Sweetback are an English band composed of members from the band Sade, excluding the frontwoman, Sade Adu. They are a jazz/funk band with R&B overtones. Membership includes Stuart Matthewman, Paul Denman, and Andrew Hale. The group was formed in 1994 at the conclusion of Sade’s Love Deluxe World Tour. They released two studio albums: Sweetback (1996) and Stage 2 (2004). Their albums feature a host of guest vocalists, such as Leroy Osbourne, Amel Larrieux, Maxwell, Aya (Lysa Aya Trenier), Bahamadia, Chocolate Genius and El DeBarge. Their first album was re-released on vinyl in 2016.

Sade made a strong comeback in 2000 with Lovers Rock, her first album in eight years. She sealed the deal in 2002 with Lovers Live, a collection of performances from her very successful summer tour. It's proof that Sade hasn't lost a note and her fans haven't missed a beat. Above all things, the record is smooth. Sade's new songs mix seamlessly with classics from every stage of her career. An energetic eight-piece band breathes new life to the old tunes and offers another look at the Lovers Rock material.

Diamond Life is the debut studio album by English band Sade. It was released in the United Kingdom on 16 July 1984 by Epic Records and in the United States on 27 February 1985 by Portrait Records. The album contained a variety of musical elements including soul, jazz and sophisti-pop, mostly with love lyrics. The album spawned four singles, including "Your Love Is King" and "Smooth Operator". Music critics acclaimed Diamond Life and it was also a commercial success, winning the 1985 Brit Award for Best British Album. The album charted highly in the UK and US, and was later certified multi-platinum in both countries. Diamond Life sold over six million copies worldwide, becoming one of the top-selling debut recordings of the era and the best-selling debut album by a British female vocalist, a record that stood for 24 years. It was also among 10 albums nominated for the best British album of the previous 30 years by the Brit Awards in 2010, losing to (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis. Pitchfork placed the album at number 10 on its list of The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s.

Lovers Rock is the fifth studio album by English band Sade, released on 13 November 2000 by Epic Records. The album was titled after a style of reggae music known as lovers rock, noted for its romantic sound and content, which frontwoman Sade Adu listened to in her youth. Lovers Rock was seen as a departure from the band's previous use of jazz elements, opting instead for a wider use of musical elements from soul music, R&B, soft rock, folk music, dub, reggae, neo soul and lovers rock. The album's production has been characterised as sparse, with simple arrangements and reggae flourishes. A concept album, the lyrics focus on both the positive and the negative sides of love; the album's lyrical content also touches upon political themes.

By the time this was released in 1994, something unexpected happened. Sade's early work became classic and the later additions boasted even better vocals and songs that nicely improved on the theme. The timeless sound and class always exhibited makes Sade Adu and her band a no-brainer for an appealing compilation. Like Al Green's Greatest Hits, The Best of Sade doesn't detract from the original albums and is a marker of time, not the end of the act. The ice-princess demeanor and detached vocals worked perfectly for the mid-'80s singles and radio samples "Smooth Operator" and "Your Love Is King."

Live 1984-09-21 Ahoy Hallen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands TV Broadcast ("Veronica's Rock Night"). The British band Sade, renowned for blending pop with jazz and blues, achieved instant global acclaim following the release of their debut album, Diamond Life (1984). Rather than undertaking an extensive tour, the group limited their appearances to a series of promotional concerts across Europe and Japan. This release constitutes a complete recording of the performance in Rotterdam on September 21, 1984, originally broadcast on radio. The setlist comprises compositions from the debut album, rare B-sides, and tracks from the subsequent record Promise, capturing the unique atmosphere of the group's early creative period.

Japanese Only Special Edition mini-album. The five track release from Sade, features rare versions of popular songs like "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" and "Paradise."

Sade's fourth album, Love Deluxe, included the hit "No Ordinary Love" and marked a return to the detached cool jazz backing and even icier vocals that made her debut album a sensation. Although Sade's style is more suggestive than hypnotic and her production and arrangements are in an urbane mode rather than a jazz one, she maintained her popularity among the fusion and urban contemporary audiences. This release also includes "Mermaid," "Pearls," and "Feel No Pain."

After two LPs with little or no energy, Sade demonstrated some intensity and fire on her third release. Whether that was just an attempt to change the pace a bit or a genuine new direction, she had more animation in her delivery on such songs as "Haunt Me," "Give It Up," and the hit "Paradise." Not that she was suddenly singing in a soulful or bluesy manner; rather, Sade's dry and introspective tone now had a little more edge, and the lyrics were ironic as well as reflective. This was her third consecutive multi-platinum album, and it matched the two-million-plus sales level of her debut.

Sade's second album improved on the performance of her debut, as "Sweetest Taboo" was a huge hit and "Never as Good as the First Time" landed in both the R&B and pop Top 20. She was once again the personification of cool, laid-back singing, seldom extending or embellishing lyrics, registering emotion, or projecting her voice. This demeanor made her more desirable in the minds of many fans and was perhaps the ultimate misapplication of the notion of sophistication. But this album topped the pop charts and eventually went triple platinum.

Diamond Life is the debut studio album by English band Sade. It was released in the United Kingdom on 16 July 1984 by Epic Records and in the United States on 27 February 1985 by Portrait Records. The album contained a variety of musical elements including soul, jazz and sophisti-pop, mostly with love lyrics. The album spawned four singles, including "Your Love Is King" and "Smooth Operator". Music critics acclaimed Diamond Life and it was also a commercial success, winning the 1985 Brit Award for Best British Album. The album charted highly in the UK and US, and was later certified multi-platinum in both countries. Diamond Life sold over six million copies worldwide, becoming one of the top-selling debut recordings of the era and the best-selling debut album by a British female vocalist, a record that stood for 24 years. It was also among 10 albums nominated for the best British album of the previous 30 years by the Brit Awards in 2010, losing to (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis. Pitchfork placed the album at number 10 on its list of The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s.

After two LPs with little or no energy, Sade demonstrated some intensity and fire on her third release. Whether that was just an attempt to change the pace a bit or a genuine new direction, she had more animation in her delivery on such songs as "Haunt Me," "Give It Up," and the hit "Paradise." Not that she was suddenly singing in a soulful or bluesy manner; rather, Sade's dry and introspective tone now had a little more edge, and the lyrics were ironic as well as reflective. This was her third consecutive multi-platinum album, and it matched the two-million-plus sales level of her debut.

This box set features remastered versions of all of Sade's studio albums to date, on pure 180-gram black vinyl the first complete collection of their studio work up to the present day. All six of the band's acclaimed albums: Diamond Life (1984), Promise (1985), Stronger Than Pride (1988), Love Deluxe (1992), Lovers Rock (2000), and Solder Of Love (2010) are packaged into the beautifully finished, white case-bound box. Revisiting the audio, the band and Miles Showell worked from high resolution digital transfers of the stereo master mixes, from the original analogue studio tapes, remastered at half-speed at Abbey Road Studios. The elaborate, half-speed mastering process has produced exceptionally clean and detailed audio whilst remaining faithful to the band s intended sound. No additional digital limiting was used in the mastering process, so the six albums benefit from the advantage of extra clarity and pure fidelity, preserving the dynamic range of the original mixes for the very first time. The six album sleeves have been meticulously reproduced in exact detail with authentic paper and printing methods, perfectly replicated for the first time since their original release.

Sade’s longest absence yet did not prevent their return from being an event. It at least seemed eventful whenever “Soldier of Love,” released to radio a couple months prior to the album of the same title, was heard over the airwaves. Even with its brilliantly placed lyrical allusions to hip-hop past and present and its mature sound, the single stuck out on stations aimed at teens and twentysomethings, as well as points on the dial that court an older audience. It was the most musical and organic, while also the most dramatic yet least bombastic, song in rotation. Crisp snare rolls, cold guitar stabs, and at least a dozen other elements were deployed with tremendous economy, suspensefully ricocheting off one another as Sade Adu rewrote “Love Is a Battlefield” with scarred, assured defiance.

An update of the 1994 compilation The Best of Sade, The Ultimate Collection contains all but two of the Sade singles – "When Am I Going to Make a Living" and, unfortunately, "Turn My Back on You" – released through the first six studio albums. There are six well-chosen album cuts, highlighted by the exceptionally spacious Love Deluxe ballads "Bullet Proof Soul" and "Pearls." For some Sade followers, the one rarity (a restrained Neptunes mix of "By Your Side") and four new songs will be enough to justify re-acquiring the old material. The best of the new songs is a cover of Thin Lizzy's anguished ballad "Still in Love with You," a surprising but strikingly appropriate choice that is granted a hint of sweetness.