Biography
Born Sandra Caldarone on October 15, 1972, in the town of Montegnée near Liège, Belgian vocalist Sandra Kim captured the Eurovision Song Contest at the age of thirteen in 1986. She had already been performing for six years by then, and her profile rose sharply in 1985 after finishing fourth at Milan’s Ambrogino D’oro Festival and issuing the single “Ami Ami.” The Eurovision entry “J’Aime la Vie” made her the youngest winner in the contest’s history; the track eventually sold nearly one and a half million copies around the world, and the self-titled debut album that followed became a substantial hit at home. Among subsequent releases, “Il Était une Fois la Vie,” written by Michel Legrand, served as the theme for a popular animated series. Although international stardom proved elusive, Kim stayed a prominent figure in Belgium. The album Bien dans Ma Peau appeared in 1988, and two years later she sang “J’Aime Mon Pays” (I Love My Country) for King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola during festivities marking the king’s sixtieth birthday. That same year the duet “Bel Me, Schrijf Me,” recorded with Luc Steeno, held the top spot on the Belgian charts for two consecutive months.
In the early nineties she co-hosted the Belgian television program Dix Qu’on Aime and later served as a panelist on Pour la Gloire. She issued the bilingual album Balance Tout/Med Open Ogen in 1991 and followed it with the equally bilingual Sixties two years afterward. A 1997 duet with Frank Galan, “Door Veel Van Mij Te Houden,” returned her to number one for four weeks; the pair’s full-length collaboration Onvergetelijk and a second hit single, “Mijn Lieveling,” revived interest in her solo work. Over the next two years she scored further successes with “Hou Van Mij,” “Casser le Blues,” “Jij Hoort Bij Mij,” and the Céline Dion cover “Heel Diep In Mijn Hart,” which also lent its name to her most recent collection. In 1999 she performed in the French-language staging of Les Misérables in Antwerp, and 2001 brought the new singles “Vivere Uguale” and “J’Ai Pas Fini de T’Aimer,” the latter a French adaptation of Michael Jackson’s “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.”
In the early nineties she co-hosted the Belgian television program Dix Qu’on Aime and later served as a panelist on Pour la Gloire. She issued the bilingual album Balance Tout/Med Open Ogen in 1991 and followed it with the equally bilingual Sixties two years afterward. A 1997 duet with Frank Galan, “Door Veel Van Mij Te Houden,” returned her to number one for four weeks; the pair’s full-length collaboration Onvergetelijk and a second hit single, “Mijn Lieveling,” revived interest in her solo work. Over the next two years she scored further successes with “Hou Van Mij,” “Casser le Blues,” “Jij Hoort Bij Mij,” and the Céline Dion cover “Heel Diep In Mijn Hart,” which also lent its name to her most recent collection. In 1999 she performed in the French-language staging of Les Misérables in Antwerp, and 2001 brought the new singles “Vivere Uguale” and “J’Ai Pas Fini de T’Aimer,” the latter a French adaptation of Michael Jackson’s “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.”
Singles
