Sandra Kim

Sandra Kim (2011)

Sandra Kim (born October 15, 1972 in Saint-Nicolas -Montegnée, Belgium ; actually Sandra Caldarone ) is a Walloon singer of Italian descent who won the Eurovision Song Contest in Bergen , Norway on May 3, 1986 . This was the only win for Belgium in this competition so far.

Life

Sandra Kim started singing at the age of seven. Her talent was discovered when she entered a singing competition in Tilleur when she was eleven . As a singer for the group Musiclub , she performed the song Ami Ami at the L'ambrogino d'oro competition in Milan . Half a year later she was selected for Belgium to participate in the 1986 Eurovision Song Contest.

At the time of her victory in the contest, she was only 13 years old, although in the lyrics of J'aime la vie (“I love life”) she sings about “being only 15” and initially stated her year of birth as 1970. Sandra Kim was the youngest ever winner of the competition. No national jury left them without a point. The second-placed Switzerland sensed the chance to get the victory and filed an (unsuccessful) objection to the rating. It was not until 1990 that the minimum age of participants was set at 16 years. The B-side of the single by J'aime la vie sold in Germany features the English version of the winning song ( Crazy Of Life ).

At the Eurovision Song Contest in 1987 in Brussels , she and Viktor Lazlo presented the Irish singer Johnny Logan with the prize for victory. The hit “Hymne À La Vie” was also created around this time, and was best known as the soundtrack for the television series Once Upon a Time ... Life .

Later Kim also worked as a presenter on Belgian television.

Her marriage to her childhood friend in 1994 was divorced in 1995. She has been married again since 2001. Her autobiography Sandra Kim: Had ik het geweten was published in March 2018 . In conversation with Claude Rappé .

Trivia

In 1986, the Belgian rock music duo De Bange Konijnen (German "Die Angsthasen"), consisting of Elvis Peeters and Fred Angst, published a satirical song entitled Shit, Ik ben Rand op Sandra Kim ("Shit, I'm in love with Sandra Kim"), that caused a sensation because of its suggestive text and the mention of the then Belgian Prime Minister Wilfried Martens (quote: "Lekker stuk van veertien jaar, / Heel Europa viel voor haar. / Voor de beeldbuis kwam men klaar, / Zelfs premier Martens deed het maar." German for example: "Pretty thing of fourteen, / All of Europe fell at her feet. / In front of the screen one had orgasms / even Prime Minister Martens did it.").

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	BE
1997	Onvergetelijk	-	-	-	BE9 (16 weeks) BE	First publication: May 1997 with Frank Galan

More albums

• 1986: J'aime la vie
• 1988: Bien dans ma peau
• 1991: Balance tout / Met open ogen
• 1993: Les Sixties
• 1994: Best Of
• 1997: The best van
• 1998: Heel diep in mijn hart
• 2011: Make Up

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks	[↑]: treated together with the previous entry; [←]: placed in both charts
		DE	AT	CH	BE F	BE W
1986	J'aime la vie J'aime la vie	DE50 (6 weeks) DE	AT6 (12 weeks) AT	CH29 (2 weeks) CH	BE F1 (16 weeks) BE F[BE W : ←]		First published: May 1986
	Ami-Ami	-	-	-	BE F14 (6 weeks) BE F[BE W : ←]		First published: July 1986
	Tokyo Boy J'aime la vie	-	-	-	BE F5 (13 weeks) BE F[BE W : ←]		First published: November 1986
1987	Sorry J'aime la vie	-	-	-	BE F16 (7 weeks) BE F[BE W : ←]		First published: March 1987
	Laurence J'aime la vie	-	-	-	BE F28 (4 weeks) BE F[BE W : ←]		First published: August 1987
1988	Souviens-toi Bien dans ma peau	-	-	-	BE F18 (5 weeks) BE F[BE W : ←]		First published: January 1988
1989	Malagueña	-	-	-	BE F50 (1 week) BE F[BE W : ←]		First published: September 1989
	Bel me, write me Met Open Ogen	-	-	-	BE F15 (11 weeks) BE F[BE W : ←]		First publication: December 1989 with Luc Steeno
1990	Dans, dans, dans Met Open Ogen	-	-	-	BE F48 (1 week) BE F[BE W : ←]		First published: June 1990
1991	Hou me vast Met Open Ogen	-	-	-	BE F43 (6 weeks) BE F[BE W : ←]		First published: March 1991
	Nee laat mij nooit alleen Met Open Ogen	-	-	-	BE F45 (6 weeks) BE F[BE W : ←]		First published: August 1991
1997	Door veel van mij te houden Onvergetelijk	-	-	-	BE F3 gold (18 weeks)BE F	-	First published: February 1997 with Frank Galan
	Mijn lieveling Onvergetelijk	-	-	-	BE F47 (2 weeks) BE F	-	First publication: July 1997 with Frank Galan
1998	Heel diep in mijn hard Heel diep in mijn hard	-	-	-	BE F47 (1 week) BE F	-	First published: June 1998

Web links

• Official homepage of Sandra Kim
• Sandra Kim in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Sandra Kim at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.amazon.de/Sandra-Kim-geweten-gesprek-Claude/dp/9463580182
2. ↑ houbi.com waltertje.com accessed January 2, 2007.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH BEF
4. ↑ Awards for music sales: BE