How come Lisa Stansfield and Sade weren't bigger recording stars? They were sensations when they first appeared...

Sade - Smooth Operator

Release on 28 August 1984 in the UK, and then in February 1985 in the US. A huge hit, but she didn't repeat her success even though everyone loved her.

Lisa Stansfield combed her hair with buttered toast and Sade was barefoot and monotone. Any other questions?

[quote] Such great voices that we are in desperate need of today.

Mary!

Let's hear from everyone except R2...and wise ass R3.

I actually answered your question! They were weird!

Thank you R2. I disagree, but thanks.

[quote] A huge hit, but she didn't repeat her success even though everyone loved her.

What? Smooth Operator was not her only hit. I listened to "Best of Sade" countless times. She had so many good songs.

I feel like Sade has had a long, classy career. I personally own several of her albums, going into the 2000s. The debut with "Smooth Operator" isn't my favorite. She has a really rich, wonderful catalogue.

Other hits:

Your Love Is King - 1984

Hang On To Your Love - 1984

The Sweetest Taboo - 1985

Never As Good As The First Time - 1985

Is It A Crime? - 1986

Nothing Can Come Between Us - 1988

No Ordinary Love - 1992

Kiss of Life - 1992

Cherish the Day - 1993

By Your Side - 2000

King Of Sorrow - 2001

Soldier of Love - 2010

Stansfield was a knockout. Amazing voice! She should have had more hits.

Sade is not a failure by any stretch of the imagination. She's one of the few music acts EVER who records when she feels like it, does minimal, if any, press when she releases a new album, rarely tours, and still her albums sell like hotcakes. She's been at this for nearly 40 years and has hardly ever had a flop. I can't think of another artists who has had her length of success without really pushing themselves in the press. It's incredibly impressive.

I love "Nothing Can Come Between Us," "Kiss of Life," and "By Your Side."

There was also one-hit wonder, Basia, with "Time and Tide." Same era.

“1997?”

1989.

My mom loves that song R12. I'm the only other person I know who has heard of her.

Still listen to this song from Basia

This is a half-assed post, OP.

You're half right - Lisa Stansfield had two big albums and then really sort of fell off the charts, with only intermittent and small success since.

But Sade?

Are you kidding?

By any measure, Sade is hugely successful. The band's albums all hit the top 10, usually number one, and the tours sell out. The sales have been insane, and she sells her catalog albums consistently.

She and the band have made a point to only release new music rarely. But that's quite different than not being a "bigger" or more popular star. Sade is still very popular. She's just not prolific.

Lisa Stansfield had the misfortunate of being on Arista, where the reigning queen of that label was Whitney Elizabeth Houston. There was no way Clive Davis would pour all his resources into Stansfield as he did with Houston. Lisa had a good run, though, and she's still the only white woman to have three number-one songs on Billboard's R&B charts.

If anything, it was Mariah Carey's debut that put an end to Lisa Stansfield's career.

I remember "Been Around the World" but have no memory of Stansfield as a performer or presence in popular music (although I'm sure she was one, just not for me).

Sade is a totally different story. She's HUGE on the world market and can sell out anywhere any time she wants to , she just doesn't want to. A class-act with some major personal issues. She's a superstar who keeps herself to herself and minds her own business. And she's worth a smallish fortune today.

What major personal issues?

Spill the Sade tea, por favor.

Funny you should conjure up Lisa Stansfield. I was just thinking about her the other day. I actually met her at a Tower Records promo event in NYC. She was promoting the album with "Change" on it. Not just the name of her new single, her image underwent a change as well. She lost the spit curl and had a flirty new hairdo with bouncy curls. She was lovely but the turnout was sad. Maybe 20 people.... tops. I couldn't deny it, Ms. Stansfield's career had hit the skids.

Lisa Stansfield was great, but a big loss for the public and the music industry that she wasn't a bigger star who lasted for years. So much talent. She's not Whitney Houston, but she's better than Mariah Carey.

R19/R20 - Sade has always had shitty taste in men and sticks with them long (long long long loooooong) after they start treating her like shit. Had an out of wedlock child when she was very young, she was pimped out and taken advantage of by one man in particular for quite a while and she was used by several more after that. And still carried a torch for the first man who used and dumped her for many years.

Issues. And I don't solely blame the men - she's got a screw loose. The first man who uses and abuses you is on him, the next four or five or ten are on you, sister.

Sade's last CD 2010's "Soldier of Love" sold 502k physical copies in its first week without the benefit of a hit single, tour or any promotion. Sade is way bigger in the US than other parts of the world. She can sell out multiple nights in big arenas in large urban markets like Atlanta, SF, LA and Chicago.

Her audience is rock-solid. Sade is the textbook case in popular music of someone's whose drawing power in undiminished over the decades. If she announced US tour dates tomorrow she'd outsell Madonna.

Sade is part of a small group that includes Annie Lennox and Anita Baker.

The big radio hits are gone, but the tours still sell and to some degree, so do the albums.

^^ and all without promotion or airplay

Nah, Sade has been outselling Lennox and Baker for quite some time. Neither of them has had a hit album in 20 years.

R27 Yes, Sade is another level.

But Annie, Anita and Norah Jones all sell solidly and have successful tours without any radio promotion.

Yeah, Sade could drop a surprise album tomorrow and it would go platinum.

Down in the depths...

[quote] Here is Lisa Stansfield with her mega hit 'All Around the World' released 14 November 1997...

Chile, that song was released in October 1989! I was still in college.

Came to echo all the comments about Sade. She's able to work as an artist at her own pace and what she produces is always great. Solid album sales, really wonderful music, sells out tours. She has an enviable professional life and every reason to feel proud of it. Even if she fell off the face of the earth tomorrow, she would leave behind an impressive catalogue of work and her music doesn't ever feel dated to me either.

Taylor Dayne came out of that era (Tell It to My Heart) and was, like Stansfield, a white woman with a soulful voice.

Did Lisa Stansfield not get some backlash from the African-American community??

[quote]Her audience is rock-solid. Sade is the textbook case in popular music of someone's whose drawing power in undiminished over the decades. If she announced US tour dates tomorrow she'd outsell Madonna.

R24. That's overstating it. Sade is great, but Madonna would outsell her.

Not this night she didn't R34.

[quote] Lisa Stansfield was great, but a big loss for the public and the music industry that she wasn't a bigger star who lasted for years. So much talent. She's not Whitney Houston, but she's better than Mariah Carey.

Stansfield's cooling off was a mystery. She had a distinctive voice and the quality of her music never wavered. If anything, I think she may have been out of her time -- her music was very urban but her image wasn't urban enough for the 80s/90s. She was neither Teena Marie or Sheena Easton. I do recall some Black British artists -- Soul II Soul in particular -- were salty about her instant, cross-genre success in the US. They felt she'd borrowed heavily from their sound, and America was notoriously rough terrain for Black British soul singers in the 80s and 90s.

Released: 16 October 1989

"All Around the World" is a song by English singer, songwriter and actress Lisa Stansfield from her debut studio album, Affection (1989). It was released as the album's second single on 16 October 1989 by Arista Records. It was written by Stansfield, Ian Devaney and Andy Morris, and produced by Devaney and Morris. The song received favorable reviews from music critics. Songwriters, Stansfield, Devaney and Morris, received the 1989 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.[2] "All Around the World" was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards. Additionally, Stansfield was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

[quote] [R24]. That's overstating it. Sade is great, but Madonna would outsell her.

I guess we'll never know, with that "bacterial infection" disrupting the proceedings.

MAGA Taylor Dayne.

As has been pointed out several times, there is absolutely no comparison between Stanfield and Helen Folasade Adu are not in the same universe. Sade (her professional name, but also I'd like to point out is the name of the band... the five have been together since 1982) is one of the most successful (and influential) British singers in history. She is infamous for simply not wanting to work, not wanting to record or tour. She was given the prestigious Commander of the British Empire award in 2017 (a lovely irony for a native-born Nigerian).

Lisa Stansfield turned out to not have much to offer as an artist beyond "All Around the World".

The follow-up single, "You Can't Deny It", was basically a carbon copy of the first single.

She managed to have two lesser hits, "This is the First Time", and "Change", both of which were fairly generic and forgettable.

I was rooting for her to succeed at the time, but I realized fairly on that, despite the unique voice, her music was kinda lame.

Sade is extremely success. The fuck are you talking about? They only do albums every decade or so.

Sade at Live Aid (Your Love Is King). Some very cute guys in her band, incl. Stewart Matthewman (sax).

Lisa has or had a great voice but I think she was not served well by her material.

She had a special oomph but her material really didn't.

Her successor in some ways is Joss Stone, who also has a great voice but just never really clicked beyond a few hits here and there.

Whoever wondered (?) why Taylor Dayne didn't make it, have you LISTENED to the way she sings? It's almost painful; she sounds like she's yelling or throwing the words at your face, and also over-pronounces/draws out every damn syllable. I would actually classify her voice as sounding ugly. Truly ugly. Never understood anybody saying they thought she was great, because she's not.

Turns out she's truly ugly on the inside as well.

Sade is a TRUE star. Very private. Almost reclusive. You gotta love that. One never feels like they know too much about her. She lives shrouded in mystery. Then she drops a record every so often and sets the world on fire for a bit.

We WERE "big"!

It's the records that got small...

Oh, and Sade has sold over 75 million records.

[quote] Then she drops a record every so often and sets the world on fire for a bit.

And the first four were flawless.

I was less enamored of Lovers Rock and Soldier of Love, but good for her for trying to change it up a little.

I loved most of Diamond Life - When Am I Going to Make A Living fit so nicely into that Style Council/Alf/Everything But The Girl vibe - but my forever favorites will always be Promise and Love Deluxe. The Sweetest Taboo was THE song. So unusual, so classic immediately. And Sade was so sexy without being a total hog (unlike a certain wedding-dress-wearing whore that rolled around on the floor).

I bought all their albums. Love sade more.

R50 Could not agree more! The Sweetest Taboo *still* does it for me. What an insanely sexy, sizzling hot song.

I loved loved loved Lovers Rock. Wore it out when it came out. Couldn't believe Sade was still able to put out such a high quality album.

Soldier of Love I couldn't quite get into, but that's just because she was leaned in to a newer, trendier sound that for me was not quite elevated to that "classic" Sade sound. Her voice and lyrics were still on point.

I am quite happy to spend time with any record that woman makes.

[quote] I was rooting for [Lisa Stansfield] to succeed at the time, but I realized fairly on that, despite the unique voice, her music was kinda lame.

You have to dig into her first 5 CDs, Lisa had really solid quality output but as someone noted above Clive Davis wasn't trying to invest in her or promote her because she wasn't "his." She wrote and produced her own music with her longtime partners. Davis was so bitter he refused to release her third CD in the U.S. She had a very sophisticated traditional soul sound that was commercially out of step in the 90s. However, I really enjoyed her music of that time, off the top of my head:

All Woman

The Love In Me

You Can Do That

Set Your Loving Free

I'm Leavin'

Never, Never Gonna Give You Up

A Little More Love

The Real Thing

What Did I Do To You?

Let's Just Call It Love

In All The Right Places

A Little Bit of Heaven

Great song.

I know of two of Sade’s ex boyfriends, and neither of them treated her like shit. I remember going to watch her in the early 80’s when she was in her first band called Pride, a friend of mine was in the band. As others have mentioned Sade could release an album tomorrow and it would be huge. To me she has an enviable career, releases music only when she wants to, and with little promotion. I haven’t read an interview with her for decades. I’ve never seen her give a TV interview.

Sade had a daughter who fully transitioned to male several years ago.

Lisa, come back.

Back when Lisa Stansfield was hot I was best friend with a girl who looked just like her right down to the makeup, wavy hair and fashion style (I guess, since I'm gay, you could have called her a fag hag). She was such a doppelganger that people on the street would acknowledge her, approach her to ask for autographs or shout to her their love, their support, whatever. One guy once shouted "You're my favorite Lisa with an S!" which immediately blew the fuse on my gaydar. It was a crazy time for her. But she not once pretended she was the Lisa Stansfield, I think a little bit of pretending would have been fun.

And I'm posting the link to the video of The Real Thing, because I couldn't get enough of the model/actor who's playing the white (gay) guy in the clip. I've always had a thing for guys with milky white skin and very dark hair but this one has something on top of it.

The remix of People Hold On by Lisa was massive in the UK and was my first intro to her, I love her voice but I never really got into her albums.

Sade on the other hand, love, all the albums are mostly excellent, they are one of the artists that I wouldn’t put on shuffle, I choose an album and go start to finish in order. No Ordinary love is one of my favourites, such a vibe.

I'd add Paradise to your list, r8.

Stanfield was styled very badly. She often reminded me of a clown.

Sade is the soundtrack of fucking.

Also, Disney, THIS is your next mermaid.

Lisa had a 5 year period as a big star and was given a boost by her last 2 big hits being on movie soundtracks - The Bodyguard and Indecent Proposal.

There was a video where she walks naked through the streets but I can't remember what the song was.

Ultimately she just didn't have the earworm hits to sustain a career as a singles artist, and I'm sure she's fine with that.

She gets to tour when she wants, record when she wants and doesn't have to deal with the pressure of celebrity.

Sade is a lifelong star, and pretty global. Very classy.

OP needs to return for refresher courses on music criticism and zeitgeist analysis. He attended the Sheboygan Conservatory, if I remember correctly?

Stansfield did a short US tour in the Fall of 2018, hadn’t played here in 20 years. She was SO good, she needs to do this more often.

Sade actually does well on streaming today so it's not like they are unpopular (Sade is a band). Lisa Stansfield though...I remember Robert Christgau concluded his review of her album by saying "she's going to be around". Yeah, no.

I remember decades ago, before autotune, she performed at an awards ceremony, maybe it was the grammys. she didn't sound very good. but of course I still loved her. much better tech today, anyone can be a great singer, even live performances.

r57, I always thought "The Real Thing" could be the perfect song about coming out.

Lisa was the new Yazz

[quote] Lisa Stansfield though...I remember Robert Christgau concluded his review of her album by saying "she's going to be around".

Then he goes on to pan all of her abound after her debut. Granted, Affection remains her best album, but I thought her self-titled album back in the late 90s was just as strong.

*albums

Lisa Stansfield was a missed opportunity. I feel like she could have been marketed similar to Adele.

As others have noted, Sade actually was a big star with multiple hits, especially internationally. But I can't remember a single thing about LS except "Been Around the World," that video, and the spitcurl.

Did she ever tour? I don't even remember seeing her on the late night circuit, or MTV/VH1. She seems like a natural for VH1. But no SNL for Lisa Stansfield, no Letterman? Friday Night Videos? Bandstand? SOLID GOLD??

Missed opportunity.

Sade and Lisa Stansfield were both on many, many Gap playlists in the 1990s.

"No Ordinary Love" was on the Gap March 1993 In-Store Playlist, and you can listen to (or download!) the full in-store tape of that month from the Internet Archive!

Lisa's "Someday (I'm Coming Back)" from THE BODYGUARD Soundtrack is on the Gap January 1993 In-Store Cassette:

My FAVORITE Lisa song, "People Hold On (The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' Jon Is The Don Mix)", is on the Gap September 1998 In-Store Playlist!

That Remixes EP was all over Gap in 1998!

Because when we learned she had no relation to the marquis we lost interest.

R70 Unfortunately when Lisa opened her mouth to speak she sounded exactly like Vera Duckworth from Coronation Street. It shattered the illusion of any glamour.

Some of Sade’s material sounds like elevator music.

No mention of Ja Ja Jackie?

Yeah Jackie!

Not a classic Steinburg Kelly song but it gave them their first US hit.

Sade was pretty big and not a fad like Lisa Stansfield. She had albums and touring success throughout the aughts.

Haven't followed the whole thread but any insight on who had the bigger career, Sade or Lisa, would be appreciated.

R79 you are my kind of troll!

Alison Moyet

This is where I get confused. As a few dlers have pointed out, her name is not Sade. I knew that, but what is it then? And does she answer to Sade?

R82 I explain it at R64.

You didn't explain anything at R64.

The band is named Sade, but the name comes from her full name, Helen Folosade Adu. The singer is also know as Sade as evidenced by her Wikipedia page.

Sade is as big as a band like that could ever dream of. Nearly universally liked.

Lisa Stansfield was good but not marketed well. Everyone in the USA remembers her as the singer with the spit curl. Blame the record label.

R84 which is what I said at R41, I just got the post # wrong.

I hate how people play "gotcha" with such disgust on social media.

It wasn't a gotcha, you gave the wrong post #. Christ you're a fragile one.

R87 Ha... and so you prove my point.

Lisa Stansfield fades and Beyonce remains? So wrong.

R89 = Matthew Perry

I don't even understand the premise of this. Sade was a terrific talent and recorded some really good songs. Just because an artist doesn't reach a Madonna or Adele level of fame and success doesn't mean she's failed. And look at how Madonna turned out. Who would want that?

As the years go on, I find that I have developed a weird fondness for the Gap Playlist Troll.

Troll on, Gappy.

"Lisa Stansfield fades and Beyonce remains? So wrong."

Beyonce can sing circles around Lisa Stansfield.

Beyonce is as dumb as a post. I can't stand to see her attempt to speak, it's nails on a chalk board.

Beyonce has star power. Lisa Stanfield did not. There's no comparison. Beyonce is the better singer, too.

[quote]Beyonce is as dumb as a post.

Since when are singers judged on their intelligence?

Beyonce can't be that much dumber than Lisa Stansfield since she has an actual career.

I judge singers on intelligence, just as I judge everyone else on intelligence. Stupidity is not an admirable trait.

I didn't say she was a bad singer (although at best she's mediocre), Beyonce is just a really, really stupid person. The Stansfield woman may or may not be stupid, I don't remember seeing or hearing her other than "Been Around the World" as her one-hit wonder.

At some point Beyonce's managers stopped allowing Beyonce to give interviews or to speak publicly unscripted. She seemed as though she was actually retarded and people began to notice.

[quote] Beyonce has star power.

Beyonce is a star ... until she starts talking. Wendy Williams said that she has to turn on closed captioning in order to understand Beyonce talking.

Yes, let's not forget Beyonce's "star power" everyone

Forget Beyonce. Let's focus on the divine Ms. Stansfield.

[quote] She's not Whitney Houston, but she's better than Mariah Carey.

She's not better than Mariah Carey. I love Lisa Stansfield and consider her one of the best white R&B singers ever from the 90s, but she's not a better vocalist than 90s prime Mariah. Teena Marie is the only one I would rank over Mariah because she not only had vocal prowess but she wrote, produced, arranged, and played multiple instruments on all her albums. Teena Marie was exceptionally talented on almost every front.

I put Stansfield in the same category as Taylor Dayne, a very talented singer with a soulful voice, but like Dayne, had the misfortune of being on Artista during the height of Whitney Houston's popularity.

The posts claiming Beyonce can sing have got to be joking.

Forget the mediocre Beyonce and the one-hit wonder Stansfield.

The real superstar of this thread is Sade!

Taylor Dayne had a run of 7 top ten US singles over 4 years starting when Whitney was in her prime, and had a US number one with a Diane Warren song.

For whatever reason she took a 3 year break and music had moved on by the time she returned.

Taylor Dayne's voice sucked. Are you guys hard of hearing? Her singing was godawful; her caterwauling, overwrought voice sounds angry, like she's yelling at you, and she weirdly pronounces every word with ahhs and ohs on either end of every word. Not a good singer. Hated all her "hits" and was glad when her music fell off the earth and the radio. Please stop bringing her up, I have PTDTSD (Post Taylor Dayne Traumatic Stress Disorder) each time she's mentioned.

Taylor Dayne’s voice always reminded me of Tina Turner’s or Patti LaBelle’s: harsh, raspy, nasally but powerful. She had the perfect voice to sing a number of genres.

It’s her politics that sucks.

Thank you, OP. I'd forgotten how much I loved Lisa's voice. "Down In The Depths" is the most wonderful song. Brings me back to the Red+Hot+Blue and the AIDS epidemic era, which I'd rather continue to forget.

You can be fantastically talented likeLisa Sansfield, but fame has no guarantees. And every music-related show, for example The Grammy Awards, is a work obligation fostered my the management end ("Find something to wear, lose five pounds, and get your ass in that seat!").

Then the show starts and it's a room full of highly competitive like-minded, same category singers, all competing for more/less the same audience, Taylor, Arianna, Rihanna, Nicki, Cardi, Miley, all present. They passed by Kesha on the way in. She's slumped in alongside the highway like roadkill. And just before the lights go down, the current artsy-shy-boho entry slips in. Is that Lana Del Ray? It is.

The awards are handed out, and this is the most scripted line because it's always in every show. It's a variation of "We all get along, I share the award I just won with the four others who lost!" And they leave out the line just before it: "My manager told me to make sure I say ..."

OK, I got a little off topic there, but do you guys remember Nelly Furtado? She came on the scene, had a string of hits ('Maneater' was my favorite), the hip-hop/rap subculture loved her, but stardom at the level she had acheived just wasn't for her. I think for her there was too much bullshit and air-kissing. So she allowed her self to fade away.

This thread inspired me to listen to Lisa’s Biography greatest hits and was walking through the city centre and as Time To Make You Mine faded out I could hear People Hold On blaring out of a pub.

Fancy!

Been around the wurllllldddd, lookinnnnn for my bayyy beeee!

Sade has a pretty remarkable career given how out of the spotlight she is.

The bands last album was in 2010 and sold a million copies after a 9 year gap.

I’d say that’s pretty impressive. I wouldn’t be surprised if their next album went #1 either.

Sade is popular all over the world, she has a huge audience and they never abandon her.

I smoked a cigarette with Lisa Stansfield on the sidewalk outside a restaurant in Soho (NYC) back in 2003. She was lovely and very kind. Pictures don't do her justice, she is a strikingly pretty woman in person.

"Down In The Depths" by Lisa Stansfield (followed by "Crazy" by Joan Armatrading!) was on the Gap September 1992 In-Store Playlist.

Unfortunately, I have not recovered that playlist yet.

Did anyone out there work at Gap and also save the monthly playlists?

As other posters have said, Clive Davis was so preoccupied with Whitney that he didn't give Lisa the attention or promotion she deserved. Perhaps if she'd been on another record label she would've had a longer hit-making career. The poster who said Lisa should've been marketed like Adele was many years later is correct, that would've been the best way to package her.

Definitely a missed opportunity.

R94 You stupid bitch.

"Cherish The Day (Sade Remix Radio Edit)" by Sade is on the Gap September 1993 In-Store Playlist!

[quote]As other posters have said, Clive Davis was so preoccupied with Whitney that he didn't give Lisa the attention or promotion she deserved. Perhaps if she'd been on another record label she would've had a longer hit-making career. The poster who said Lisa should've been marketed like Adele was many years later is correct, that would've been the best way to package her. Definitely a missed opportunity.

Which of Lisa's songs from the second and third albums should have been promoted more in the hope of becoming big hits?

R115, as you know I can't stand to hear that dumb as a post woman speak. I told you it was like nails on a chalkboard to me. Why would I click on that link? Answer: I wouldn't.

Scripted she's better than when she tries to wing it. Winging it is intolerable but really, I just have no interest in seeing or hearing from Beyonce Knowles. She's DUMB. If someone wrote her a speech and coached her through it so it could be filmed and cut and spliced together - great. She's still dumb as a post and her voice is like nails on a fucking chalkboard to me.

Leave me alone. I'm allowed NOT to like Beyonce Knowles. She's not even a very good singer.

R115 I love Beyonce but there’s a reason why she stopped doing interviews. She doesn’t come off bright here and she’s having a hard time with the teleprompter.

Sade holds the record for amount of time between first and last #1 albums at 24 years and some change.

She looks like a fucking mime

R119 She stopped doing interviews because it made her a more expensive commodity. She is now the brilliant, elusive beautiful goddess of a generation.

No, honey R172, she stopped doing interviews because she comes across as a total moron. If she were a sparkling wit or charming or intelligent or funny she'd be doing interviews all the time. But she is none of those things, she's not even mildly entertaining.

Dumb. As. A. Post.

Either that or she's the dull-witted fembot the straights have been waiting for.

Clive didn’t think Lisa, Taylor Dayne or Expose had any lasting star power and quit investing in them after a short period of time. Davis said Dayne wanted to write more of her own songs and he wanted her to stick with the formula that had made her first two albums hits. She didn’t listen and her 3rd album was a disappointment and he didn’t have the interest in her anymore.

Expose has 7 top 10 hits in a row and a top 20 song, but Davis didn’t think any of the girls had any star quality and their 3rd album was delayed by the departure of Gioia Bruno and Clive Davis trying to reshape the groups sound. The album was a commercial disappointment and it gave Davis an excuse to quit investing in them.

By 1992 Davis had Whitney, as well as TLC and Toni Braxton (through LaFace).

r125 Sounds like you really know your stuff. Got any dirt on Expose?

Lisa Stansfield's a classy LADY!

She's all woman.

Why weren't they bigger? Portion control!!

Another one who should have been a bigger star: Neneh Cherry

RAW LIKE SUSHI was a great album, but nothing that followed up was as tight.

R123 stfu Beyoncé is the epitome of class. And speaks just fine even when she had her southern accent. However you can tell she has intense social anxiety outside of the stage during this interview.

All Woman is beautiful. Love you Lisa.

R128 Neneh Cherry was the truth. She came out 20 yrs too soon. She could rhyme, lyrics had wit, was drop dead gorgeous and wasn’t overly sexualized. Great artist.

Who the hell keeps responding to comments that have not been made yet. Are they psychic?

Paul Pierce was the Truth.

I wouldn't say Des'Ree was a failure, 4 hits, one huge hit that everyone knows and a song that wasn't released as a single but was in an iconic movie and has been covered by bigger names (Taylor Dayne, Beyonce, Sam Smith and leather faced Luke Evans).

Neither she nor Donna Lewis needs to work ever again thanks to their royalties.

Lisa Stansfield had a song on the Bodyguard soundtrack, that alone should be enough to dine out on for the rest of her life.

I believe Ms Stansfield dines in, R135. Thusly we see the lesbianas great interest in this one-hit wonder.

Lisa's been married to Ian Devaney for years - he was a member of Blue Zone and her main songwriting partner.

Oops, my bad, thank you R137.

I revise my statement to opine that the lesbianas have a group crush on the happily married, definitely heterosexual Mrs Devaney.

r131: Like Lisa Stansfield on Arista, Neneh's label (Virgin) threw all their attention to another artist, who signed in 1991 for a whopping $40 million for three albums....

Neneh's "Homebrew" was amazing but probably too indie for pop and too pop/R&B for indie....

Dionne Ferris would like a word.

Again, the "problem" with Neneh Cherry was that she didn't have the earworms to follow up Buffalo Stance.

For some reason Manchild never got a US release. Buddy X was the only song from Homebrew that was a stand out. 7 Seconds and Woman were great songs and deserved hits in the UK.

Love Can Build A Bridge remains one of the most bizarre charity records ever made.

R91 why assume the idiotic OP put any quality thought into the thread set up. HE NEEDED TO POST SOMETHING, ANYTHING.

[quote]The poster who said Lisa should've been marketed like Adele was many years later is correct, that would've been the best way to package her.

R114. It's not that I agree or disagree with you. But what do you mean? How was Adele marketed...and how could that have been applied to Lisa Stansfield? What was unique or strategic about Adele's marketing to which audiences responded and made her a success where Lisa could have benefitted? I like Adele, but Lisa was my girl years ago. I wish she could have lasted longer.

R143. I thought about this post before going public. As a result, we are now at 145 posts and still going strong. It's been a great discussion with lots of viewpoints, thoughts, interesting responses and analysis.

What have you posted lately from your do-nothing, know-it-all ivory tower? Yeah, I thought so.

OP/R145, don't let the trolls piss on your chips

Lisa Stansfield did okay...but she had the potential for so much more.

One of the rare occasions Lisa Stansfield recorded someone else's song.

Lisa Stansfield and her from the north of England accent. Nice interview...

R148. I like it.

She's lovely.

While I prefer Stansfield to Joss Stone, whose soul affectations are wholly unconvincing, there are far more plausible white soul singers - eg Teena Marie - who were genuinely informed by growing up around black American culture rather than just mimicking things they heard on radio like mynah birds.

^^ I don't think Lisa Stansfield mimics anyone. As she said in an interview, "I sing what I feel."

Lisa Stansfield is reportedly worth $15 million; Sade $70million.

They both did okay if those figures are even in the ballpark.

I think “All Around the World” was a great song, and Lisa Stansfield has a great voice. But when she debuted as a 23 year-old, her image projected someone much older, unlike Mariah, who had an image that projected her age. I think Lisa Stansfield missed her target audience because she seemed older than she was. Maybe those spit curls were a bad choice.

I don’t accept the Sade premise. She’s an icon.

[quote] I wouldn't say Des'Ree was a failure

She was a failure with me. That "You Gotta Be" song is the definition of "Oprah in the 90s".

I must say I am really impressed and pleased by the fact that in this day and age there is so much love for Sade on datalounge. I am sure the OP was well intentioned, but was immediately and repeatedly shut down for his opinion of her. The woman is worth 80 million dollars and is a huge life long success.

There is something very unique about Sade that I have noted. Whereas you can say Whitney and Mariah are the best of their kind with their voices, there are times I hear a song and have to ask, "Is that Whitney? Is that Mariah?" I quickly realize no, it's not. But I have never once had to ask "Is that Sade?" You know her voice instantly. She is like a handful of people, like a Tina Turner whose voices, unique tone are one of a kind.

And on the flip side there are unique musical geniuses like Stevie Wonder and Prince who have created a whole genre of music with their sound. You KNOW when someone is doing a Stevie or Prince type song. It's a sound many recording artist have emulated. Sade has a very unique sound as well. Without even hearing her voice, her music sets a mood that you know is hers. But to this date I have really never heard anyone else do it but her. That's why she can drop and album every generation and set the world on fire because no one else is doing it. We haven't heard it played since the last time she did it, and we are hungry for it.

^ oh and part of her unique sound comes from what some people incorrectly call "monotone." She isn't monotone. We just aren't used to singers who don't do vocal runs or warble their voice or blow us to the back of the room with the power of their vocals. When she sings she hits a note and holds it. It is very clear, like a bell. Her voice is deceptively simple, like vocal minimalist art that restores balance and harmony to the ear.

I don't know that Lisa was particularly helped or hindered by marketing. Radio was a very different scene at the time. Things bubbled up if they were strong songs.

Adele was the poppiest of a number of women who came out in the UK at about the same time and benefited from that. Beyond her lovely voice, she's been mostly the product of whatever songwriting could be bought for her. And based on her recent sales, even the great Adele had her day in the sun. If she maintains her recording pace and sound, she could be a bit like an Annie Lennox type - playing Vegas, selling solidly but not exactly on the pop charts.

[quote]Lisa Stansfield is reportedly worth $15 million; Sade $70million. They both did okay if those figures are even in the ballpark.

They both sold millions of albums and wrote their own songs and b-sides.

There's a movie called Fever Pitch with Colin Firth based on the book by Nick Hornby about his support of Arsenal football club, leading up to the 1989 double, when they won the FA Cup and the football league, in one of the most dramatic title deciders in history.

So the match took place on 26th May (my birthday!) and Colin's girlfriend is a teacher who goes to a party for her students during the match (clearly not Arsenal fans) and there's a scene where All Around The World is playing and I swear to god I nearly stood up in that god damn cinema and shouted in my best Annie Wilkes style BUT THAT SONG WASN'T RELEASED UNTIL OCTOBER SO HOW THE COCKADOODIE ARE PEOPLE LISTENINNG TO IT IN MAY!

It ruined the film for me. Totally ruined it.

R145 and OP - yeah you thought about your post yet the vast majority here doesn't agree with your shoddy miscategorization of Sade's career. Do dig in your cha-cha heels. And I agree with your disdain elsewhere about Swift, a sad excuse for a superstar.

Did someone say Cha Cha Heels?

Holy Gowns, Make me Beautiful Gowns, I completely forgot about that song for decades. 👍🏻

Imagine Shirley Bassey working her fingers to the bone!

r160 must be fun at parties

[quote][R160] must be fun at parties

I never get invited to parties so I don't get a chance to be fun or not fun.

Quelle surprise

R167 pronounces ‘quelle surprise’ as Kwell sur-preece

[quote]Adele was the poppiest of a number of women who came out in the UK at about the same time and benefited from that. Beyond her lovely voice, she's been mostly the product of whatever songwriting could be bought for her.

She also benefited majorly from the death of Amy Winehouse who arguably is a better artist and songwriter. Adele and Duffy were pushed to the back burner when Amy was hot. After her death Adele capitalized on the moment, Duffy not so much.

R169 has an alternative view of reality

October 2003: Amy releases Frank

October 2006: Amy releases Back To Black

January 2008: Adele releases 19

February 2008: Amy wins 5 Grammys

March 2008: Duffy releases Rockferry

February 2009: Adele wins 2 Grammys, Duffy wins 1 Grammy

November 2010: Duffy releases Endlessly

January 2011: Adele releases 21

July 2011: Amy dies

Feb 2012: Adele wins 6 Grammys

Did she find her fucking baby yet???

R144, I'm not the poster you're addressing but I made the original remark about Adele and how she was marketed. I guess I just meant that Adele [italic]was[/italic] marketed, to a broad audience. Stansfield was not, apparently, as others have mentioned Arista's focus on Whitney.

Adele was presented to a broader, pop oriented audience that included R&B listeners, but it seemed like LS was marketed to R&B audiences, primarily. Adele's appeal is very broad, but LS never really broke out of being an R&B singer.

No need to osk he’s a tool operator

Tooooool operator

Tool operator

Toooool … operator!

Duffy's voice was more unique sounding than Adele's too me. Duffy's Warwick Avenue is more moving than any Adele song I've heard.

Amy had a habit of caterwauling too much. She tried to imitate those 60s R&B artists too much sometimes. But when she was great, she was great.

[quote][R144], I'm not the poster you're addressing but I made the original remark about Adele and how she was marketed. I guess I just meant that Adele was marketed, to a broad audience. Stansfield was not, apparently, as others have mentioned Arista's focus on Whitney. Adele was presented to a broader, pop oriented audience that included R&B listeners, but it seemed like LS was marketed to R&B audiences, primarily. Adele's appeal is very broad, but LS never really broke out of being an R&B singer.

Lisa Stansfield was a blue eyed soul pop/dance act. She was a natural progression on the style of British acts like Simply Red, Steve Winwood, George Michael and Swing Out Sister but some of her songs veered into club music - People Hold On, This Is The Right Time in particular.

The follow up single to All Around The World in the US was You Can't Deny It - a song that didn't get a European release.

There isn't much Cole Porter left in Cherry's version of "I Got You Under My Skin" but it's hypnotic - a lot of that is due to director Jean-Baptiste Mondino and Cherry's gorgeousness.

Lisa Stansfield's not even in the same league as Sade, come on now.

I love Lisa!

Love her all you want, she's still not in the same league as Sade.

Op I love your clack back. Tell them hoes. 😆

Fight over hadbeens bitches

R175 one of the best written songs of the 20th century.

I meant 21st century. Typing fast.

I'm bringing Lisa back!

One of the most successful threads of 2023! I gave you all a break from Trump and Markle.

What color's the sky in your world, OP?

R157 I like your post - although I think, as original as she was, you can trace both her models for singing and those who were influenced by her. She sounded, held herself, phrased like "cool" singers of the 50s - clearly Billie Holliday and her smoldering smoky timbre - but Julie London, Anita O'Day, Chet Baker, even Peggy Lee. Certainly the whole "quiet storm" R&B singers of the 80s to oughts were influenced by Sade. And more contemporary singers - Eryka Badu, Jessie Ware, Cassandra Wilson - even male singers like Maxwell, D'Angelo, and Frank Ocean own a debt to her.

Black people love Lisa.

Who needs these showboating over-singers when Carly Simon and Suzanne Vega are in the world?

R190 speaks blasphemy.

Some old lesbian with a 30 year crush on Stansfield is all over this thread.

Ugh, that spitcurl and beauty spot.

Just no.

There's likely nothing she can do about the beauty spot. The spit curls, however, can be gone with one wash.

[quote] Clive didn’t think Lisa, Taylor Dayne or Expose had any lasting star power and quit investing in them after a short period of time. Davis said Dayne wanted to write more of her own songs and he wanted her to stick with the formula that had made her first two albums hits. She didn’t listen and her 3rd album was a disappointment and he didn’t have the interest in her anymore.

Davis has only one true success story, Whitney. Of course, Whitney was a spectacular success but she had an extraordinary gift. While he engineered the "comebacks" of Aretha and Dionne they were proven, acclaimed artists before him. Over the years, he dropped the ball on many talented females, particularly those who wanted to write their own material -- Phyllis Hyman, Melissa Manchester, Taylor Dayne and Lisa Stansfield are just a few.

[quote] One of the most successful threads of 2023!

if you say so, Jan

No, Clive also was successful with Alicia Keys

Sade was pretty huge in the 90s...even into the early 2000's...not to mention "Smooth operator" in the 80's. It's LS that was more the one or two hit wonder.

Speaking "No ordinary love" was a HUGE song in the 90's that was overplayed (though I LOVED it anyway and it's gorgeous video) but now I barely hear get any airplay anymore. Shame, it's exquisite.

They used "No Ordinary Love" in the Redford, Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson movie "Indecent Proposal" and the film was stupid but a big hit.

I loved Basia R12! I had forgotten about them. Must look them up.

I love Dido singing 'White Flag.'

Beautiful voice

Oooh I'm so excited

Oooh I'm so delighted

Oooh I never felt like this before

Mica Paris should have had a much bigger career.

R202 the trouble with Dido is how dreadfully mumsy she is.

As for Stansfield, some of the later songs were grizzly. “All Woman” was seemingly sung from the narrative viewpoint or a charlady, mill-woman or fishwife, feeling insufficiently sexually desired by her horny-handed brute of a husband.

I did like Stansfield's cover of "Never ever gonna give you up"...didnt think anyone could cover that succesfully but lo and behold

I posted this at R61. Now I know!

[quote]There was a video where she walks naked through the streets but I can't remember what the song was.

I mean, if we're going to talk women who should have had a bigger career.......or at least bigger chart performance......

[quote] Mica Paris should have had a much bigger career.

Total tangent but I agree. Mica Paris is the greatest soul singer to come from the U.K. I love her voice, her technique and all of her music. Her success was just not meant to be.

I checked out Stansfield’s Wikipedia page and she’s very successful in Britain. Her records and concerts sell. I think the song producing partnership she had at the start of her career went on to other things.

Thanks, Egglady

r207 Alison Moyet didn't break through in the US because she was fat. In the 80s MTV era, a female singer had to be thin and photogenic to make it. Too bad, because she was and is a great talent.

Singers still need to be thin and preferably attractive to make it in the entertainment business. Not only do the record company execs need to find them attractive (read - fuckable), the public requires exactly the same thing.

Heart was a great band and that lead singer (Anne or Nancy - don't remember) really could sing. When she allowed herself to blow up like a balloon, they lost popularity. Singers and actors usually need to be attractive or at least not grossly overweight. That's just reality and it has always been this way. 2000 years ago in ancient Rome, singers and actors had to be attractive to the audience and the same is true today. Human nature doesn't really change.

"Heart was a great band and that lead singer (Anne or Nancy - don't remember) really could sing."

Huh? They were more popular in the late 80's/early 90's than in their "original" run in the 70's. Of course the music was different, more adult contempo, so the audience wasnt as young or "hip" but that's on their music, not their weight.

I checked, it was Ann that who blew up like the goodyear blimp.

Being that morbidly obese hurt Ann and Nancy's career as a band. They used voluminous black caftans, tricky lighting and camera angles on Ann to film videos but being that fat was not MTV friendly.

Sorry, but rock'n'roll is not a fat acceptance profession.

Being around the world and IIIIIIII 🎵

Screw these bitches - Why was Swing Out Sister not a bigger star?

Because that song is fucking heinously annoying, r216.

Love Alison Moyet. Here she is singing my favorite...

"Weak in the Presence of Beauty"

R216: I’m a huge SOS fan, their diverse catalog of albums is brilliant and the best music made over 35 years. Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell never got the success they deserved but they still to this day have an extremely loyal fan base. And their live shows are excellent.

Oh God, R217, if that's Alison Moyet then it's obvious why she wasn't a bigger star. She's hideous.

She may sing very well but.... no.

Why didn't Olivia Newton-John have a bigger career? After I Honestly Love You.....NOTHING. What went wrong?

[quote] This is where I get confused. As a few dlers have pointed out, her name is not Sade. I knew that, but what is it then? And does she answer to Sade?

Gurrrl, I knew her back when she was just plain ol' "Sadie"!

Her actual full name is Helen Folasade Adu, and she goes by "Sade" (shah-DAY).

Her band is also called that formally, but it's not technically wrong to refer to her by that moniker since it is her nickname.

When the band's first big hit album was released in the US, Epic Recordss wrote in the liner notes her name was pronounced "shar-DAY" because they asked one of her people in the UK how the name was pronounced, and the American record executives could not understand that person's thick British accent. But there's actually no "r" in the pronunciation of that name.

Sade has a trans daughter/ son

One of the most endearing YouTube videos I've watched is the one of Lisa performing at the Appolo to a packed crowd of black men and women dancing , singing and having a good old time

R225, see my post at R189.

WEHT Madonna? I thought after Borderline she was going to be HUGE. Then....nothing.

MICHELLE GAYLE

R170, you kind of prove my point exactly. Adele star rose as Amy's star declined. But Amy definitely opened the door to the modern wave of British soulful songtresses. She was the mold every record company sought to re-produce in their own way after winning Record of the Year. And Adele was able to rise out of the ashes from Amy's demise.

R218 Someone I knew at the time directed that video. ‘Work’ was done on Alison’s chin at the insistence of her record company, its slightly blurred.

Moyet always sang fat. No matter how much weight she lost.

Madonna is back and making toilet vidoes again!

What a STAR!

Who had the better Barry White cover: Lisa Stansfield with Never, Never Gonna Give You Up or Taylor Dayne with Can't Get Enough Of Your Love?

Taylor Dayne sure sang the fuck out of this classic.

Kylie with Under The Influence of Love

It's funny with Taylor Dane. Music like hers is normally so not my taste. However, I fucking loved her. Especially the song Shelter. I went to see her in concert a few years ago. She didn't sing any of her hits. She sang nothing but standards. I felt really happy for her that the audience didn't seem to mind. She was awesome and the crowd ate it up. A few standing ovations.

R235, I love Taylor Dayne as well. Long Island lad with soul.

Taylor Dayne’s career began slipping after the nose job - not quite as abruptly as Jennifer Grey’s, but the same curse nevertheless.

Taylor Dayne is MAGA trash who will never get one penny of my money.

Sade is a pretty big recording star. Very popular in the 90's. Just about every gay would put her CD on to set the mood at his place. Playing her CD meant "I'm an adult now. No more of that wild rock and roll music"

Lisa Stansfield was a one-hit wonder.

After 238 other comments, thanks for that completely original take, r239.

I take your Taylor Dayne and I raise you KELLY LLORENNA.

i just don't understand the love for Taylor Dane. She sounds like she's vomiting words on you.

I liked Tell It To My Heart but wasn't crazy about any of her other songs.

Is Alyson Moyet a lesbian?

No, she's got a fella and kids.

Why didn't Ella Fitzgerald have a bigger career? After her number one single "Goodnight My Love", NOTHING!

British 90s soul singers like Lisa et al were it!

[quote]r42 Lisa Stansfield turned out to not have much to offer as an artist beyond "All Around the World".

Fuck you! She worked on new material all the time!

They were. They were just before your time, apparently. Not all artists reach the zenith of Madonna, Beyonce and Taylor.