Sandra

[Carol Baynes]

Now, here's an artist some of you will never of heard of (but I'm hoping some of you will, as I'm sure I mentioned her once, a while ago).
What makes Sandra Cretu worth mentioning is that she made (and makes) the kind of hi-NRG Euro-pop that woul dbe right up certain PS member's streets. Infact, I'd be as bold to suggest it's better than some of the current music of it' skind...
But getting back to my explantion of who she is, I'll explain how I know her. In 1988 a friend of mine had been abroad (to Greece I think) and was going on about this song (which was "(I'll never be) Maria Magdelana"). I now know, for a fact, that "...Magdelana" was HUGE. The kind of defining single some artistes wish for, that stays at no.1 for a small age. It was never a hit in the UK, despite selling millions of copies elsewhere, espeically in her native Germany.
In '88 Stock, Aitken and Waterman recognised her potential and remixed her version of The Love Affair's "Everlasting love", and released it on the PWL label. Great things were expected- these men could smell a hit at a hundred paces, but....nothing. Ef all. The single stiffed outside the top 40, and Sandra never got any higher in the UK charts.

I found a 12" of "Heaven can wait" in Our Price the following year. What makes that purchase stick in my mind even more was that I bought it with a re-issue of The Clash's first album. Ecleptic or what?! Both on vinyl of course! Us kids couldn't afford CD players and discs back in those days.
Also in '89 she released her best album (that I've heard), "Into a secret land". As the '90s dawned, I forgot about Sandra and her records gathered dust, and my music taste left her behind; but now I've dug out "Ten on one- the singles" and I'm giving her a bit of a reappraisal.

She could have been even bigger if she'd cracked the UK (and even the US)....Her husband, incidentally, is the bloke behind Enigma (Michael Cretu), and she appears on their albums.

So, has anyone heard her, and what do you think. Dated '80s shite or the Euro pop queen who could have been a contender?


Very '80s!...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KBhW...elated&search=

Very '80s and homo-erotic/cheesy (delete as applicable)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKOJu...elated&search=

Late '80s cheesy video (i.e. not as bad).Good tune though, I've always thought....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxaM1IuJ2QU

[Simon R]

I can honestly say I've never heard of her. Even having read both Mike Stock and Pete Waterman's autobiographies!

Having followed your links though I like "Maria Magdelena" which is quite Eurovisionay and very much up our Sabrina, Sam Fox street.

Looking at wiki she seems to have had a lengthy career including the old re-recording the hits trick and a new album a few months ago...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Cretu

PWL tried to push a several European acts over here way back then...there's a camp as tits Dutch girl group called Dolly Dots (Spice Girls meet Amanda Barrie) who seemed to be very big in Europe then teamed up with Stock Aitken Waterman for the "Dancing Queen-esque" single "What A Night" which promptly sank without trace across the world!

Another one we like is a PWL mix of a song called "Magic Holiday" by an artist called Cherry of which nothing can be found onlime apart from the non-PWL mix on youtube....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8TOFNwzT72M

The PWL version is punchier.

I'm sure there's legs in a compilation CD (and DVD!!!) of all these lost Euro hags.

[Milky Tears]

PWL tried to push a several European acts over here way back then...there's a camp as tits Dutch girl group called Dolly Dots (Spice Girls meet Amanda Barrie) who seemed to be very big in Europe then teamed up with Stock Aitken Waterman for the "Dancing Queen-esque" single "What A Night" which promptly sank without trace across the world!

#Pump up the volume, turn out the light
Everybody's gonna dance tonight
Tell all the neighbours, put up a sign
Everybody's having fun tonight
What a night, what a night
Everybody's gonna dance tonight...

I remember seeing them faffing about in the video on Going Live... or was it Get Fresh!? Did it involve a manhole cover?

I'm sure there's legs in a compilation CD (and DVD!!!) of all these lost Euro hags

Spagna was always my favourite Euro hag!

[Carol Baynes]

I've always found it odd that Sandra had such huge success abroad, but not here. Maybe it was just bad luck. I think she was compared to Madonna in terms of success back in the '80s, but no one in the UK really knew her. Shame.

Spagna?! Rubbish!

[P-Bal]

I thought this was a thread about the depressing Dusty Springfield song where a housewife slits her wrists.

I was wrong!