New Stuff On The Block
When music producer and impresario Maurice Starr lost the vocal group New Edition to a business dispute, he set about to create a group that would appeal to the same young audience. The result was...
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Sade
Smooth Operator
  A Brit by way of Ibadan, Nigeria, Sade Adu spent the early '80s kicking around in U.K. soul and funk bands. The first of these, Arriva, found a crowd pleaser in Sade and guitarist Ray St. John's "Smooth Operator." Arriva evolved into Pride, and eventually into Sade (the group and singer sharing the same name), who took Britain by storm in 1984. That next spring, the cool, jazzy "Smooth Operator" found a ready-made audience among sophistication-hungry Americans of a certain [New] Age. Much to her credit, the popularity of Sade's smooth grooves outlived the yuppified era of her first success.

(H.Adu/R. St. John); Produced by Robin Millar; Sade Adu, lead and background vocals; Stuart Matthewman, saxophone, trumpet, guitar; Andrew Hale, keyboards; Paul S. Denman, bass; Dave Early, drums, percussion; Martin Ditcham, percussion; Paul Cooke, drums; Terry Bailey, trumpet; Rec. 1984. Portrait 37-04807 (mx. ZSS 173198); P 1985 Sony Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd.