"[19][page needed] Choice FM invited the 15-year-old Sandé to London to take part in their "Rapology" competition.

She knew that her decision to pursue music and quit school would require a sense of fearlessness that she gained through Kahlo's expression of art.

[22] Sandé's sister made a video of her playing the piano and singing to one of her favourite songs, "Nasty Little Lady".

Naughty Boy,[24] who had previously worked with Ms Dynamite and Bashy,[18] and they began writing tracks for artists such as Alesha Dixon, Chipmunk, Professor Green, Devlin, Preeya Kalidas, Cheryl Cole, and Tinie Tempah.

She recorded a version of David Guetta's "Titanium" and the pair performed the song at NRJ Music Awards in France.

[37][38] Sandé has penned a track for Naughty Boy's upcoming LP entitled "Hollywood" which features soul singer Gabrielle.

[39] On 27 July 2012, Sandé sang "Abide with Me" at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics, and her song "Heaven" was used to accompany the section with Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

On 12 August 2012, Sandé sang "Read All About It (Part III)" at the closing ceremony, while a video montage of emotional scenes from the games was shown.

She also covered a version of John Lennon's "Imagine" exclusively for the BBC, who used it for their end credits montage at the conclusion of their Olympics coverage.

The award ceremony takes place at the Eurosonic Noorderslag music festival in Groningen (NL).

[41] In May 2013, she performed at the White House in Washington, D.C., as one of the featured artists at the award ceremony when President Obama presented Carole King with the Library of Congress Gershwin Medal.

With her speedy success worldwide and especially between the UK and the US, Sandé has been a presence in many important campaigns, aside from her powerful stance on social justice through her songwriting.

With the honour of performing at Elton John's AIDS Foundation Event in 2013, she has shown her support in raising money and awareness for the HIV/AIDS problem in the world.

More specifically, she understands the seriousness of HIV/AIDS in her father's home origin of Zambia which provides a deeper passion to support the cause.

As a passionate musician, she understands the importance of having resources and is excited to help provide groups with the opportunity to receive such a great contribution to their organizations.

On 15 November 2014, Sandé joined the charity group Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording the latest version of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, to raise money for the 2014 Ebola crisis in Western Africa.

[45] On 25 August 2016, Sandé shared a preview of a song from her upcoming album entitled 'Intermission' on her social media accounts, with the caption "Inhale, exhale, release and let yourself receive forgiveness."

"[46] On 15 September, Sandé announced on her social media accounts that her new album would be called 'Long Live The Angels' and that it would be released on 11 November 2016.

The following year, Sandé gave her Long Live the Angels Tour, which was her first to include Arena dates.

On 12 April 2019, Emeli Sandé announced her third album, Real Life,[48] out 7 June on Virgin/EMI/Universal Music, recorded following an intense personal journey of self-doubt and self-discovery.

[50] On 13 September 2019, Sandé released Real Life, her third studio album, anticipated by two promotional singles "Shine" and "You Are Not Alone".

[55] In January 2022 Sandé published the promotional single "Brighter Days" and announced that her fourth studio album Let's Say for Instance would be released on 6 May 2022.

after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. After hearing such sorrowful yet uplifting lyrics and expression through Simone's performance, Sandé was inspired to have a similar future with her music career.

She said on the album, she wanted people to see every side of her as an artist, so it was important to have songs there where there could be a real connection with the lyric, rather than there just being throwaway pop music.

[66] In 2011 she said that she was Simon Cowell's favourite songwriter at that moment due to her writing songs for Leona Lewis and Susan Boyle.

[68] She draws on influences for her music from Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell, Lauryn Hill and Amy Winehouse.

[71] Sandé's fiancé was revealed as marine biologist Adam Gouraguine when the pair married in his home nation of Montenegro on 15 September 2012.

[73][74] Sandé was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music.

[76] On 31 March 2022, Sandé confirmed in an interview with Metro that she was in a relationship with an unidentified female classical pianist.