2007
Sandra in 2007.
2010
Sandra Ann Lauer in Echo Award 2010
2015
Sandra in 2015.
2016
Sandra - Heaven Can Wait Live Discoteka 80 Moscow.
2007
Sandra in 2007.
2010
Sandra Ann Lauer in Echo Award 2010
2015
Sandra in 2015.
2016
Sandra - Heaven Can Wait Live Discoteka 80 Moscow.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S57UQO/?tag=2022091-20
1985
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TEMPXW/?tag=2022091-20
1988
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000T00MRM/?tag=2022091-20
1990
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000073JZ/?tag=2022091-20
1992
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000T1EJZC/?tag=2022091-20
1995
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014I3GPC6/?tag=2022091-20
2002
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TDBN68/?tag=2022091-20
2007
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001SGFM4O/?tag=2022091-20
2009
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0093COK4S/?tag=2022091-20
2012
Sandra Ann Lauer was born in the German town of Saarbrücken, close to the French border. Her father, Robert Lauer, who owned a wine store in Saarbrücken, is French and her mother, Karin (née Eltern), who worked in a shoe store, is German. She also had an older brother, Gaston, a paraplegic who died in 1995.
Sandra showed an early interest in music and dancing, starting to learn classical ballet at the age of 5, which she would continue for ten years, and receiving guitar lessons when she was 10 years old. In 1975, at the age of thirteen, Sandra went with her mother to see Young Star Festival, a Saarbrücken talent competition. She was only a member of the audience, but when all participants had finished performing and the jury was discussing the results, Sandra walked onto the stage, persuaded the DJ to put on the German version of a song made famous by Olivia Newton-John and started singing. The impromptu performance gained considerable recognition and led to the release of her first single, which was a children's song about a pet dog, "Andy mein Freund". The single, however, performed poorly on charts at that time dominated by disco mania.
In 1979, Sandra joined Arabesque, a disco trio consisting of Michaela Rose and Jasmine Vetter, becoming the lead singer. This is how she met keyboardist Michael Cretu, during a recording session in Frank Farian's Europasound Studios in Offenbach. They found that they shared the same birthday, and became good friends. Arabesque had a massive following in Japan and Russia. After 9 albums, differences in musical interests and the end of disco's popularity signalled the group's final break-up.
Michael Cretu, now her boyfriend, had created his own studio, Data-Alpha (named after a song from his solo album Legionäre). Their first single together was 1984's Japan ist weit, a German cover of the Alphaville song Big in Japan. However, the song failed to enter any of the charts and only 125 copies of the single were sold.
In 1985, she had her first international hit-single with (I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena, which went #1 in 21 countries worldwide, from South-America to Egypt. It was followed by In the Heat of the Night, which continued her success all over Europe and internationally. Her first album, The Long Play, reached number 12 in her home country of Germany. Little Girl became the third single with the music video being filmed in Venice.
Shortly after the release of The Long Play, Sandra spent six months in London to take singing lessons with instructor Helena Shelen and to attend the London Berlitz School for Languages to improve her English abilities. She also took drumming lessons to get a better feeling for rhythm and timing. Over weekends she went back to Munich to work on her new album Mirrors. In 1986 came Innocent Love (top 10 in France), Hi! Hi! Hi! (top 10 in Germany), the ballad Loreen, then Midnight Man. For the release of her first greatest hits compilation Ten on One in 1987, she covered Everlasting Love. The second single from the album, Stop for a Minute, became another German Top 10 hit and was written especially for the German TV crime series Tatort (in the episode Salü Palü), where she is found singing the song during a club scene.
On 7th January 1988, Sandra married Michael Cretu and moved from Munich to the Spanish island of Ibiza. In the same year they released the album Into a Secret Land. Single Heaven Can Wait went top 10 in France. Second single Secret Land was a cover version of the track Trenchcoat Man by German synth pop project Fabrique, entering the German Top 10. We'll Be Together (co-written by Sandra herself) was another German Top 10 hit. Around My Heart was the fourth single to be released from the album.
Sandra took part in the project Artists United for Nature in 1989 (she has always been concerned about animal rights and nature conservation). Sandra had become a cult star with a devoted fan base, and had established her position as the most successful German pop female vocalist. Her album Paintings in Yellow, released in March 1990, gave her another Top 10 hit with her cover version of Wishful Thinking's Hiroshima. This was also the year when Enigma project started. Sadeness scored a huge hit (and controversy among the catholics) worldwide. Sandra was awarded Best Selling German Artist at the World Music Awards in Monte Carlo and performed the second single off her solo album (Life May Be) A Big Insanity. The ballad One More Night was the third and final single released from Paintings in Yellow.
In 1992, album Close to Seven was released, with a more more meditative, less dance-oriented musical style. The single Don't Be Aggressive entered the European Top 20, but follow-up I Need Love flopped. Anyway, Sandra and Michael were awarded with the Golden Europe Award in 1992. In the fall of 1992 a new compilation was released, entitled 18 Greatest Hits. Sandra recorded a new version of Johnny Wanna Live. The song, co-written by Frank Peterson was later redone by his then-girlfriend Sarah Brightman for her album Dive. In 1993 Sandra released a new version of Maria Magdalena with a futuristic music video, which wasn't a success, apart from Finland.
While pregnant with twins, Sandra recorded and released Fading Shades in 1995. The album saw a new writer-producer Jens Gad working alongside Michael Cretu and consisted of mostly pop-oriented material. A cover version of "Nights in White Satin" by The Moody Blues was released as the first single, becoming one of Sandra's lowest-charting singles in Germany, although it was a hit in Israel. The album met with lukewarm commercial and critical reception, and the second single, "Won't Run Away", failed to make any impact on music charts. After giving birth to twin sons Nikita and Sebastian in a Munich hospital through Caesarean section in July 1995, Sandra decided to put her career on hold to raise children. However, the following year she participated in recording two songs for Enigma's third album.
After several years break, in 2006 Sandra teamed up with Swiss singer DJ BoBo for a duet "Secrets of Love" on his Greatest Hits album. The single was a big hit, reaching top 5 in Switzerland and top 20 in Germany. Sandra subsequently took up performing live again and began working on her next album. In late 2006, Reflections was released, an album consisting of remixes of Sandra's biggest hits, and met with minor commercial success. A new ballad version of "Everlasting Love", with re-recorded vocals, was released as a promotional single in Germany while the remix of "Around My Heart" proved to be a big radio hit in Poland.
The highly anticipated new studio album, The Art of Love, was released in February 2007, charting within top 20 in German charts and enjoying a minor success internationally. For the first time, Michael Cretu did not participate in recording the album, as he was reportedly busy with new Enigma recordings, instead letting Jens Gad produce the entire work. Sandra now participated actively in composing and writing the album, therefore lyrics were more personal and reflected struggles in her personal life. "The Way I Am" was the album's lead single, peaking at number 50 in Germany, while the second single, "What Is It About Me", failed to chart. However, her version of The Hooters' "All You Zombies" became a big radio hit in Poland. In November 2007, it was announced that Sandra and Michael were getting divorced and Sandra spent the following year touring Europe.
2012 saw the release of Stay in Touch, Sandra's tenth studio album. Produced by a German DJ duo Blank & Jones, the album incorporated 1980s sound into songs, reproducing the pattern of Sandra's early albums. "Maybe Tonight" was released as the first single, peaking only at number 77 in Germany, while the second single, "Infinite Kiss" failed to enter charts. However, the album was a modest chart success internationally and received warm response.
Sandra is a health food lover and is a vegetarian. She likes sport and lives an active lifestyle. She's also known for her involvment in animal rights and nature protection.
Sandra and Michael Cretu were married on 7 January 1988 and, in July 1995, became parents of twin sons, Nikita and Sebastian. They separated in November 2007, citing "personal and professional differences". While Michael has been living in Germany since May 2009, she has continued to reside in Ibiza and married music producer Olaf Menges in 2010. As of 2014 they are separated.
He was a wine shop owner.
She was a seller.
Michael Cretu is a Romanian–German musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the German musical project Enigma, formed in 1990. Initially Cretu was identified as "Curly" or "Curly M.C." in reference to his curly hair and "cret" meaning "curly" in Romanian.
