St. Norbert resident to release soulful, contemplative new CD

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/11/2003 (8292 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IF you’ve been listening to 95.1 FM lately, you might have heard the soulful and funky sounds of a new R&B/pop gospel artist named Adé.

What you may not know though, is that she might very well be your neighbour.

Adé (pronounced Ah-Day) is Vicki Olatundun, a St. Norbert resident who is about to release her debut CD, and hopes to make a big splash on the gospel music scene.

“She’s very soulful. She’s contemplative, and I think she’s authentic in that she sings out of her own experience rather than from a formula,” said Darren Sedor, a local musician who co-produced Adé’s four-song CD I Know, which will be officially released Nov. 27.

“For me, what’s always rare to find is inherent soulfulness. It’s either there or it’s not. It’s never really learned, and Adé has it.

“I definitely think she has the potential. This is a great starting point but I think she sees the hard work ahead of her. But she’s a very determined girl, which I think will help her go a long way,” said Sedor.

Adé might be professional and dedicated, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t get excited when she heard her music on the radio for the first time.

“Me and a couple of my girlfriends, we just began to scream. It was so crazy. It’s so much of a dream for me,” said Adé.

The songs on I Know are as slickly produced and as contemporary as anything put out by the likes of Usher or Beyonce Knowles, but they have a much more powerful message.

“It’s very faith-based music,” said Adé. “I just want to be able to present what I believe in a way that people can understand. I just want people to know that there is hope out there, and that faith truly works.”

Adé’s songwriting is informed by a life that has included moves around the world, marital and financial strife, a jihad attack, and even a suicide attempt, which she said really turned her life around.

“I stood on the edge of a subway platform thinking, ‘Oh my God.’ The only person I could think of who could help me out of this mess was God, and he did,” she said.

After flirting with death, Adé began to get her life back together, and now, with her marriage repaired and her music career on the verge of taking off, things are really looking rosy for the British-born singer.

Although she did sing in front of 7,000 people at this summer’s Winkler Harvest Festival, Adé hasn’t performed much in Manitoba other than singing in the choir at Springs Church.

But she will be belting out her songs when she launches her debut CD, produced independently on the local Avanté Records label, at the West End Cultural Centre on Nov. 27.

Tickets to the show are $10, and the event will be hosted by Buzz Collins, a DJ on FREQ 107 FM.