Sandra - Biography
By Eric Brightwell
Sandra is an internationally beloved singer from Germany. In the US, however, she’s fairly unknown although most people have heard her singing “Sade, dit moi” in her ex-husband Michael Cretu’s project, Enigma. Possessing a charming voice and a host of immediately enjoyable songs, it’s not obvious why Sandra and her similarly-minded German peers achieved global superstardom without cracking the anglosphere, but their occasionally (and unintentionally) humorous ESL lyrics and unabashedly melodramatic leanings may have something to do with it, as well as their cult followings in immigrant communities and gay clubs.
Sandra Ann Lauer was born May 18, 1962, Saarbrücken, Germany. Her father, Robert Lauer, is French and her mother, Karin, is German. When she was growing up, her father owned a wine shop and her mother worked in a shoe store. Showing an early interest in dance and music, Sandra began ballet lessons when she was five. At 10, she began taking guitar lessons. In 1975, though not enrolled as a competitor, she took the stage at an event called the Young Star Festival and sang a German cover of an Olivia-Newton John hit. Emboldened by the experience and supported by her parents, she recorded a single about her dog, “Andy Mein Freund,” which failed to generate interest.
Sandra’s next move was to join Michaela Rose and Jasmine Vetter, members of the disco act, Arabesque. With Sandra taking lead, they made their second album, City Cats. In the recording process, she met Michael Cretu, a keyboardist who, though five years older, shared a birthday and the two became friends. Arabesque became quite popular in the USSR and, in particular, Japan. After seven albums in four years, Sandra left and the remaining duo continued as Rouge.
In 1984, Sandra and Michael Cretu (by then a couple) moved to Munich. Her first single, “Japan ist weit” was a German cover of Alphaville’s “Big in Japan.” The music was inspired by both Hi-NRG (with its staccato synth beat and rhythmic straightforwardness) and Italo-Disco. Referred to by some as “Euro Disco” or “Euro Pop,” its poppy yet driving sound influenced the English production trio of Stock Aitken and Waterman, who coined the term “Eurobeat” and made hits in a similar style for Dead or Alive, Kylie Minogue, Sonia and Bananarama, as well as many others.
The Long Play (1985 Virgin) spawned the hit singles “(I’ll Never Be) Maria Magdalena,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Little Girl.” Released the same year as Modern Talking and Bad Boys Blue’s debuts, their brand of German pop became popular in countries around the world. All three of Sandra’s singels topped the charts in Brazil, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland. In Hong Kong, Gangtai star Anita Mui Yim-fong (the “Madonna of Asia”) covered “In the Heat of the Night” in Cantonese, which lead to many Chinese and Vietnamese covers in the years to follow. Following its release, she moved to London for a time to take singing lessons and to improve her English.
Her next album, Mirrors (1986 Virgin) featured the ridiculously triumphant “Hi! Hi! Hi!” and the campily sultry “Midnight Man.” A year later, Stock Aitken Waterman remixed her cover of “Everlasting Love” in an attempt to popularize Eurodance in England. It did moderately well there but was a massive success in the Philippines, South Africa and Sweden. In 1988, Sandra finally married Michael Cretu. Into a Secret Land (1988 Virgin) moved away from the Eurodance sound, although “We’ll be together” was similar to previous hits and did well. Paintings in Yellow (1990 Virgin) moved further in her new direction, incorporating the influences of Gregorian chants which culminated in the song “Sadeness” for her husband’s Enigma project. Close to Seven (1992 Virgin) followed and as she moved further away from her signature sound, her popularity waned. Fading Shades (1995 Virgin) was recorded whilst she was pregnant. She gave birth to her twins, Nikita and Sebastian, in 1995. The Wheel of Time (2002 Virgin) featured many covers of her own material, following a trend of ‘80s German stars to remix and rerecord their own classics. In 2007, with Cretu working on another Enigma album, Sandra contributed for the first time to actively contributing to the writing process of The Art of Love (Virgin). They divorced as the year came to a close and Sandra has been quietly living in Ibiza ever since.
