Sade

Song stylist Sade (pronounced Shar-day), 27, has topped the charts in the past two years with hit singles (""Smooth Operator'') and albums (Diamond Life, and recently moved into films (Absolute Beginners. Born in Africa to a Nigerian father and a British mother, Sade studied at the St. Martin's School of Art in London and worked as a waitress, model and fashion designer. Lacking any music education or vocal training, she became a backup singer in 1981 with the London funk band Pride. Success came when she performed jazz-tinged solos on her own lyrics. ``Most of my lyrics,'' she says, ``are little stories about my experience or those of my friends.'' She received a 1986 Best New Artist Grammy Award, and Elle magazine has labeled her one of ``the world's ten most elegant women.'' Bego, the so-called ``prince of pop music bios,'' recounts her sudden success with affection and ends with a chronology/discography/videography/filmography. This is the ninth in Bego's series of paperback biographies, and happily his fan-magazine approach is less apparent this outing. (July)