Sandra Reemer (October 17, 1950 – June 6, 2017) was an Indo-Dutch singer and television presenter. She represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest on three occasions, tying with Corry Brokken for most appearances representing the country.
Barbara Alexandra Reemer, also known as Xandra, was born in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. She was a child of Frans and Nel Reemer, of Dutch, Javanese and Chinese descent. Coming to the Netherlands following the Indonesian independence, little Xandra went to a school of nuns, who changed her name to Sandra, as they considered the “X” to be diabolical.
In 1964 she sang Als jij maar wacht, the Dutch version of Non ho l’età by Gigliola Cinquetti, the 1964 Eurovision winner. In 1970 Sandra Reemer participated in the Dutch national selection for Eurovision for the first time, with the song Voorbij is de winter (“The winter is over”), although she did not win. In the late 1960s she formed the duo Sandra & Andres with Andreas Dries Holten, and in 1972 they represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest. After the duo broke up in 1975, she launched a solo career and entered the Eurovision Song Contest two times as a soloist representing the Netherlands.
In 1976, this time credited under her real name, Reemer performed solo singing the song "The Party's Over", which reached ninth place. In 1979, she was credited as "Xandra" and sang the song "Colorado", which placed twelfth. The latter was co-written by Ferdi Bolland, who was also Sandra Reemer's husband for some time.
Colorado became a huge hit in the Scandinavian countries and entered the top-5 in seven countries, including in Denmark, where Sandra Reemer/Xandra was admitted into the Music Hall Of Fame. She later returned to the contest to sing backing vocals for the Dutch entry in 1983, "Sing Me A Song", performed by Bernadette.
Although she kept on releasing singles, Reemer was television presenter during the 1980’s and became known as 'the assistant' in the enormously popular programme Wedden Dat..? in which guests aimed at successfully completing a bet on live television. Reemer took on the role as assistant of the show's host.In 1987 the album Best Of My Love, with covers, was released. Various singles followed, entering the Dutch Top 40 singles chart. In 1996 the Dutch-language album Natuurlijk was released.
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| Marga, Sandra & Sjouke |
From 2000 until 2005, Reemer worked together with other former Eurovision participants Marga Bult (1987) and Sjoukje Smit (1980, as Maggie MacNeal) as The Dutch Divas. In 2001, the ladies scored a minor hit "From New York to L.A" (a cover version of a Patsy Gallant disco classic) on the Dutch Top 100. She also went on performing during major events as a solo artist, including at the Amsterdam Diner, the Gay Pride, and more.She continued to be a popular guest at Eurovision fan events across Europe.
In 2006 the Queen of the Netherlands appointed Sandra as a Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau for all her activities as a singer, presenter and her contribution to a better living environment through her social involvement in the field of nature and the environment and the 3rd world.
In 2010, the singer organized an exhibition in the Lloyd Hotel Amsterdam, about the history of the Dutch Eurovision dresses. In 2014 she co-hosted Eurovision in Concert.
Early in 2017, Sandra Reemer participated in the reality soap Gouden Jaren: Indonesië (“Golden Years: Indonesia”), based on the British series The Real Marigold Hotel, together with colleague Ben Cramer (Eurovision 1973). In an interview with the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf in March 2017, Reemer spoke openly about her cancer diagnosis: "You think or hope it's nothing, that it will go away. My family doctor urged me to go to hospital, but I always had some sort of excuse why not to go. Eventually I was diagnosed with breast cancer."
Treatment was unfortunately not successful and she died on June 6, 2017, at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She was 66 years old.
(Edited from Wikipedia , Eurovision.tv.,Eurovision Song Contest Today & Discogs)