(I'll never be) Maria Magdalena - Sandra

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)'