Nigerian roots

Celebrity Buzz Born in Ibadan, raised in Essex: Sade Adu and the quiet voice that outlasted the 1980s Helen Folasade Adu was born in Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1959 to a Nigerian father and an English mother. As the voice of the band Sade, she sold tens of millions of records with songs such as "Smooth Operator" and "No Ordinary Love", while giving almost no interviews.