Sandra de Sá
The Rio de Janeiro singer of Brazilian soul and MPB whose "Olhos Coloridos" (1982) became an anthem of Black pride.
From Pilares to MPB-80
Sandra Cristina Frederico de Sá was born on August 27, 1955 in Rio de Janeiro and raised in Pilares, a railway suburb. As a child she performed with relatives in two Carnival bands, and in the late 1960s she went to the Black Rio soul dances and won prizes as a soul dancer at local black-music festivals. She studied psychology at Universidade Gama Filho from 1977 and left before finishing. In 1977 Leci Brandão recorded her song "Morenando". She added the "de" to her name after a numerology consultation, and in 2023 announced a return to Sandra Sá.
Her breakthrough was at TV Globo's MPB-80 festival in 1980 with "Demônio Colorido", written by Macau; it did not win but made her nationally known, and she signed with RGE. The album Sandra Sá (1982) opens with "Olhos Coloridos". Vale Tudo (1983) has a title-track duet with Tim Maia that was a national hit, and in 1984 she recorded "Enredo do meu samba", the opening theme of the Globo telenovela Partido Alto. Hits of the 1980s include "Retratos e Canções", "Joga Fora no Lixo", "Bye Bye Tristeza" and "Solidão", and she was nicknamed Tim Maia de saias, while Cazuza called her the Brazilian Billie Holiday.
Later work
Sandra! (1990) was produced by Nelson Motta, and in the 1990s she worked with Djavan, Marina Lima and Carlinhos Brown; "Sozinha" was a major hit. Pare, Olhe, Escute! (2002) is a set of Motown covers with guests including Ed Motta, Djavan and Smokey Robinson. She coined the term Música Preta Brasileira in the 1990s, used it as a project name from 2001 to 2005, and hosted a radio show of that name on Rádio Viva Rio AM; the live album Música Preta Brasileira followed in 2003 or 2004. She played Rock in Rio in 2001, Rock in Rio Lisboa in 2006 and the Sunset stage with Bebel Gilberto in 2011.
AfricaNatividade (Universal, 2010) came with a 30-year show at the Quinta da Boa Vista with Caetano Veloso as guest. She succeeded Fernando Brant as president of the UBC in 2015, released the EP Lado B in 2016, and a Discobertas box set collected her 1980s albums. She co-wrote the samba-enredo honoring Elza Soares for Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel for Carnival 2020, appeared on The Masked Singer Brasil as Girassol in 2021, and headlined the Chic Show 50th anniversary at Allianz Parque in 2024. Setlist.fm lists 55 setlists, the latest on October 10, 2026 at the Cerrado Jazz Festival in Brasília.
Albums
- Sandra Sá 1982 · RGE
Her 1982 album for RGE, opened by "Olhos Coloridos" and regarded as a key work of Brazilian boogie.
Songs
- Olhos Coloridos Sandra Sá · 1982
Macau's 1973 song, recorded by Sandra de Sá in 1982 and re-recorded in 1986 and 1995.
Sources
- Sandra de Sá, Wikipedia
- Sandra Sá, Wikipedia (Portuguese)
- Sandra de Sá, Dicionário Cravo Albin da Música Popular Brasileira
- Olhos Coloridos, Um Hino?, Rolling Stone Brasil (2021-03)