Sade Will Release New Album On February 2010

Sade, the "quiet storm" R&B group featuring vocalist Sade Adu, has completed its long-awaited sixth studio album. Soldier of Love, the band's first collection of new material since 2000's Lover's Rock will be released February 8, 2010 worldwide on Epic.

Sade and her longtime bandmates including Stuart Matthewman, a.k.a. Cottonbelly, regrouped in a U.K. recording studio in June and were recording and mixing into October.

Though no details about Sade's new music have yet been revealed, one artist heard early versions of several songs: Maxwell, a fellow Sony recording artist and longtime friend and collaborator with Matthewman. The R&B singer sent a message to fans in March via his private Facebook page in which he indicated that he'd heard some of his labelmate's new recordings. "Trust me, it's so monolithic it'll shake you in your shoes!" he wrote.

Sade's 2000 release, Lovers Rock, sold 3,881,000 copies in the United States, and the prior album, 1992's Love Deluxe, sold 3,407,000. Since 1985's Diamond Life debut, Sade has sold nearly 17 million units in the U.S. alone according to Nielsen SoundScan.