Sandra Reemer

Biography

Sandra Reemer was a Dutch singer and tv-show host, born in Bandung, Indonesia. She was 11 years old, when her first record was released: “Al di là (net als wij)”, the Dutch version of the 1961 Italian Eurovision Song. In 1963 another record was released. In 1966 she was introduced to Dries Holten and they formed the duo Sandra & Andres. The duo was very successful with top-10 hits like “Storybook children”, “Let us pray together” and “Auntie”. In 1969, Sandra was supposed to participate in the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. However, because of educational duties, she was not able to do so. In 1970 she did participate with the song “Voorbij is de winter”. Two years later, Sandra & Andres were invited to represent the Netherlands in Eurovision. The song “Als het om de liefde gaat” was one of the favourites to win the contest. In the end, they became 4th but had an international hit with their entry. In 1975, Dries Holten decided to quit the duo. Sandra started a solo career and represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest for a second time, now with “The party’s over” in 1976. She joined a group with her name, Xandra, to do her 3rd Eurovision Song Contest and sang “Colorado” in 1979. That brought her a lot of successes in Scandinavia.
In the early 1980s her songs didn’t become hits anymore. She was a backing vocal behind Bernadette in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1983, but also started to work as a tv-show host. She hosted “Sterrenslag”, was the sidekick in “Wedden dat” and presented “Showmasters”. In 1996, Sandra Reemer released an album with Dutch songs. In 2000, she teamed up with Marcha and Maggie MacNeal to form the Dutch Divas, who had a hit with “From New York to L.A.”. She left the Dutch Divas in 2005.
Sandra Reemer was also known for a lot of charity works. She was ambassador of the Liliane Foundations which supports children with a handicap in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In 2008, she started the Sandra Reemer Foundation, in order to support education for children in the same countries.
On 6 june 2017, Sandra Reemer passed away. She died of breast cancer at age 66.