Originally published in the December 1992 issue of Details


SADE

By James Ryan


WITH THE RELEASE OF HER NEW LP, LOVE DELUXE, THE QUEEN OF ROMANCE COMES CLEAN
ABOUT KISSING, KICKBOXING, AND HER SWEETEST TABOO: LOVE AND MARRIAGE.

--- What about you is most misunderstood?

        The myth that I'm a shy, reclusive diva.  I'm a diva; of course.
But I'm not shy or reclusive.  I just spend my time with people rather than
journalists.

--- So you haven't been hiding out for the last four years?

        No, I've been living a little.  I bought a studio and traveled. I
made another album.  I got married...

--- Who did you get married to?

        Carlos Scola, a man from Madrid.  He's a filmmaker.  It was love at 
first sight.  I'd been seeing him for about four years before me married.  It 
was pretty on-and-off.  We were probably more together apart than when we 
were together.

--- What's your feeling about marriage these days?  You once said you would...

        Never get married.  I believe in people being together and you giving
yourself to somebody.  But I'm still not the marrying kind.  I loved my 
husband as much the day before I married him as the day after.  He wanted us
to get married.  I thought, Well, I'll do something that he wants me to do.
Maybe it will help the situation.  He'll feel more secure.  But look what 
happened.

---  What happened?  You were married...

        In Spain.  And then I left, shortly after, We're not divorced.  But
we're not together.  The marriage is over.

---  To quote one of your songs, why is it so hard to hand on to your love?

        First, the notion of being with one person forever is impractical.  
Especially since so much changes in our lives.  And it's really difficult to 
be with somebody.  When I'm doing something, there's nothing else going on in
the world.   If I'm on the phone with somebody, I'm on the phone with them.  I
don't have time for anybody else.  Which is a pity.  I like those people who 
can do lots of things at the same time, I'm not like that, and that can be 
intimidating.

---   Love deluxe seems like kind of a cynical title for your album.

        It's like a luxury item that can't be bought.  

---   Stylistically, it's a lot like your others.

     Yeah, it's still the same band.  That's one of the reasons.  You won't 
hear it and think, Who's that?

---  I assume you're aware that a startlingly large number of people do the
nasty to your music.  How does that make you feel?

        All at once?   Do they synchronize the process?  Oh no, I don't even
want to think about it.   Just as long as they don't all come at the same 
time.

---  Tell me about your new album's first single "No Ordinary Love."

        It's about love that isn't supposed to work.  Reason says that love
is not supposed to work, but faith makes it happen.  Sort o like refinding
something that you've lost, just because you're sure of it.

---  Do you recall what inspired it?

        No, I rarely do.  It's weird.  Songs just come.  The ideas sort of 
lodge themselves over a long period of time.   And then they suddenly appear.
"Like a Tattoo" was a song I wanted to write for a long time.  I was in an
Irish bar in New York years ago, and this man came and sat next to me and 
started telling me things about himself that I didn't particularly want to 
know.  He had been in Vietnam.  It's my translation of what he was saying to 
me.

--- Do you understand how people like Madonna or Grace Jones can live their
lives so publicly?

        I understand it because it's like maybe a dream that you could have 
as a child.  It's so innocent in a way, their approach to what they do.  But
there's nothing that they do that I would want to do.  Madonna's drive in 
particular is quite surreal, I think.  I don't think an English girl could
possibly have the same approach.  It's sort of intrinsically American.

---  You're what, thirty-three now?  Was turning thirty difficult for you?

        It wasn't a problem, not a problem at all.  I was a mere youth when
we made the last album.  Although I might start doing facial exercises soon.
I might start doing exercises, period.  Age and gravity.

--- You don't exercise now?  You look so muscular.

        That's just because I'm black.  Do you have anything in mind?

--- How about kickboxing?
        
        That's not bad.  I'd be learning something and wouldn't realize
I was exercising.  And I'm very supple.

--- If you were an animal, what would you be?

        A pilchard.  It's a small fish with quite a big mouth.  That's what
I am.

--- Who's the smoothest operator you've ever met in your life?

        The one who took my appendix out.

--- Could you explain the pronunciation of your name?

        The proper pronunciation doesn't have an 'r' in it:  Sha-day.  But
Americans tend to put and 'r' in it:  Shar-day.

--- Are you close to your family?

        Yeah, I'm closer to my brother now than when we were growing up.  
You're closest to the ones you fight with, and we fought a lot.  I get on 
well with my mother and I respect her a lot.

--- How old were you when your parent split?

        I was four.

--- You were living in Nigeria.  Were you conscious at that age of any 
problems with their interracial marriage?

        I was very aware of the problems between them but I never associated
it with race.  I think it was a problem for my father.   He came from a 
small village, a goaty type village.  My father, who was the second son, had 
a lot of pressure on him to succeed.  My grandfather had seven wives.  There's 
is this incredible amount of rivalry between the mothers.  Everyone thinks 
everyone else it trying to poison them.  Literally.

--- For the record, what happened when you walked off the stage in Frankfurt?

        I knew you were going to ask me that.  I didn't complete the set 
because I was suffering from nervous exhaustion.  I just couldn't take it.
I thought I was going to pass out.  I said, "I'm sorry. See ya!"  Then  there
were all these stories about me going crazy, cracking up.

---  You supposedly said as your farewell line, "Hang on to your love, I've 
lost mine."

        I almost wish I did. That would make it a little more interesting.
But I didn't.  I think it was emotional.  All the changes.  That was the
time when the British tabloids were most interested in me.  They'd appear 
anywhere, in any country, ringing my room, asking me questions.

--- Do you still wear disguises when you go out in public?

        I only do that occasionally.  Oh, I just remembered something 
brilliant that happened one time that I had completely forgotten about.
When I went to Disneyland, I had on my Wendy wig- my friends call me Wendy
when I'm wearing it- and these thick glasses that make me look really sad.
Somebody came up to me and said, "Are you Sharday?"  And I answered, "No,
who's Sharday?"  And then they got really angry with me, saying "You don't 
know who Sharday is?  That's ridiculous.  What, have you been living in a 
cave?"

--- Do you think the press will come back to you with this album?

        Probably.  But I'm ready for them.  Remember I'm going to start
kickboxing.  

--- What would you have done if you hadn't become a singer?

        I'd quite like to be a taxi driver because you get to meet weird
people and travel.

---    What was the last item of designer clothing that you bought?

        Calvin Klein underpants.  Honestly, I don't even buy designer
clothes.  I actually hate shopping.

--- What's the most dangerous thing you've ever done?

        Fell in love with Carlos.

--- How many times has your heart been broken?

        It's shattered.  It's been broken too many times.

--- Do you remember your first kiss?

        Yeah, I do. He was wearing Brut aftershave.  I love the smell of 
Brut.

--- Awww, I should have worn some.

        You would have gotten an immediate snog.  I would have been like a 
guppy.  You'd need a crowbar to get me off.  I love Brut.  That was my first
B-movie snog.  I was about fourteen, I guess.  He was very tall, huge. I can't
remember his name.  I met him at a disco, the first disco I ever went to,
called the West Cliff.

--- What about the first time you made love?

        I don't what to talk about it.  It wasn't very nice.  It was in the
attic.  

--- How old were you?

        I'm not prepared to say.

--- Come on.

        I was fifteen.

--- That's not so unusual.

        No, that's fine.  What's strange is that prior to that I'd had no
interest in boys.  I was quite a little ugly thing-  I didn't want to be 
rejected.  So I avoided them and spent my time with horses instead.

--- Had any interested dreams lately?

        I've had a dream of standing on a stage and suddenly realizing I've
got no clothes on.  It's probably quite common.  I turn around and don't 
recognize the musicians.  I don't remember any of the songs and I'm completely
naked.


--- Now that we've got you with your clothes off, what's your favorite part
of the body?

        My backside.  The one bit I don't mind.


--- What's your least favorite part?

        My knees.  They're quite knobbly.


---  So that's why you wear pants a lot?

        Sensible, isn't it?  They come in very handy for hiding knobbly knees.

---  Have you ever broken any bones?

        No. Other people's bones.  I once cracked someone's head open with a 
stiletto heel.  We had an argument and I clocked him on the head with my shoe.


---  Have you ever picked up a guy?

        Yeah, I have, and I've regretted it, actually.  It was in Italy.  
After Diamond Life, and that's all I'm gonna say.

---  Where did you pick the guy up?

        You sound like the gestapo.  "I don't remember officer. Honestly, 
it was dark."


--- Did you use a line on him?

        Of course not.  I didn't have to.


--- What's the best line anyone's ever used on you?

        Actually, it was the one with Brut.  He said, "It's hot in here. 
Shall we go outside?"    And I honestly thought, "Yes, it is hot in here."
I swear.  It was like Carrie.  I was so innocent.

--- What's the most romantic thing anyone's ever done for you?

        I don't know what romantic is.

--- The queen of romance doesn't know what romantic is?

        Yeah.  Romantic isn't necessarily holding hands in Paris.  Quite the
opposite.  If everyone's holding hands in Paris, then it is hardly romantic.


--- What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for somebody else?

        Stayed when I should have left.

--- What do you value more, your Grammy of your first platinum record?

        My first platinum record, because it means that people bought the
album because they liked it, not just because it was the thing to buy.

--- Where do you keep your Grammy?

        I broke it.  I don't know where it it, actually.  It was quite near
the telephone, and I had an argument with my manager while we were talking
on the phone, and it just seemed like the right thing to break.  I just 
picked it up and threw it.

--- Do you have any kind of religious beliefs?

        I believe in spirits.  I saw this vision in my mother's house.  I 
actually woke up and was terrified.  It was nothing, just sort of matter
spinning around the room.  I've always believe such things exist.  But
regarding the idea of God looking after us, I don't know.

--- What kind of music do you listen to?

        I like soulful folk and soulful jazz and soulful soul.  I like rap,
funk.  A Tribe Called Quest.  Jungle Brothers.  Soul Family Sensation.

--- What would you like your tombstone to say?

        You can dance here if you like.


{ Let's give a hand for Wendy.... J.P.}