Sade's Longtime Collaborator Mike Pela Passes Away

Sade’s longtime producer / collaborator Mike Pela has passed away.

The band's website wrote on July 25th:

Sade’s longtime collaborator and Grammy Award winning producer, sound engineer, and mixer Mike Pela passed away this weekend after a sudden illness whilst travelling in Italy. He was deeply loved and cherished by his wife Suzy and daughters Natalie and Emily.

Read the rest of their statement here statement here.

Sade, Stuart, Andrew, and Paul included:

“It’s hard to imagine a world without Mike, but he’s a vital force within everything we’ve done, and everything to come, and remains really, truly, in our hearts. There’s no other like him, not if we were to look forever. We shared absolute trust. He gave us a safe place so we could be fearless. He came with no ego; soulful, constant, funny, resilient, kind and brilliant. We’ll try our best to make him proud.”

We don’t have any additional information as to how Mike’s passing may impact Sade’s upcoming release.