Sandra (Arabesque) - In For A Penny In For A Pound video free download

In 1979 Sandra joined Arabesque, a disco group consisting of Michaela Rose and Jasmine Vetter. Soon after that they recorded their second album with Sandra on lead vocals at Europa sound Studios in Offenbach. The studio was owned by famous producer Frank Farian, the creator of Boney M, and later Milli Vanilli. One of the musicians there was a keyboardist named Michael Cretu. Sandra and Michael found that they shared the same birthday, albeit five years apart, and became good friends.

With Arabesque a new period in Sandra's life began. For the first time, she was away from her family, appearing on stage and TV in foreign countries, giving interviews, photo shoots and singing at concerts. Arabesque became successful, and by Sandra's nineteenth birthday she was a star. Arabesque were particularly popular in Japan dominating the charts, and their outrageous, sometimes daring costumes, dance routines and cheerful music suggested a fun alternative to ABBA and Boney M. They enjoyed success in several other countries and scored a Top 10 hit in Germany with "Marigot Bay" in 1981. After nine albums, differences in musical interests and the end of disco's popularity signalled the group's final breakup.

Sandra and Michael Cretu, romantically involved, moved to Munich, where Michael soon created his own studio, called Data-Alpha, after a song from his solo album Legionäre. Their first single together was 1984's "Japan Ist Weit", a German cover of the Alphaville song "Big in Japan", an appropriate way to describe Sandra's fame up to that point. However, the song failed to enter any of the charts.