemesis -- Mike Scott. George Foster went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Darryl Strawberry, Wally Backman and Mike Fitzgerald each got 3 hits.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray went 3-for-3 with a solo home run. Cal Ripken went 0-for-4.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Mike Schmidt went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mark Thurmond allowed 4 hits over 8 innings, and Goose Gossage finished the 4-hit shutout. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) George Brett went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The California Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-0 at Anaheim Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California. (The team is now named the Los Angeles Angels, and the ballpark is named Angel Stadium of Anaheim.) Jim Slaton pitched a 7-hit shutout. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-3 with a walk. Rod Carew did not play.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a walk.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 11-2 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Robin Yount went 0-for-3. Paul Molitor was injured and did not play.
The NFL, the NBA and the NHL were out of season. This was during the brief experiment with Spring pro football, the United States Football League. The USFL title game had been played the day before, and the Philadelphia Stars beat the Arizona Wranglers, 23-3 at Tampa Stadium.
