Diamond Life by Sade

Diamond Life, the debut from London band Sade, came out on Epic in July 1984, and it sounded like a late-night cocktail bar with the lights turned low. Sade Adu, a fashion-design student turned model, had been singing backup in a group called Pride before she walked out with three of its members, among them bassist Paul Denman and Stuart Matthewman on guitar and saxophone, to start a band that carried her name. Andrew Hale's keyboards filled out the picture.

Robin Millar produced the sessions at Power Plant Studios in London, which began in 1983 and wrapped in six weeks, with the band writing everything themselves. The result folds soul, jazz and sophisti-pop into cool, unhurried grooves, Matthewman's sax curling around Adu's smoky, composed voice as she sings about love. "Your Love Is King" and "Smooth Operator" led the singles, the album climbed to number two in Britain and number five in America, and it took Best British Album at the 1985 Brits.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.