Emeli Sandé

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Emeli Sandé
Sandé in 2014
Background information
Birth nameAdele Emily Sandé
Born (1987-03-10) 10 March 1987 (age 37)[1]
Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England
OriginAberdeen, Scotland
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Years active2008–present
Spouse(s)
Adam Gouraguine
(m. 2012; div. 2014)
Websiteemelisande.com
Musical career
Genres
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • piano
Labels

Adele Emily Sandé,

Wiley, which was another top ten hit. In 2012, she received the Brit Awards
' Critics' Choice Award.

Sandé released her first solo single "

2013 ceremony, she won two awards: Best British Female Solo Artist, and British Album of the Year.[11]

In 2016, she released her second studio album

Watership Down
.

Early life

Adele Emily Sandé was born in

Sunderland,[12][13][14][15] to a Zambian father, Joel Sandé, and an English mother, Diane Sandé-Wood, on 10 March 1987.[1][16] Her father, having moved from Zambia, met her mother while they were both at the polytechnic in Sunderland. The family moved to Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, when she was four.[17]

Sandé wrote her first song at the age of 11, for her primary-school talent show.

Sandé attended school at Alford Academy, where her father was a teacher. She said, "I hated to be ill and to miss a day because I was so hungry to learn. I was very shy, nerdy and extremely well-behaved. Inevitably, throughout secondary school, it was part and parcel of my identity that I was Mr. Sandé's daughter. No way could I muck about or get into trouble, because it would've got back to him within minutes. And Dad was strict, let me tell you."[19][page needed]

Choice FM invited the 15-year-old Sandé to London to take part in their "Rapology" competition. Richard Blackwood also had her down to MTV's Camden studios to sing gospel.[18] It was the first London appearance of her career.[19]: 23  By the time she reached the age of 16, she had a record deal with Telstar within reach. However, understanding the opportunity that the university could also offer her, she turned down the deal.[19]
: 24 

Sandé studied medicine, in the five-year MBChB course at the University of Glasgow, but left after obtaining a degree in clinical medicine, specialising in neuroscience.[20] She has stated that education was important to her, because, if her music career failed, she would have something to fall back on. Her manager Adrian Sykes, she said, had waited patiently from when she was 16: "Adrian really respects that I want to get an education behind me. He also knows my parents are keen that I finish university".[21]

There have been many who have inspired Sandé throughout her life. One important influence was Frida Kahlo, so important that she has a tattoo of the artist's portrait on her forearm.[18] Just after leaving medical school, she made the decision to get the tattoo, which, for her, represented strength and bravery. Kahlo was inspirational for Sandé due to the unique story of her battle with polio at a very young age which went on to inspire her artwork. She knew that her decision to pursue music and quit school would require a sense of fearlessness that she gained through Kahlo's expression of art.[22]

Career

2008–2010: Career beginnings

Sandé performing in 2007

Sandé's sister made a video of her playing the piano and singing to one of her favourite songs, "Nasty Little Lady".

Urban music competition. Sandé won the show and was offered a record deal, but the management that she met via the competition decided against the deal.[18]
Emeli had become involved in the Urban Scot collective who helped and encouraged her career by promoting her in Scotland, and – according to Emeli Sandé: The Biography by David Nolan (2013)[23] – also released an album of songs called Have You Heard? on Glasgow's Souljawn Records, which was sold at gigs. Several tracks were also made available to download.

Her parents also sent

Cheryl Cole, and Tinie Tempah. Sandé soon signed a record deal with Virgin Records and EMI Records.[25]

In an interview, she said, "I was doing a show in London for 1Xtra and I met this guy called

UK Singles Chart, making it Chipmunk and Sandé's first ever Top 10 hit.[27]

She later sang guest vocals on another single, after collaborating with

UK Singles Charts, becoming Sandé's second consecutive Top 10 Single.[24] Sandé decided against using the name Adele Sandé, due to Adele's growing success, so used her middle name instead. She revealed: "I changed it as soon as Adele came out. I just thought, 'You've kind of taken the [name] now', so I went with my middle name. She was just getting bigger and bigger, so I thought I just really need it."[28]

2011–2013: Our Version of Events and breakthrough

Sandé at 2012 V Festival

Sandé revealed her first solo single would be released in early 2011.

Read All About It
" entered at number one.

On 26 November, Sandé performed at the LG ARENA in Birmingham for BRMB 2011. On 15 December 2011, she was named as the

Brit Awards Critics' Choice for 2012.[4][33][34] Her album Our Version of Events reached number one in the UK after its release in February 2012.[8] Sandé's debut album includes songs written by her and has been reviewed as having "richly melodic, classically powerful, retro-futurist soul-pop songs".[18][35]

It was announced that she was up for another

NRJ Music Awards in France.[37][38] Sandé has penned a track for Naughty Boy's upcoming LP entitled "Hollywood" which features soul singer Gabrielle. It is about fame coming and going and will be released in November.[39]

On 27 July 2012, Sandé sang "

Imagine" exclusively for the BBC, who used it for their end credits montage at the conclusion of their Olympics coverage. Sandé is a winner of the 2013 European Border Breakers Awards. The European Border Breakers Awards honour the best new music acts in Europe. The award ceremony takes place at the Eurosonic Noorderslag music festival in Groningen (NL). She won two BRIT 2013 awards for Best British Female and Best British Album. In January 2013 it was revealed that Ella Henderson has anticipated work with Sandé on her debut album.[40] The song "Next to Me" won two Ivor Novello Awards for "Best Song Musically and Lyrically" and "PRS for Music Most Performed Work" in 2013.[41]

2013–2017: Long Live the Angels and community presence

Sandé at the 2013 Gibraltar Music Festival

In May 2013, she performed at the

Hotel Cabana
.

With her speedy success worldwide and especially between the UK and the US, Sandé has been a presence in many important campaigns, aside from her powerful stance on social justice through her songwriting. Whether through performances at fundraising concerts or campaigns of her own, she backs up her lyrics of social change and equality with action. With the honour of performing at Elton John's AIDS Foundation Event in 2013, she has shown her support in raising money and awareness for the HIV/AIDS problem in the world. More specifically, she understands the seriousness of HIV/AIDS in her father's home origin of Zambia which provides a deeper passion to support the cause.[19][page needed] She is also one face of Fashion Targets Breast Cancer in the effort to also create awareness and funding for the fight against breast cancer.[43] More recently, Sandé has helped launch a programme of her own called "Community Clavinova", a nationwide opportunity for organizations of many kinds to receive free Clavinovas through the partnership of Sandé and Yamaha UK. As a passionate musician, she understands the importance of having resources and is excited to help provide groups with the opportunity to receive such a great contribution to their organizations.[44]

Sandé performin at Jaguar XE - Arrival in London in 2014

In 2013, Sandé revealed that she has been working on her second studio album, stated to be released in 2016. On 15 November 2014, Sandé joined the charity group

Western Africa.[45]

On 25 August 2016, Sandé shared a preview of a song from her upcoming album entitled 'Intermission' on her social media accounts, with the caption "Inhale, exhale, release and let yourself receive forgiveness." Following a number of teasers, it was announced that "Hurts" would be released on 16 September as the lead single. Describing the song, she said: "I wanted to release 'Hurts' first because it felt like everything I've avoided saying for so long. It's a real explosion. It's everything I wish I'd said years and years ago. I didn't want to hold anything back anymore."[46] On 15 September, Sandé announced on her social media accounts that her new album would be called 'Long Live The Angels' and that it would be released on 11 November 2016. Her song Hurts from the album Long Live the Angels was published on 5 October. The album was released on the proposed date. The album debuted at number 2 on the UK album chart. The following year, Sandé gave her Long Live the Angels Tour, which is her first to include Arena dates.

In 2017, she received the Brit Awards' Best British Female Solo Artist award, becoming her fourth win in total. On 2 October 2017, Sandé was also awarded a

BASCA Gold Badge award[47]
in recognition of her unique contribution to music.

2019–present: Real Life, Let's Say for Instance, and How Were We to Know

Sandé performing at Labour's Charter for the Arts in 2019

On 12 April 2019, Emeli Sandé announced her third album, Real Life,[48] out 7 June on Virgin/EMI/Universal Music, recorded following an intense personal journey of self-doubt and self-discovery.[49]

On 23 May 2019, the track "Extraordinary Being" from the upcoming album was released as the soundtrack for the film X-Men - Dark Phoenix.[50] On 13 September 2019, Sandé released Real Life, her third studio album, anticipated by two promotional singles "Shine" and "You Are Not Alone".[51] In the UK, the album debuted at number six on the Official Charts, with sales of 7,650 combined units, the lowest debut for the singer on the charts to date.[52]

In February 2021, Emeli Sande split from record label EMI and signed a contract with independent record label Chrysalis Records.[53] On 16 September 2021, she released the video of the single "Family".[54] On 26 October 2021, she published the duet with Jaykae "Look What You've Done".[55] In January 2022 Sandé published the promotional single "Brighter Days" and announced that her fourth studio album Let's Say for Instance would be released on 6 May 2022.[56]

In 2023, Sandé released her fifth album, titled How Were We to Know to mostly positive reviews.[57]

Artistry

Musical style

Sandé performing in Germany, 2013

Sandé possesses a soprano vocal range.[58][59][60] Sandé has said she wants her music to be remembered like that of Nina Simone, one of her favourite artists. Sandé was first exposed to Simone at the age of eight, hearing her perform the song "Why?" after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. After hearing such sorrowful yet uplifting lyrics and expression through Simone's performance, Sandé was inspired to have a similar future with her music career.[19]: 10  She said, as much as she would like, she would never play the piano as well as Simone, but she would give it her best shot. She loves the songs Simone produced, including "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and Simone's version of "I Think It's Going to Rain Today". She said that Simone's original songs are very poetic: "So when I listen to commercial stuff at the moment, I'm just thinking 'haven't you heard Nina Simone, haven't you heard how a song should be written?'"[61]

Sandé began working in the studio with

pop music.[62] Joni Mitchell and Lauryn Hill were also major influences for the album.[18]

Songwriting

While making her debut album, Sandé began to work with

Cheryl Cole's albums as well as Professor Green's album, which Sandé gave guest vocals on.[65]
In 2011 she said that she was
The X Factor results show.[67]
She draws on influences for her music from
political issues.[18] Sandé said that the key to a good song is using "honesty" and "raw emotion" as the best way to write. She said that if she attempts to write something which is "too smart", the creative process will not work for her. "Kill the Boy" was one of the first ideas that came to Sandé's head. She said if she has to work on a song longer than a day, she will not go back to it, as she said it won't work. She went on to say if it was to work, that the idea for the song would be almost instant.[18]

Personal life

In January 2012, Sandé confirmed that she was engaged[68] to her then unidentified boyfriend of seven years.[69] Her boyfriend had requested not to be identified and Sandé said that he was not in the music industry but was a scientist.[70] Sandé's fiancé was revealed as marine biologist Adam Gouraguine when the pair married in his home nation of Montenegro on 15 September 2012. Sandé said she would legally take his name, but would still be known professionally as Emeli Sandé.[71] In November 2014, Sandé revealed that the couple had divorced after only two years.[72][73]

Sandé was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music.[74]

On 23 May 2019, it was announced that Sandé has been appointed as the new chancellor of the University of Sunderland.[75]

On 31 March 2022, Sandé confirmed in an interview with

bisexual, she responded, "I'm not sure what I identify as but I guess so. I just feel like I should fall in love with whoever I fall in love with."[76] In September 2022, Sandé announced her engagement to her partner, classical pianist Yoana Karemova.[77][78] In November 2023, Sandé announced that the two had postponed their wedding due to Sandé being busy with her upcoming album and the related tour dates.[79]

Discography

Touring

Headlining

Supporting

Awards and nominations

References

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External links