No. Sade is not really a soul artist. She kind of vascillates between jazz, pop and R&B, aka “quiet storm” (the nickname given to the radio format that would constantly play Sade, Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, etc.). Neo-soul is a newer invention than the type of music Sade was making in the 80s and early 90s. It draws from the distant past for inspiration; most noticeably 60s and 70s R&B and funk. The movement was spearheaded in 1995 by D’Angelo, who was quickly followed by other neo-soul pioneers, such as Erykah Badu, Eric Benet, Chico DeBarge, Rahsaan Patterson, et al.

Some R&B purists like to push the needle back to pinpoint exactly when it was created; e.g. crediting groups like Tony Toni Tone for sparking the movement, if not creating it. But neo-soul isn’t particularly any one artist or band’s creation. It’s merely a finely delineated style of music that evolved into what it currently is from artists such as TTT, but going even further back to artists like Prince, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Earth, Wind & Fire, etc.