Spotlight Series..♪♫♪ Sade
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Spotlight Series..♪♫♪ Sade's Friends

  • Chilly
  • Lady D. of Noetz
  • Music Maker
  • Ricky Le Blanc
  • Patricia OldSkooler
  • Johnnynoetz

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About Me
When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen Folasade Adu in Ibadan, Nigeria, about 50 miles from Lagos, she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.

Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also doing some modeling on the side.

Around 1980, she started singing harmony with a Latin funk group called Arriva. One of the more popular numbers that the group would perform was a Sade original co-written with bandmember Ray St. John, "Smooth Operator," that would later become Sade's first stateside hit. The following year she joined the eight-piece funk band Pride as a background singer. The band included future Sade band members guitarist/saxophonist Stuart Matthewman (a key player in '90s urban soul singer Maxwell's success) and bassist Paul Denman. The concept of the group was that there could shoot-offs. In essence, a few members within the main group Pride formed mini-groups that would be the opening act. Pride did a lot of shows around London, stirring up record company interest. Initially, the labels wanted to only sign Sade, while the group members wanted a deal for the whole band. After a year, the other band members told Sade, Matthewman, and Denman to go ahead and sign a deal. Adding keyboardist Andrew Hale, the group signed to the U.K. division of Epic Records.

Her debut album, Diamond Life (with overall production by Robin Millar), went Top Ten in the U.K. in late 1984. January 1985 saw the album released on CBS' Portrait label and by spring it went platinum off the strength of the Top Ten singles "Smooth Operator" and "Hang on to Your Love." Her second album, Promise (November 1985), featured "Never As Good As the First Time" and arguably her signature song, "The Sweetest Taboo," which stayed on the U.S. pop charts for six months. Sade was so popular that some radio stations reinstated the '70s practice of playing album tracks, adding "Is It a Crime" and "Tar Baby" to their play lists. In 1986, Sade won a Grammy for Best New Artist.

Sade's third album was 1988's Stronger Than Pride and featured her first number one soul single "Paradise," "Nothing Can Come Between Us," and "Keep Looking." A new Sade album didn't appear for four years. 1992's Love Deluxe continued the unbroken streak of multi-platinum Sade albums, spinning off the hits "No Ordinary Love," "Feel No Pain," and "Pearls." While the album's producer Mike Pela, Matthewman, Denman, and Hale have gone on to other projects. The new millennium did spark a new scene for Sade. She issued Lovers Rock in fall 2000 and incoporated more mainstream elements than ever before. Debut single "By Your Side" was also a hit among radio and adult-contemporary listerners. The following summer, Sade embarked on her first tour in more than a decade, selling out countless dates across America. In early 2002, she celebrated the success of the tour by releasing her first ever live album and DVD, Lovers Live. ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide
  1. play Sade — The Moon and The Sky
  2. play Sade — Soldier of Love
  3. play Sade — Morning Bird
  4. play Sade — Babyfather
  5. play Sade — Long Hard Road
  6. play Sade — Be That Easy
  7. play Sade — Bring Me Home
  8. play Sade — In Another Time
  9. play Sade — Skin
  10. play Sade — The Safest Place

Music

Paused...
  • 1.
    Sweetest Taboo__Extended Version
  • 2.
    07-sade-somebody_already_broke_my_heart__excursions_mix-snd
  • 3.
    Feel No Pain__Nellie Hooper Mix
  • 4.
    Love Is Stronger Than Pride (DJ Evil Twin Dischord Mix)
  • 5.
    Kiss of Live__Deep Mix
  • 6.
    Love is Stronger than Pride__Mad Professor Mix
  • 7.
    Turn My Back on You__Heff's Mix
  • 8.
    Give it Up__Kenny Larkin Rmx
  • 9.
    By Your Side__Ben Watt Mix
  • 10.
    Pearls (DJ Evil Twin Deep Sea Mix)
  • 11.
    No Ordinary Love (DJ Evil Twin Soulful Mix)
  • 12.
    I Never Thought I'd See the Day__Danny Tenaglia's Musk Men Mix
  • 13.
    Somebody Already Broke my Heart (Dj Evil Twin Hearts Ciara Mix)
  • 14.
    Kiss of Life (DJ Evil Twin Smooth Gloss Mix)
  • 15.
    Sade - King of Sorrow (Dj Evil Twin Melancholy Piano Mix)
  • 16.
    I Couldn't Love You More (DJ Evil Twin Autumn Mix)
  • 17.
    Sade - Cherish the Day (Dj Evil Twin Old Skool Mix)
  • 18.
    By Your Side (Ben Watt Lazy Dog Remix)
  • 19.
    Nothing Can Come Between Us
  • 20.
    Sweetest Taboo
  • 21.
    The Moon and The Sky
  • 22.
    Soldier of Love
  • 23.
    Morning Bird
  • 24.
    Babyfather
  • 25.
    Long Hard Road
  • 26.
    Be That Easy
  • 27.
    Bring Me Home
  • 28.
    In Another Time
  • 29.
    Skin
  • 30.
    The Safest Place
 

..♪♫♪

Comment Wall (6 comments)

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At 7:38am on March 3, 2011, Lydell Jackson said…
Love the way you set this up E...Madd Scientist...you are a digital Queen!
At 11:23am on June 28, 2010, Edie Antoinette said…
No...it's ME, Edie! I always name the page after the artists that I feature--like Michael McDonald, Claudine, etc....
At 2:21am on June 28, 2010, Old School C said…
Wow, is it really you?
At 5:33pm on February 23, 2010, Big Papa said…
Welcome Songbird. ~
At 9:32am on February 10, 2010, Music Maker said…
At 8:55am on February 10, 2010, Lady D. of Noetz said…
Good morning Sade: I am enjoying your music this a.m. Your lyrics are heart felt. Thank you. Have a blessed day... .Deborah
 
 
 

Introspection

Entr'acte

  1. play Norman Brown — Night Drive
  2. play Norman Brown — Feeling
  3. play Norman Brown — Still
  4. play Miles Davis — miles 1
  5. play miles 2
  6. play miles 3
  7. play miles 4
  8. play miles 5
  9. play Marvin Gaye — I Met A Little Girl
  10. play Santana — 01 Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
  11. play Santana — 02 Black Magic Woman-Gypsy Queen
  12. play Mongo — 02. Afro Blue



The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me"). 


As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even 
harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.

 

The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created. 

The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon). 

If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available. 

Enjoy.  "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967) 
 
 "I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year) "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Phila, 1966) "Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
   
 "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)
   
 "If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)
 



Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.

Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a
well-known penning Double Exposure's
"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay." 
 While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).

The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. If, by chance, you know of a way to get in touch with Frankie Beverly or his management, please drop me an e-mail. It would be absolutely great to do an interview with him about his pre-Maze work. He's still playing out, most recently doing a New Year's Eve show in Atlanta.
:: Funkinsoulman ::

Power...Through Simplicity ♪♫♪

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