"Smooth Operator" by Sade

Elegant jazz-pop songstress and birthday gal Sade appears here in the full 8 and a half minute video to this, her first single, Smooth Operator; oddly enough, Sade is the lead singer of a band called Sade, which must get confusing when it's time to open the mail.

Trained in fashion (she attended London's prestigious St. Martin's College in the late 70s) she was running a small atelier making men's clothes when the music industry beckoned. Her debut album Diamond Life - from which this is taken - was released in 1984 in the US and 1985 in the US, and was a huge smash, especially around my house. I think I listened to her more than I listened to Madonna, which admission frankly shocks even me.

This video was directed by Julian Temple, with whom she would later work on the stylish 1986 musical Absolute Beginners.
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