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Released: July 28, 1984

Rating: 4.278 (average of 12 ratings)

Genre: pop/smooth jazz

Quotable: --

Album Tracks:

  1. Smooth Operator
  2. Your Love Is King
  3. Hang on to Your Love
  4. Frankie’s First Affair
  5. When Am I Going to Make a Living
  6. Cherry Pie
  7. Sally
  8. I Will Be Your Friend
  9. Why Can’t We Live Together

Sales (in millions):

sales in U.S. only 4.0
sales in U.K. only - estimated 1.2
sales in all of Europe as determined by IFPI – click here to go to their site. --
sales worldwide - estimated 15.0

Peak:

peak on U.S. Billboard album chart 5
peak on U.K. album chart 2

Singles/Hit Songs:

  • Your Love Is King (2/25/84) #54 US, #6 UK, #8 AC, #27a RB
  • When Am I Gonna Make a Living (5/26/84) #36 UK
  • Smooth Operator (9/15/84) #4a US, #19 UK, #1 AC, #3a RB
  • Hang on to Your Love (11/24/84) #13a RB

Awards:

Rated one of the top 1000 albums of all time by Dave’s Music Database. Click to learn more. Brits Award for Album of the Year. Click to go to awards page.

Diamond Life
Sade
Review:
“Former model Sade” RW Adu had “exotic looks [which] grabbed everyone’s attention.” DR Her 1984 debut album, Diamond Life laid “out the hooks and sultry allure that became Sade’s soulful standard – intelligent and sexy at the same time.” DR “Her sound and approach were deliberately icy, her delivery and voice aloof, deadpan, and cold.” RW “The slick production and quasi-jazz backing seemed to register with audiences thinking they were hearing a jazz vocalist.” RW She was backed by “the velvet muscle of the band’s accompaniment, a sinewy after hours groove, laden with minimalist funk.” DR

She and her band, confusingly also named Sade, might “have remained the darlings solely of the British underground rare-groove scene, but their sound proved irresistible to the mainstream.” DR “The album was catapulted into the spotlight once the track Your Love Is King went top ten” WK in the U.K. The album was first released there in July 1984, but didn’t see a U.S. release until February 1985. WK At that point, the album became a hit in the U.S. on the strength of top 5 single Smooth Operator.

Review Source(s):

Your Love Is King

When Am I Gonna Make a Living

Smooth Operator

Hang on to Your Love

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Last updated January 17, 2011.