Sandra

Sandra (née Sandra Ann Lauer) is a popular European pop singer. She was born on May 18, 1962 in the German city of Saarbrucken, in the family of a German woman Karin and a Frenchman Robert Lauer. As a child, she shared a room with her older (two years old) brother Gaston. The walls were hung with their David & Shaun Cassidy stars and a bunch of their albums. At the age of 10, the girl began taking guitar and musical literacy lessons from a music teacher from her school, who lived on the same street as her family. At 12, she already firmly knew that she would become a singer, participated in children's competitions. At the "children's song contest" she surprised everyone with a wonderful performance of the song by Olivia Newton-John. In 1976 she was "discovered" by producer George Roman, under whose direction Sandra recorded her first single "Andy mein Freund". By this time, Sandra already had four years of experience playing the guitar and classical ballet school with practical performances at the Saarbrücken city theater.
In 1979, the parents of the young musician signed a contract, according to which the 16-year-old girl began work in the Arabesque girl trio as the lead singer. The trio were particularly successful in Japan, where Arabesque was as popular as ABBA in Europe. From 1979 to 1985 in Japan, the trio released 15 LPs, 30 singles and 1 CD (remember that CDs were not as widespread then as they are now). However, it was not possible to make a breakthrough in Germany, although Arabesque records were also released there. 6 LPs and 13 singles have been released in Germany. Sandra especially stood out in the trio thanks to tight shorts and mini-skirts, as well as erotic women's costumes. About this period Sandra said: "Not a single girl felt grateful for the fact that she had to dress like this when going on stage, but it was necessary for the performance. I will never do this again!"
After the breakup of Arabesque, she began in 1985 with the song "Japan ist weit" (German version of Alphaville's "Big in Japan"). Not disappointed with the failure of this single, Sandra began a creative collaboration with her friend Michael Cretu, whom she met while she was in Arabesque. Michael Cretu, a native of Romania, who has lived in Germany since 1977, was an arranger and composer for the Boney M. group. Gradually, a rather experienced team of professionals gathered around this couple in the person of Peter Kent, Frank Peterson (future creator of Gregorian), Peter Cornelius and others. artists.
In the summer of 1985, Sandra's first single, "Maria Magdalena", appeared, written by Hubert Kemmler, and had no success in his own performance. Also Hubert Kemmler sang the second voice and background voices in this single. The record was a huge success, in 21 countries of the world, from South America to Egypt, it took first place in the charts of that time, and in five countries it was included in the top ten. In the fall of 1985, her first solo album, "The long play", was released.
The next album was released in 1986 and was called "Mirrors". It includes five of her singles - "Innocent love", "Don't cry (the breakup of the world)", "Hi! Hi! Hi!", "Loreen", and "Midnight man". In the same year, Sandra presented the song "In the heat of the night" in Japan at the song contest and took second place.
1987 was marked by the release of the first compilation entitled "Ten on one". In Germany this compilation was released in 1988 as "Everlasting love", so the discs with different titles are almost identical in content. Between the release of these albums, she joined the "Artists united for nature" organization and on this occasion in 1989 the single "Yes we can" was released. Also, in 1989, she appeared in the German crime series "Tatort" (episode "Salu Palu"), where she performed the song "Stop for a minute", gave concerts in Western Europe, and participated in the television show "Pyramide" (die Pyramide) ...
On January 7, 1988, Sandra marries Michael Cretu, which is to be expected. Later, the couple with their entire "team" moved to live in Ibiza, where a high-quality recording studio was equipped in their own house, Cretu. They still live there and have two houses - an old farm, which is their home and studio (ART studio), as well as an old restored house in the city center, which is a historical monument of the 18th century. At the base of this house, Cretu organized a restaurant, and often invites various musicians and performers there.
In 1990 the album "Paintings in yellow" was released, one of Sandra's best albums. Three singles were also released from this album - "Hiroshima", "(Life may be) a big insanity", and "One more night".
In 1991 Sandra takes part in the project of her husband and his colleague Frank Peterson Enigma. Richard Brunson, the boss of the Virgin record company, insisted that Sandra should do the female vocals. No sooner said than done! Rest, he said, is in the past.
In 1992, after the success of Enigma, another disc "Close to seven" was released, which attracted the attention of many fans of the Enigma project, because everyone knew that it was created by the same people as their favorite band. Recorded in a home studio, the album also included three singles "Don't be aggressive", "I need love", and "Johnny wanna live". In the same year, another compilation was released, called "18 Greatest Hits". In the same year, in an interview, she said that the music of her style now attracts young people little, and she does not want to sing without an audience. In the same interview, she said that she wants to arrange a vacation and take care of her family and her personal life. It all looked like she was about to end her musical career. As it turned out later, such expectations did not come true, although the next solo album was released only in 1995.
In 1993 Sandra took part in the recording of the second album Enigma. One of the songs on this album, "Dream of dolphin", was dedicated to Michael Cretu "his beloved wife" ("This song dedicated to my beloved wife Sandra", M. Cretu).
On July 6, 1995, Sandra gave birth to twins. The children were named Nikita and Sebastian. Right before the birth of the children, she released her single "Won't run away", which was included in the next successful 1995 album "Fading Shades". In addition, the album contains an interesting cover version of the Moody Blues track "Nights in white satin".
In 1997, the first information about work on Sandra's new album appeared. In 1999 the double compilation "My favorites" was released, in 2001 a new single was released.
In April 2002, shattering the idea of a typical German Frau living according to the Kinder - Kuche - Kirche formula, the singer returned to her fans with a new disc "The wheel of time". But the wheels of time, alas, did not spare Sandra. According to critics, the sleepy and dull album marks the final death of Euro-disco, drowning in a half-relaxed quasi-"enigmatic" dough. Neither the remake of the ancient hit "Such a shame" by the new-wave band Talk Talk, nor the cover version of "Silent running" by Mike and the Mechanics and "Free love" by Depeche Mode are saving.
In 2007, Sandra divorced her husband and began to live with Olaf Menges on the island of Ibiza. Later, in 2010, she married Olaf Menges by legal marriage.
For the past three years, she has been actively touring and preparing for the release of a new album, which she recorded in America. In 2009, Sandra's long-awaited new album "Back to Life" was released. According to the singer herself, the songs from the new album are dance music, but created without the participation of Michel Cretu. However, this fact does not exclude the possibility of further musical cooperation of the former spouses. Sandra's new album was recorded at the end of August 2011, but it is not known exactly when it will be released. On April 27, 2012 a compilation album from Black & Jones was released, and on May 11 a new single "Maybe Tonight" was released.
On September 22, 2012, Sandra presented her new song "Infinite Kiss" live on the Polish TVN channel. On the same day, a video was filmed for a video clip for a new song presented to fans. A couple of weeks before the filming of the video, Sandra and her team invited fans from Warsaw and the surrounding area to take part in the filming. The single was released on November 2, 2012 and was released digitally only.
On October 26th, the worldwide release of her highly anticipated 10th studio album "Stay In Touch" was released. The album is presented in two versions - "normal" on 1 CD and "Deluxe Edition" on 2 CDs. There is a special release for Russia and Ukraine, which will include a bonus track "Russian Eyes".
Performs songs in English, German and French. In the songs "Moscow Nights" and "Russian Eyes" from the album "Stay In Touch" (2012) Sandra sang several phrases in Russian.