'Around my heart' was released as the fourth single from Sandra's third album 'Into a secret land'. The song was written by Hubert Kemmler, Markus Lohr, Sör Otto's, Frank Peterson, Klaus Hirschburger and produced by Michael Cretu. The track was remixed for the single release.
The single peaked at number 6 in Israel, number 11 in Germany, number 19 in Switzerland, number 23 in Austria and number 28 in France. My copy of the single includes a biography of Sandra in Spanish.
My collection: 7" single no. 1778 Found: Record fair, Den Haag, October 25, 1992 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'Around my heart' / 'Around my drums'
Released in November 1988, 'We'll be together' was the third single taken from Sandra's third album 'Into a secret land'. For the first time ever, this song was co-written by Sandra herself. The single reached number 9 in the German singles chart.
When I bought this single, it came with a Spanish promotional sheet. Printed in colour, the front of the A4 paper features the album cover and the back features a biography, written in Spanish.
My collection: 7" single no. 1777 Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, October 25, 1992 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'We'll be together' / 'It means forever'
When I was introduced by a friend to the music of Sandra (he kept nagging me to listen to it until I finally gave in), he gave me the cd of 'Into a secret land'. It was the title track that grabbed my attention, and it is probably the track you can single out as the creative peak of Sandra and Michael Cretu. A great synth hook, an interesting lyric and a nice, glossy Eighties production.
The song is an adaptation of a Hubert Kemmler-produced song called 'Trenchcoat man', released as a single by an unknown German band named Fabrique in 1987. 'Secret land' reached number 1 in Israel, peaking at number 7 in Germany and number 9 in Switzerland.
My collection: 7" single no. 2094 Found: Record fair, April 16, 1994 Cost: 3 guilders Tracks: 'Secret land' / 'Into nobody's land'
After Sandra and Michael Cretu married on January 7, 1988, they went right back into it and released Sandra's third album 'Into a secret land'. Four singles were taken from the album, of which 'Heaven can wait' was the first.
Sales for the single were very good in Israel, where it reached number 2, and Austria, where the single reached number 4. In her native Germany, the single peaked at number 12.
My collection: 7" single no. 1923 Found: Record fair, June 5, 1993 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'Heaven can wait' / 'Heaven's theme'
Here's another one of those Amiga Quartett EP's. Following her success in the Western part of Germany, the state-run record company of Eastern Germany decided to release this EP with four of her biggest hits. Judging from the cover, the single was released around the same time as Sandra's compilation album 'Ten on one'. As usual, the disc and the sleeve of this release do not state any year of manufacture.
The single has become quite a treasure in my collection, since East Germany (or the GDR as it is usually called) does not exist anymore. Which was also true when I bought this, actually.
My collection: 7" single no. 2400 Found: Record fair, July 8, 1995 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'Everlasting love', 'Little girl' / 'Maria Magdalena', 'Midnight man'
'Everlasting love' was written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden. It was first a hit for soul singer Robert Knight in 1967. The song was subsequently covered by various acts, the most famous of which were U2 in 1989 and Love Affair in 1968. The Love Affair version peaked at number 1 in the UK in January 1968.
Sandra recorded her cover version of the song as a new track for her compilation album 'Ten on one' in 1988. The European release featured the track 'Change your mind', from Sandra's debut album, while the UK single featured the other new track from 'Ten on one', 'Stop for a minute'.
My collection: 7" single no. 1860 (German pressing) / no. 2670 (UK pressing) Found: Grammofoonwinkel, Utrecht, January 30, 1993 / Leeds, June 30, 1996 Cost: 3 guilders / 1,5 pounds Tracks: 'Everlasting love' / 'Change your mind' (German pressing) 'Everlasting love' / 'Stop for a minute' (UK pressing)
'Midnight man' was released as the fourth and final single from Sandra's second album 'Mirrors'. The single charted in a few European countries, but didn't make the top 10 in any of them. In Germany, the single only reached number 24, making this Sandra's lowest charting single in that county.
I had started collecting Sandra singles when I bought this one. It was really quite easy to find them all as long as I went to record fairs.
My collection: 7" single no. 1924 Found: Record fair, June 5, 1993 Cost: 3 guilders Tracks: 'Midnight man' / 'Mirror of love'
'Loreen' was the third single release from Sandra's second album 'Mirrors'. It was the first time that she released a ballad as a single, marking a slight change from the upbeat pop songs that had started to sound so alike.
The change was not especially rewarded: it was the lowest charting single by Sandra in Germany, peaking at number 23. Still, in Sweden the single peaked at number 4.
Released as the second single from Sandra's second album 'Mirrors', 'Hi! Hi! Hi!' was an upbeat track written by Michael Cretu and Hubert Kemmler. The latter was making a name for himself in Germany as Hubert Kah.
Released in the autumn of 1986, the single was a top 20 hit in Austria, France, Israel, Italy and Switzerland.
'Aus dem Tatort 'Salü Palü'', says this sleeve, which means that Sandra's 'Stop for a minute' was used in the soundtrack of an episode of the German detective series 'Tatort'. The song was a new one, not having appeared on Sandra's two albums that were released up to that point. The track would appear as a new track on her first compilation album 'Ten on one', which was meant to close the gap between Sandra's second and third album.
I didn't know this song when I bought the single - I was simply attracted by the beautiful (and glossy) sleeve. It's one of Sandra's stronger pop tracks, so I have no regrets.
My collection: 7" single no. 1607
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, March 28, 1992
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Stop for a minute' / 'Two lovers tonight'
After the success of her debut album and the first two singles, 'Maria Magdalena' and 'In the heat of the night', Sandra and her husband Michael Cretu had to come up with new material to entertain the fans. 'Innocent love' was released in the summer of 1986 as the first single from the second album 'Mirrors'. Sounding a lot like previous singles, Sandra had reasonable success with it. The single peaked at number 14 in Germany and Switzerland, but at number 4 in Israel and Norway.
The single version of 'Innocent love' fades out earlier than the album version and is shorter by a few seconds.
Released as the third and final single from Sandra's debut album 'The Long Play', 'Little girl' rose to number 2 in Israel and number 3 in Italy. In other countries, the chart performance was disappointing, peaking at number 12 in Germany and not charting in the Netherlands at all.
Perhaps it's not surprising: 'Little girl' wasn't the big surprise 'Maria Magdalena' and 'In the heat of the night' were. Sandra and her husband Michael Cretu were smart enough to realise that new material was needed; later on in 1986 they would release Sandra's second album with new singles to accompany it.
Released in November 1985, 'In the heat of the night' was Sandra's second solo single taken from the debut album 'The Long Play'. On the album this song lasted for over five minutes, the single version was edited to 3'48. It was a number one hit in Israel and peaked at number 2 in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. In the Netherlands, it peaked at number 15.
I didn't like Sandra's music at first, but got turned on by a friend who lived in Utrecht. I felt a strange sense of appropriateness when I bought this single in that city.
My collection: 7" single no. 1859
Found: Grammofoonwinkel, Utrecht, January 30, 1993
Cost: 3 guilders
Tracks: 'In the heat of the night' / 'Heatwave (instrumental)'
Sandra Ann Lauer was born on May 18, 1962. In 1975 she visited a talent show. She was not actually taking part in it, but sitting in the audience. While the jury was counting the votes for the performers of that night, Sandra walked onto the stage, persuaded the DJ to put on the German cover version of a song from Olivia Newton-John, grabbed the microphone and started singing. Aided by newfound recognition, she released a debut single 'Andy Mein Freund'. This single flopped.
In 1979 Sandra joined the girl group Arabesque, which was successful for a couple of years. After nine albums and the end of the disco era the group broke up. In the mean time, Sandra had met musician Michael Cretu. They became romantically involved and started living together and working together in Cretu's self-built studio. Their first single together was 'Japan ist weit' (1984), a German cover of the Alphaville song 'Big in Japan', which flopped. Their second single was more successful: '(I'll never be) Maria Magdalena' was a hit in 21 countries, including a number one hit in the Netherlands, Germany and several other European countries. It launched Sandra's career, which is still going today.
My collection: 7" single no. 1858 Found: Grammofoonwinkel, Utrecht, January 30, 1993 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: '(I'll never be) Maria Magdalena' / 'Party games (instrumental)'
'Around my heart' was released as the fourth single from Sandra's third album 'Into a secret land'. The song was written by Hubert Kemmler, Markus Lohr, Sör Otto's, Frank Peterson, Klaus Hirschburger and produced by Michael Cretu. The track was remixed for the single release.
