# Sandra (singer)
**Sandra** (born Sandra Ann Lauer in 1962 in [Saarbrücken](https://www.edgepedia.org/saarbrucken), Germany; later Sandra Cretu, and later Sandra Menges) is a German pop singer who rose to international fame in the 1980s with a string of European hits produced by her then-husband and musical partner, the Romanian-born musician and producer [Michael Cretu](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-cretu), most notably "(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena" (1985)[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) • [2](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/9809d784-037f-46e7-8d2d-7ecad897f355). Before her solo career she was the lead singer of the disco trio [Arabesque](https://www.edgepedia.org/arabesque), and from 1990 she provided vocals for the early hits of Cretu's studio project Enigma[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sandra-mn0000287741).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962, Saarbrücken, Germany; German mother, French father[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) • [4](https://sandramusic.de/) |
| Breakthrough | "(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena" (1985), number 1 in 21 countries[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) |
| Signature albums | The Long Play (1985), Into a Secret Land (1988), Paintings in Yellow (1990)[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) |
| Enigma role | Vocals on "Sadeness (Part I)" and "Return to Innocence"[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) |
| Awards | Nine Bravo Otto reader awards 1985 to 1993, including five consecutive gold awards (1988 to 1992)[5](https://www.chartsurfer.de/artist/sandra/biography-fnpu.html) |
| Later marriage | Married producer Olaf Menges in 2010[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sandra-mn0000287741) |
| Recent activity | Regular performances at retro concerts and 1980s festivals, especially in Eastern Europe[6](https://www.ksta.de/panorama/promis/sandra-so-sieht-der-80er-kultstar-heute-aus-1-964255) |
## Early life and Arabesque
Sandra grew up in Saarbrücken near the French border. She began classical ballet lessons at age five and took up the guitar at about ten; this early training led to her first record contract, with BASF in Mannheim[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) • [4](https://sandramusic.de/). In 1975, at twelve, she attended the Young Star Festival in Saarbrücken, walked onto the stage uninvited and sang, which led to her debut single, the German-language "Andy mein Freund", a song about a pet dog. It was not a commercial hit, but it started her recording career[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/).
In 1979 Sandra joined the German disco group Arabesque as lead singer. The trio found its real market in Japan, where nearly every single became a hit and the group drew crowds of up to 40,000; in Germany the band remained, in her own later words, an insider tip, with "Marigot Bay" reaching number 8 and "Take Me Don't Break Me" number 11[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) • [7](https://www.deutsche-mugge.de/interpreten/interviews/archiv/41-2009/2135-sandra.html). During recording sessions at producer [Frank Farian](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-farian)'s studio she met the keyboardist and producer Michael Cretu, who became both her creative partner and, in January 1988, her husband[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) • [4](https://sandramusic.de/).
## Solo breakthrough with Michael Cretu, 1984 to 1992
After leaving Arabesque, Sandra moved with Cretu to Munich. Her first solo single, "Japan ist weit" (1984), was a German-language cover of Alphaville's "Big in Japan" and passed largely unnoticed[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/). The breakthrough came in 1985 with "(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena", written by Cretu with Hubert Kah and released worldwide over the initial hesitation of her own label, Virgin; it reached number 1 in 21 countries, entering the German chart at number 1 only after German holidaymakers heard it topping charts in Italy and Spain[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) • [7](https://www.deutsche-mugge.de/interpreten/interviews/archiv/41-2009/2135-sandra.html) • [8](https://www.ndr.de/ndr1niedersachsen/geschichte-zum-hit/Sandra-Maria-Magdalena%2Csandra183.html). In Germany the single then held number 1 for nine consecutive weeks[9](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1992/MM-1992-02-29.pdf).
Her debut album The Long Play (1985), a blend of synth-pop and Euro-disco, reached number 12 in Germany and number 2 in Sweden and was certified platinum in Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Greece and gold in France, Germany and Norway[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) • [9](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1992/MM-1992-02-29.pdf). Its single "In the Heat of the Night" placed second at the Tokyo Song Contest in 1986[5](https://www.chartsurfer.de/artist/sandra/biography-fnpu.html). Successive releases sustained the run: Mirrors (1986) with "Innocent Love" and "Hi! Hi! Hi!", the compilation Ten on One (The Singles) (1987), the cover hit "Everlasting Love" (1987), and Into a Secret Land (1988), recorded after the marriage and the move to Ibiza, which turned from dance-pop toward a darker, more sophisticated sound and yielded "Heaven Can Wait" and "Secret Land"[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sandra-mn0000287741) • [1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/). In France that album became her best seller, staying nine months in the top 40 and earning platinum certification for 300,000 sales[10](https://popmusicdeluxe.fr/2020/01/21/sandra-secret-land/).
Paintings in Yellow (1990) became her highest-charting album in Germany and included the singles "Hiroshima", "(Life May Be) A Big Insanity" and "One More Night"; that year she was honored at the World Music Awards in [Monte Carlo](https://www.edgepedia.org/monte-carlo) as the best-selling German artist[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/). Close to Seven (1992), led by "Don't Be Aggressive", moved her toward a more mature, introspective style[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/). Across her first seven years she placed in Music & Media's year-end Eurocharts six times, which the trade paper called the most consistent mainland European singles and albums record of the period[9](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1992/MM-1992-02-29.pdf).
## Enigma
From 1990 Sandra sang on Cretu's project Enigma, which combined club beats, new age synthesizer textures and samples of [Gregorian chant](https://www.edgepedia.org/gregorian-chant), with her whispery vocals featuring on the catchier songs[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sandra-mn0000287741). She contributed to the global number one hit "Sadeness (Part I)" and later to "[Return to Innocence](https://www.edgepedia.org/return-to-innocence)" on The Cross of Changes[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/). By early 1992 the "Sadeness" single had sold over four million copies worldwide and the album MCMXC a.D. six million, 1.5 million of them in the United States[9](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1992/MM-1992-02-29.pdf). This project, more than her own catalog, carried her music into English-speaking markets that her solo releases had not reached; a Virgin campaign in 1987 with the Ten On One compilation and the "Everlasting Love" single had produced no results despite seven weeks of US promotion[9](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1992/MM-1992-02-29.pdf).
## Later albums and a changing career
After Fading Shades (1995), which included a cover of [The Moody Blues](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-moody-blues)' "[Nights in White Satin](https://www.edgepedia.org/nights-in-white-satin)", Sandra took a break to raise her twin children, born in 1995[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) • [11](https://generation.dance/de/artists/sandra/). She returned with the remix double album My Favourites (1999), the albums [The Wheel of Time](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-wheel-of-time) (2002) and, after collaborating with Cretu on Enigma through The Screen Behind the Mirror (2000), a new phase of independence[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/).
The Art of Love (2007) was the first album produced without Cretu; Jens Gad produced it, and Sandra described its melancholic lyrics as her way of working through the separation from her husband[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) • [7](https://www.deutsche-mugge.de/interpreten/interviews/archiv/41-2009/2135-sandra.html). She stayed in Ibiza and in 2010 married the producer Olaf Menges[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sandra-mn0000287741). Back to Life (2009), recorded with Tobi and Jens Gad and featuring a duet with Thomas Anders of Modern Talking, briefly reached number 16 before settling at number 26 on the German album chart; in the same interview she recalled that 1991, her most successful touring year, had kept her on the road 359 days[7](https://www.deutsche-mugge.de/interpreten/interviews/archiv/41-2009/2135-sandra.html). Stay in Touch (2012), produced by the DJ duo Blank & Jones with Andy Kaufhold, marked a return to her 1980s sound and remains her most recent studio album[1](https://sandra-music.com/bio/) • [6](https://www.ksta.de/panorama/promis/sandra-so-sieht-der-80er-kultstar-heute-aus-1-964255).
## Recent activity
Sandra continues to perform, now mainly at retro concerts and 1980s festivals in Eastern European countries such as Poland and [Kazakhstan](https://www.edgepedia.org/kazakhstan), sharing bills with contemporaries like [Thomas Anders](https://www.edgepedia.org/thomas-anders) and [C. C. Catch](https://www.edgepedia.org/c-c-catch); she has explained that she had no time to perform there in the 1980s and 1990s, which she believes created lasting demand[6](https://www.ksta.de/panorama/promis/sandra-so-sieht-der-80er-kultstar-heute-aus-1-964255). Her official site lists upcoming dates in Santiago, Chile (November 2026) and České Budějovice, Czech Republic (February 2027)[12](https://sandra-music.com/). In January 2024 her management passed to Alex Perschukewitsch, and in August 2024 the official site publicly debunked a hacker-posted report claiming she had been hospitalized[13](https://www.crocodile-music.de/sandra/) • [12](https://sandra-music.com/).
## References
1. [Biography, sandra-music.com (official website)](https://sandra-music.com/bio/)
2. [Sandra, MusicBrainz artist entry](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/9809d784-037f-46e7-8d2d-7ecad897f355)
3. [Sandra: Biography, Discography, Albums & Expert Reviews, AllMusic (Fred Thomas)](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sandra-mn0000287741)
4. [Sandra Lauer Cretu (German fan biography)](https://sandramusic.de/)
5. [Sandra: Biografie, Chartsurfer](https://www.chartsurfer.de/artist/sandra/biography-fnpu.html)
6. [Sandra: So sieht der 80er-Kultstar heute aus, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (15 January 2026)](https://www.ksta.de/panorama/promis/sandra-so-sieht-der-80er-kultstar-heute-aus-1-964255)
7. [Sandra interview, Deutsche Mugge (2009)](https://www.deutsche-mugge.de/interpreten/interviews/archiv/41-2009/2135-sandra.html)
8. [Sandra – "Maria Magdalena": Die Geschichte zum Hit, NDR](https://www.ndr.de/ndr1niedersachsen/geschichte-zum-hit/Sandra-Maria-Magdalena%2Csandra183.html)
9. [Sandra: The Lorelei Effect / Sandra's European Track Record, Music & Media, 29 February 1992](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1992/MM-1992-02-29.pdf)
10. [Sandra: Secret Land, Pop Music Deluxe (2020)](https://popmusicdeluxe.fr/2020/01/21/sandra-secret-land/)
11. [Sandra: Biografie, Generation Dance](https://generation.dance/de/artists/sandra/)
12. [Start page with 2026-2027 concert dates and August 2024 statement, sandra-music.com](https://sandra-music.com/)
13. [SANDRA artist page, Crocodile Music Management & Publishing](https://www.crocodile-music.de/sandra/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Pop and R&B singer-songwriters › Dance and disco singers, 1970s to 1990s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license