After the Eurovision fame: Sandra Kim

After the Eurovision fame: Sandra Kim

Sandra Kim, born Sandra Caldarone in Montegnée (Liège, Belgium) on October 15, 1972, won the Eurovision Song Contest in Bergen (Norway) at the age of 13.5 in 1986, making her the youngest winner in the history of the festival.

 

J’aime la vie

Her single, “J’aime la vie,” quickly achieved double platinum status. With over 350,000 copies sold in Belgium and 1.4 million worldwide, it topped the Belgian Top 50 for weeks. The following year, she participated in the Yamaha Tokyo Festival, finishing in fourth place alongside Eros Ramazzotti. Together with the Italian singer, she embarked on a tour of Japan. A few months later, Sandra was asked to sing the theme song for the animated series “Il était une fois la vie,” composed by Michel Legrand. She then enjoyed success with numerous singles, albums, gold records, and television appearances in Belgium and internationally. Her fame extended to the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Romania, Israel, Japan, and the United States.

Personal life

Sandra Kim is of Italian descent. Her parents came to Belgium in the 1950s.

In 2001 she married Jurgen Dlanghe.
The singer also really wanted children, but, as she said: “Mother Nature didn’t grant them to me”. And the singer is still very sad about that.

Furthermore, Sandra Kim is very discreet about her private life. The media attention is mainly focused on her work as an artist

National Career

Since 1990 she has focused mainly on her national career: she performed a patriotic song “J’aime mon pays” (I love my country)  before the Belgian royal family for King Boudewijn’s 60th birthday and his 40 years on the throne.

That same year, she co-presented the music show “10 qu’on aime” on RTL-TVI. Her TV presence continued with her role as a jury member on “Pour la Gloire” in 1996 and singing “Song for Kosovo” in 1997 with Helmut Lotti and Paul Michiels. She then joined the cast of “Les Misérables” in Antwerp as Éponine.

In the early 2000s, she performed as a soloist in musical revue shows touring Flanders and the Netherlands. In 2003, to celebrate Belgium’s monarchy’s 10th anniversary, Sandra and other artists recorded “Mon Pays.” ( My country).  In 2005, she performed “No n’ho l’eta” at Eurovision’s 50th anniversary gala. From 2006, she explored soul music with “The SouldivaZ,”

 

In 2011, she sang the Belgian national anthem in three languages at the Spa- Francorchamps F1 Grand Prix, and a documentary about Eurovision, “L’Autre vie,” ( The orher life)  was produced. The following years saw her sharing her life on TV, performing for national celebrations, and releasing new singles reflecting her Italian roots.

In 2017 and 2018, she participated in Télévie and paid homage to Maurane. She collaborated on the “Bella Italia” project with Marco Z and Bejir, celebrating Italian culture. In 2022, she released the single “Gravity,” marking her 50th birthday, with a special concert and new song “Take me as I am.” In 2023, she performed at “The Masked Singer,” “Night of the Proms,” and celebrated her career milestones. She’s also involved in holiday projects and special commemorations.

Sandra Kim is still active. Her current schedule can be found here

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Krön is the Chief Producer at ORF and will oversee the 70th edition of the contest in Austria, filling the spot reserved for the upcoming host country. His appointment means the Reference Group now once again has all host broadcaster positions filled. source: EBU Luxembourg: ‘Team-Up’ Phase Completed for Eurovision 2026 Selection Luxembourg’s journey to Eurovision 2026 is well underway. The Luxembourg Song Contest 2026 introduced a special “team-up” initiative to pair artists with songwriters. Applications for this team-up process have now closed as of August 4. This allowed Luxembourgish artists without a song to connect with local or international songwriters (and vice versa), forming teams to create entries. Those newly formed teams have until September 21 to complete their songs and submit them through the main selection window. Once the submission window closes on September 21, all entries will be reviewed. Successful candidates will be invited to audition in front of an international expert jury in October. This jury will then select the finalists for the national final. The winner of that final will earn the chance to represent Luxembourg in Eurovision’s 70th edition. source: eurovoix.com 📷 EBU/Corinne Cumming Austria Brings Back a National Final for 2026 Austria: ORF will stage a televised national final to choose the Eurovision 2026 entry. The broadcaster announced a late‑February 2026 show. Ten acts will compete for the ticket to Eurovision. Austria returns to a public selection on home soil, a big TV evening with plenty of audience involvement. Televoters and professional juries will decide the winner. ORF invites artists and bands to apply, and an internal panel will then select the ten finalists. ORF will share the exact date and format in the coming months. 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If it does take part in Austria next year, it will be Ukraine’s first Eurovision in Austria, as the country sat out the 2015 contest. For now, Suspilne is proactively gathering ideas on how to make their Eurovision entry as successful as possible. source: Suspilne Switzerland Opens Song Submission Window for 2026 Switzerland has officially opened the search for its Eurovision 2026 song. Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR began accepting song submissions on August 4, and the window will remain open until August 25, 2025. Songwriters, artists, and producers are invited to send in their entries (up to five per artist/team). Once the submission period closes, Switzerland will hold multiple audition rounds to select its entry. The selection process will mirror last year’s approach: a Swiss audience jury, an international audience jury, and an international expert jury (comprised of 25 former Eurovision national jurors) will evaluate the songs in several stages. 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August 12, 2025 No Comments
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Weekly Update

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Krön is the Chief Producer at ORF and will oversee the 70th edition of the contest in Austria, filling the spot reserved for the upcoming host country. His appointment means the Reference Group now once again has all host broadcaster positions filled. source: EBU Luxembourg: ‘Team-Up’ Phase Completed for Eurovision 2026 Selection Luxembourg’s journey to Eurovision 2026 is well underway. The Luxembourg Song Contest 2026 introduced a special “team-up” initiative to pair artists with songwriters. Applications for this team-up process have now closed as of August 4. This allowed Luxembourgish artists without a song to connect with local or international songwriters (and vice versa), forming teams to create entries. Those newly formed teams have until September 21 to complete their songs and submit them through the main selection window. Once the submission window closes on September 21, all entries will be reviewed. 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If it does take part in Austria next year, it will be Ukraine’s first Eurovision in Austria, as the country sat out the 2015 contest. For now, Suspilne is proactively gathering ideas on how to make their Eurovision entry as successful as possible. source: Suspilne Switzerland Opens Song Submission Window for 2026 Switzerland has officially opened the search for its Eurovision 2026 song. Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR began accepting song submissions on August 4, and the window will remain open until August 25, 2025. Songwriters, artists, and producers are invited to send in their entries (up to five per artist/team). Once the submission period closes, Switzerland will hold multiple audition rounds to select its entry. The selection process will mirror last year’s approach: a Swiss audience jury, an international audience jury, and an international expert jury (comprised of 25 former Eurovision national jurors) will evaluate the songs in several stages. Through this combination of domestic and international feedback, the Swiss entry for Eurovision 2026 will be chosen, with the winning song and artist set to be revealed in early 2026. Switzerland will be aiming to continue its recent success, after finishing 10th in 2025 on home ground in Basel. source: Eurovoix 📷 EBU/Alma Bengtsson Cyprus Confirms Eurovision 2026 Participation The list of countries committing to Eurovision 2026 keeps growing. This week Cyprus officially joined the party for next year’s contest in Austria. Cypriot broadcaster CyBC confirmed that Cyprus will compete at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. Cyprus thus becomes one of the early confirmed participants for the 70th Eurovision edition. It’s not yet known how the Cypriot entry will be selected – the broadcaster hasn’t announced whether it will opt for an internal selection or a national final for 2026. (In recent years, CyBC has often chosen its artist and song internally.) More details on Cyprus’s Eurovision 2026 project are expected in due course. The Mediterranean nation has yet to win Eurovision, but it will be hoping that 2026 might finally be the year to go one better than its best-ever 2nd place finish in 2018. source: esctoday.com Other News in Brief Belgium: Rumors swirled this week that Loïc Nottet, Belgium’s 2015 Eurovision star and fourth-place finisher in Vienna, could return in 2026. French media reported that RTBF had internally chosen him. RTBF denied the report, saying it hasn’t selected an artist for 2026 and is still running its usual selection process. Belgium has not yet officially confirmed its participation. For now, a Loïc Nottet comeback is only a rumor; officials say they haven’t made any decisions about the 2026 entry. source: Het Nieuwsblad That’s all for this

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August 12, 2025 No Comments
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