Diamond Life is the debut studio album by English band Sade, released in the United Kingdom on 16 July 1984 by Epic Records and in the United States on 27 February 1985 by Portrait Records. After studying fashion design, and later modelling, Sade Adu began backup-singing with British band Pride. During this time Adu and three of the original members of Pride—Paul Anthony Cook, Paul Denman, and Stuart Matthewman—left the group to form their own band called Sade. After various demos and performances, Sade received interest from record labels and signed to Epic.

Recording for the album began in 1983 at Power Plant Studios in London and took six weeks to complete. The album's content was written by the members of Sade and the production was handled by Robin Millar. Fifteen songs were recorded. The album contains a variety of musical styles, including soul, jazz, and sophisti-pop, while its lyrics mostly discuss love. The album spawned four singles, including "Your Love Is King" and "Smooth Operator".

Diamond Life received widespread acclaim from music critics and it was also a commercial success, winning the 1985 Brit Award for Best British Album. The album reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and number five on the US Billboard 200, and has been certified multi-platinum in both countries. Diamond Life sold over 10 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the top-selling debut recordings of the era and the best-selling debut album by a British female vocalist, a record that stood for 24 years.

After studying fashion design, and later modelling briefly, Sade Adu began singing backup vocals for the British band Pride. During this time, she formed a songwriting partnership with Pride's guitarist and saxophonist Stuart Matthewman; together, backed by Pride's rhythm section of drummer Paul Anthony Cook and bassist Paul Denman, they began performing their own sets at Pride gigs. Adu's solo performances of the song "Smooth Operator" attracted the attention of record companies, and in 1983, Adu, Matthewman, Cook, and Denman split from Pride to form the band Sade. In May 1983, Sade performed for the first time in the United States, at the Danceteria club in New York. On 18 October 1983, Adu signed with Epic Records, while the rest of the band signed to her as contractors in 1984.^{[unreliable source]}

Prior to signing their record deal, Sade recorded Diamond Life in six weeks. It was recorded at Power Plant Studios in London. After cutting the proposed singles "Smooth Operator" and "Your Love Is King", the first album track recorded was "Sally", a song about the Salvation Army. The band worked collectively on the album's musical direction, rehearsing each song in detail and then recording it. Adu started writing "When Am I Going to Make a Living" on the back of a cleaning ticket after she picked her clothes up from the cleaners. She had no money and she wrote down the song's title.

Producer Robin Millar met the band in 1983, at which point the band members had never worked in a professional studio and only had demos and recordings from the BBC studios and EMI publishing studios. Millar booked a week's worth of studio time and later noted that the limitations of recording before computers had an impact upon the sound: "We used a real piano and a Fender Rhodes piano, painstakingly synching them up." They recorded 15 songs, all written by Adu and members of the group, except "Smooth Operator", which was written exclusively by Adu and Ray St. John. They also recorded a cover version of "Why Can't We Live Together" (1972) by Timmy Thomas.

For the recording of "Cherry Pie", the band had no mixing desks with automation; each member had their job of putting a bit of echo or delay, or changing a level. Millar would then edit between the different mixes. Speaking about this Matthewman said, "Very often, we would have six people at the mixing desk at the same time."

Lyrically, Diamond Life revolves around themes of love, discussing both the positives and the negatives of relationships. The music features jazzy textures built over prominent basslines, smooth drums, and subtle guitar. The album also features heavy use of brass instruments and keyboards. Writing for AllMusic, Ron Wynn noted the album's "slick production and quasi-jazz backing" and characterised Adu's singing as "deliberately icy, her delivery and voice aloof, deadpan, and cold".