Sandra St. Victor
Encyclopedia
Sandra St. Victor is a Dallas born singer songwriter most known for her work as lead singer of The Family Stand
. She attended the now famous Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
, (Arts Magnet) High School studying all styles of music. Arts Magnet was also stomping grounds for musical colleagues Erykah Badu
, Roy Hargrove
, Nora Jones & Edie Brickell
. She received scholarships in music to Kansas University & Bishop College in Dallas TX where she continued her studies, until deciding she'd rather learn by doing. She joined a local band in Dallas, and began touring Texas & Louisiana. The band was led by jazz guitarist Zachary Breaux
.
to join his touring band Ubiquity. After seeing her sing with Ayers at the upper west side's Mikell's, Chaka Khan
asked Sandra to join her touring outfit, and help her find & audition the new background singer unit.
Sandra toured with Chaka throughout the 80's as well as Freddie Jackson
and Glenn Jones
. Alongside touring, she made her name on the session circuit honing her chops with some of New York's finest voices, such as Lisa Fisher, Cindy Mizelle, Audrey Wheeler, Brenda White King, Tawatha Agee and Curtis King. In 1986, Sandra was introduced to Peter Lord & Jeffrey Smith via Lisa Fisher at a Luther Vandross concert in Dallas Texas where she was visiting family. Sandra had met Lisa years before in Houston Texas before she moved to New York. Fisher was on tour with The Crystals at the time. Peter & Jeff were known R&B producers and needed someone to sing their demos. Sandra fit the bill. She & the boys hit it off right away. Their three distinct musical backgrounds, classical, soul, pop, rock, jazz, melded together in the studio creating something exciting enough for them to want to record as a team. Hence the beginning of The Family Stand.
Sandra began her solo career in 1993 signing to Elektra Records
and recording the never released, "Sanctuary". Although never released as a St. Victor work, the album has had several songs used by other artists, including the title track "Sanctuary" used by Prince
on his "Emancipation" CD, retitled, "Soul Sanctuary". "I'll Never Open My Legs Again" used by Chaka Khan on her "Come 2 My House" CD retitled, "I'll Never Be Another Fool", "Whatever You Want" used by Tina Turner, and "Love Is", also used by Prince for an unreleased band under his production. The song was renamed "Van Gogh". Serbian band Van Gogh also covered the song. Sandra's original work languishes still today on the record company's shelf.
in 1996 Warner Brothers released Sandra's "Mack Diva Saves The World", a more solid radio effort than her Family Stand work, critically acclaimed as well, but still no radio support. Around this time, she was featured on legend Curtis Mayfield
's last album "New World Order'" recording a duet with him, "I Believe In You". Going independent in 2001, "Gemini: Both Sides" was released via Expansion in the UK, and JVC in Asia, becoming an underground favorite amongst connoisseurs.
During the Family Stand years, St. Victor's also wrote for Paula Abdul
, with band mates Peter Lord & V. Jeffrey Smith. Later, Sandra discovered R&B group Profyle
from Shreveport LA and got them signed to Motown Records
. Her song, "Lady" by Profyle, co-written with Tom Hammer was covered by The Temptations
, and nominated for a Grammy Award
in 2003. She co-wrote 3 songs on stand alone vocalist Lalah Hathaway
's CD "Self Portrait", released in 2009, with one of the songs, "That Was Then" being nominated for a Grammy Award.
of LaBelle, Joyce Kennedy of Mother's Finest
, Deniece Williams
(5 time Grammy winner), Caron Wheeler
of Soul II Soul
, Lalah Hathaway
daughter of Donny Hathaway
, Indira Khan daughter of Chaka, Simone
daughter of Nina Simone
, and Leah McCrae daughter of George
& Gwen McCrae
.
Daughters of Soul toured the festival circuit doing Nice Jazz, Pori Jazz, Java Jazz in Jakarta, among others. Sandra also rejoined Chaka Khan on tour in Europe, and toured with Leon Ware
doing Montreaux Jazz, Vienna Jazz, and North Sea Jazz in Holland.
2010 will see St. Victor's new effort SSV's Sinner Child experimenting in different ways, with several genres. She plans to release mini EPs, dance, blues, soul, rock, piano & voice. The first EP, "at my spheres" is produced by underground beatmaster Mark De Clive-Lowe
.
The family stand
The Family Stand is a New York based R&B/soul group, active since the late 1980s, consisting of Sandra St. Victor, Peter Lord Moreland, and V. Jeffrey Smith.-Evon Geffries & The Stand:...
. She attended the now famous Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is a public secondary school located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas . Booker T. Washington High School enrolls students in grades 9-12 and is the Dallas Independent School District's arts magnet school...
, (Arts Magnet) High School studying all styles of music. Arts Magnet was also stomping grounds for musical colleagues Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
, Roy Hargrove
Roy Hargrove
Roy Anthony Hargrove is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002...
, Nora Jones & Edie Brickell
Edie Brickell
Edie Arlisa Brickell is an American singer-songwriter best known for 1988's Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, the debut album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which went #4 on the US Albums Chart.-Life and career:...
. She received scholarships in music to Kansas University & Bishop College in Dallas TX where she continued her studies, until deciding she'd rather learn by doing. She joined a local band in Dallas, and began touring Texas & Louisiana. The band was led by jazz guitarist Zachary Breaux
Zachary Breaux
Zachary Charles Breaux was an American jazz guitarist, influenced by George Benson and Wes Montgomery and best remembered for his soul-jazz work...
.
Career
St. Victor moved to New York in the early 80's on the offer of Roy AyersRoy Ayers
Roy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers...
to join his touring band Ubiquity. After seeing her sing with Ayers at the upper west side's Mikell's, Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
asked Sandra to join her touring outfit, and help her find & audition the new background singer unit.
Sandra toured with Chaka throughout the 80's as well as Freddie Jackson
Freddie Jackson
Frederick Anthony "Freddie" Jackson is an American soul singer. He was an important figure in R&B during the 1980s and early 1990s...
and Glenn Jones
Glenn Jones
Glenn Jones, , is an American R&B/soul singer.-Career:He started his career as a gospel singer and has since, managed a successful move into the R&B field. He got his start in R&B in 1980 when Norman Connors featured Jones on a track on his album, Take It To The Limit...
. Alongside touring, she made her name on the session circuit honing her chops with some of New York's finest voices, such as Lisa Fisher, Cindy Mizelle, Audrey Wheeler, Brenda White King, Tawatha Agee and Curtis King. In 1986, Sandra was introduced to Peter Lord & Jeffrey Smith via Lisa Fisher at a Luther Vandross concert in Dallas Texas where she was visiting family. Sandra had met Lisa years before in Houston Texas before she moved to New York. Fisher was on tour with The Crystals at the time. Peter & Jeff were known R&B producers and needed someone to sing their demos. Sandra fit the bill. She & the boys hit it off right away. Their three distinct musical backgrounds, classical, soul, pop, rock, jazz, melded together in the studio creating something exciting enough for them to want to record as a team. Hence the beginning of The Family Stand.
Sandra began her solo career in 1993 signing to Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
and recording the never released, "Sanctuary". Although never released as a St. Victor work, the album has had several songs used by other artists, including the title track "Sanctuary" used by Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
on his "Emancipation" CD, retitled, "Soul Sanctuary". "I'll Never Open My Legs Again" used by Chaka Khan on her "Come 2 My House" CD retitled, "I'll Never Be Another Fool", "Whatever You Want" used by Tina Turner, and "Love Is", also used by Prince for an unreleased band under his production. The song was renamed "Van Gogh". Serbian band Van Gogh also covered the song. Sandra's original work languishes still today on the record company's shelf.
in 1996 Warner Brothers released Sandra's "Mack Diva Saves The World", a more solid radio effort than her Family Stand work, critically acclaimed as well, but still no radio support. Around this time, she was featured on legend Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
's last album "New World Order'" recording a duet with him, "I Believe In You". Going independent in 2001, "Gemini: Both Sides" was released via Expansion in the UK, and JVC in Asia, becoming an underground favorite amongst connoisseurs.
During the Family Stand years, St. Victor's also wrote for Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality.In the 1980s, Abdul rose from cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers to highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era before scoring a string of pop music-R&B hits...
, with band mates Peter Lord & V. Jeffrey Smith. Later, Sandra discovered R&B group Profyle
Profyle
Profyle was an American R&B group, best known for their one major hit, "Liar", produced by Teddy Riley. The video for "Liar" was a staple of MTV2 and BET in the fall of 2000.Signed to Motown Records they had two albums...
from Shreveport LA and got them signed to Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
. Her song, "Lady" by Profyle, co-written with Tom Hammer was covered by The Temptations
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
, and nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in 2003. She co-wrote 3 songs on stand alone vocalist Lalah Hathaway
Lalah Hathaway
Eulaulah Donyll Hathaway best known as Lalah Hathaway referred to as the First Daughter of Soul, is a contemporary R&B and jazz singer. She is the daughter of soul singer Donny Hathaway and a classically trained vocalist. In 1990, Lalah Hathaway released a self-titled album. The album's first...
's CD "Self Portrait", released in 2009, with one of the songs, "That Was Then" being nominated for a Grammy Award.
Present
Moving to Europe in the early part of the decade, Sandra formed a touring unit called Daughters Of Soul. This 2 hour show featured Nona HendryxNona Hendryx
Nona Hendryx is an American vocalist, producer, songwriter, musician, author, and actress.Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade." Her music has ranged from soul, funk, dance, and R&B to hard rock, art...
of LaBelle, Joyce Kennedy of Mother's Finest
Mother's Finest
Mother's Finest is a funk rock band founded in Atlanta, Georgia by Joyce Kennedy and Glenn Murdock in the early 1970s. The group charted with the singles "Fire" , "Baby Love" , "Don't Wanna Come Back" , "Love Changes" , and "Piece Of The Rock" in the mid to late 1970s.-History:Mother's Finest...
, Deniece Williams
Deniece Williams
June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
(5 time Grammy winner), Caron Wheeler
Caron Wheeler
Caron Wheeler is a two-time Grammy Award winning British R&B/soul singer, who gained fame by writing and singing the lead vocals on the two biggest hits for Soul II Soul Caron Wheeler (19 January 1963) is a two-time Grammy Award winning British R&B/soul singer, who gained fame by writing and...
of Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British group that was created in London in 1988. They are best known for their 1989 UK chart-topper and U.S. Top 5 hit, "Back to Life ".-Career:...
, Lalah Hathaway
Lalah Hathaway
Eulaulah Donyll Hathaway best known as Lalah Hathaway referred to as the First Daughter of Soul, is a contemporary R&B and jazz singer. She is the daughter of soul singer Donny Hathaway and a classically trained vocalist. In 1990, Lalah Hathaway released a self-titled album. The album's first...
daughter of Donny Hathaway
Donny Hathaway
Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto, Part I" in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music."His collaborations...
, Indira Khan daughter of Chaka, Simone
Simone
Simone is a female given name derived from Simon, Hebrew Simeon, meaning "one who hears". It first appears in Iberia from the 10th century, as Jimena, Ximena, feminine eponym of Jimeno II of Pamplona, founder of the Jiménez dynasty...
daughter of Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
, and Leah McCrae daughter of George
George McCrae
George McCrae is an American soul and disco singer, most famous for his 1974 hit "Rock Your Baby".-Early life and career:...
& Gwen McCrae
Gwen McCrae
Gwen McCrae is an American R&B singer, best known for her March, 1975 hit "Rockin' Chair".-Career:...
.
Daughters of Soul toured the festival circuit doing Nice Jazz, Pori Jazz, Java Jazz in Jakarta, among others. Sandra also rejoined Chaka Khan on tour in Europe, and toured with Leon Ware
Leon Ware
Leon Ware is a soul music singer, songwriter and producer. Best known for crafting the hit album, I Want You, originally recorded for Ware, until friend and Motown icon Marvin Gaye was assigned to the album in 1976...
doing Montreaux Jazz, Vienna Jazz, and North Sea Jazz in Holland.
2010 will see St. Victor's new effort SSV's Sinner Child experimenting in different ways, with several genres. She plans to release mini EPs, dance, blues, soul, rock, piano & voice. The first EP, "at my spheres" is produced by underground beatmaster Mark De Clive-Lowe
Mark De Clive-Lowe
Mark de Clive-Lowe is a musician and producer originally from New Zealand, and now based in West London. He has been one of the key musicians in the Broken Beat and Nu Jazz movements, blending jazz, ethnic music and urban grooves into a 21st Century sound...
.
External links
- Sandra St.Victor official website
- Daughters Of Soul official website
- The Family Stand official website