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Sandra St.Victor's been called "a funkadelified Chaka Khan" and "the best-equipped Chaka-ascendant of the 90's", but in my book, there are no fitting comparisons to draw between Sandra and other songstresses. Sandra St.Victor is simply Sandra St.Victor, a red-hot mama, playing in a league of her own. This Mack Diva's got it all. Not only is she an extraordinary songstress, a gifted songwriter and producer (Sandra who co-wrote and co-produced all eleven songs on her indispensable first solo venture since leaving The Family Stand, "Mack Diva Saves The World") but she's been blessed with tons of natural sex appeal too. Standing firmly on her platform shoes, Sandra brings back memories of those tough, independent chicks in the 70's Blaxploitation movies, the kind that didn't take no mess and who weren't afraid to kick butt in order to make justice. And indeed, Sandra's a brave heroine on her own very special rescue mission; To bring back the heart and sincerity in Soul -the very qualities the music originally was built from- but which sadly have become rarities today.

Although it's impossible to detect it in her accent, Sandra St.Victor, who shares an apartment in Brooklyn, New York, with her teenage daughter Maanami Asha, a Very Special Guy, plus an extremely loud parrot, was actually born and raised in Dallas, Texas. My first question to the friendly and witty Diva when we chatted over a trans-Atlantic phone line was of course when she started singing and what her earliest influences were.
"Ohhh, it was when I was about eight years old, classical church music, spirituals, that sort of thing", Sandra replied. "Then I got into a Dance-Jazz album collection and started singing Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald and Nancy Wilson. That took me to Arts Magnet High School in Dallas, Texas, where I'm from. Same high school Erykah Badu went to also, by the way. There, I really got into Jazz and Classical arias, operas and operettas and that sort of thing. But of course I was listening to the radio and I got into Rufus and Chaka, Sly, Ohio Players and you know, all those folks. When I went off to college, I got into even more stuff, like Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, a lot of great writers. I kinda went through different phases in my life, I was really heavily into one mode or another. But when I grew up (laughs), I just put them all together and became who I am, I guess."

From Arts Magnet High School in Dallas, Sandra received a full scholarship to study opera at the University of Kansas. She remembers that her fondest dream and ambition was to become a classical mezzo-soprano, a famous black Opera singer, "like Miss Leontyne Price". But (thankfully, might I add) something changed Sandra's mind about becoming an opera diva.
"I realized that I would get bored because I couldn't create", she explained. "They don't let you ad-lib, you can't write your own songs and then you're gonna be singing literally the same song in foreign languages for the rest of your life. The same song! I didn't see enough potential for growth or development for myself, creatively, in that arena."

Upon returning to Dallas, Sandra found herself auditioning for a local jazz-pop ensemble called Lassiez-Faire. Hardly surprising, knowing this lady's incredible vocal prowess, she landed the job.
"Laissez-Faire, that's French for "hands off". Yeah, that was formed by this jazz guitarist named Zachary Breaux, a great friend of mine who just passed away, and a couple of other musicians. We were basically doing covers and top 40 R&B cover tunes and a few jazz standards. It was a four-piece band, just myself and three musicians; bass player, drummer and a guitar player. We mostly did covers and Top 40 R&B cover tunes and a few Jazz standards."

Lassiez-Faire traveled all over Texas and Louisiana and it was at a gig in Louisiana that the group met jazz-funk vibraphonist Roy Ayers, which would prompt Sandra's move to the Big Apple.
"We played that Friday night at this club and Roy played Saturday night. He had to use our equipment and stuff, so that's how we met him. Roy invited us to come to New York. I didn't take him seriously, because he hadn't heard us play, he was just saying 'come up to New York, give us a call'. I was like 'yeah, yeah, whatever'. But the band kinda pushed me to call him and so I did and Roy said 'come up'! Zachary came up a week or so before I did and I came up later. Both of us ended up on the road with Roy for like three years. Actually Zack stayed with him longer than I did. But like two weeks after we got here, we were on the road with Roy. I came to New York at the end of 1981, beginning of 1982, something like that."

As a member of Roy Ayers' Ubiquity, Sandra toured extensively in Europe, The U.S. and Africa. She can also be heard singing on Roy Ayers' "Black Family"; an early 80's LP, which was issued on Roy's own label Uno Melodic; "a record that no one ever heard with him ", Sandra laughed. In 1984, after a performance with Roy Ayers' Ubiquity in a New York club, Sandra was approached by none other than Chaka Khan, who had been in the audience and who was suitably impressed. So impressed, in fact, that a mere week after that first meeting, Chaka had employed Sandra, not only in the capacity of back-up vocalist, but as Khan's contractor, which meant auditioning and hiring the other background singers (Lisa Fisher, Brenda White King and later Norma Jean Wright and Cindy Mizelle), for Chaka as well. Sandra would spend three years supporting Chaka, both on stage and on record, and a deep friendship evolved. Sandra shared that she learned a lot from Chaka, not just useful vocal tips, as one would expect, but lessons in how to curse, be a bitch, well, generally the art of standing up for oneself!
"Yeah, she brought that out of me, because I was a 'good little girl'. Guess I always had it in me, but she definitely brought that stuff out of me. Chaka just taught me a lot about being free and more comfortable with myself to express myself. I used to be very quiet and I was a pushover. She brought out a lot out of me, just about expressing what I really felt and thought and not being afraid of the consequences, because she didn't give a fuck! Also musically speaking, she taught me a lot about using my range to the best of my ability. Stretching my voice and as far as being funky, I've always had good timing, but she really taught me how to feel the beat, laying behind it. In Jazz, you lay behind the beat, but in funk it's the way you lay behind it is what makes it funky. She's the perfect example of that."

By 1986, Sandra had become an in-demand a session and demo singer and did spot gigs with Glenn ("Mr. Finesse") Jones and Freddie ("Rock Me Tonight") Jackson. Those were hectic days. Sandra sang on so many sessions that she has trouble remembering them all today. "Yeah, I did a lot of sessions for people, in the studio. I don't recall all the artists, but I worked with Kashif, Nile Rodgers.. I sang background on a Smokey Robinson record, that's one thing I do remember", Sandra chuckled. It's eerie to think that if it hadn't been for a phone call from her good friend Lisa Fisher (one of the vocalists she had hired during her time as Khan's contractor) Sandra could have ended up like too many other super talented people in the session side of the music business: In the background. For good.
"Lisa said: 'Yo, I'll hook you up with these guys I do demos for 'cause I'm not gonna be around'. She had to go on the road with Luther Vandross and she was so busy working with Luther, that she couldn't do the demos. So, she asked me to do them for her and I ended up meeting Peter (Lord) and Jeff (Smith), hanging out with them, singing with them and we really just clicked, so that was it; they didn't use any other singers from that point on. We loved each other so much, we became a group."

The group in question is of course The Family Stand. Its history began when Atlantic Records executive Merlin Bobb approached Peter Lord and Jeff Smith about doing a producer's album, "kinda like a Quincy Jones album, where they bring in guest singers or whatever", Sandra explained. "It just turned into a group because we clicked so well, so they only wanted to work with me. Very flattering, actually. But we really did have a very nice vibe together. So it went from a production thing into a group". As Evon Geffries and The Stand, Sandra, Peter and Jeff released their debut album "Chapters -A Novel by Evon Geffries & The Stand" in 1988. Two singles were lifted from the LP; "Sex W/O Love" and "Stand And Deliver", the latter reaching #53 R&B in October 1988. The LP is an unusual piece of vinyl, a concept album, based around the story of a relationship. The critics were zealous, and rightfully so, as The Family Stand refused to sound like anything -or anyone- else on the market at the time. Sandra had the pipes, Jeff Smith blew some mean sax and Peter Lord proved his skills on the keyboards. Deep and thought-provoking lyrics, wonderful harmonies and strong melodies, those were the things that would become synonymous with The Family Stand (and now with Sandra St.Victor), none of which were a staple during the sample-and drum machine -crazed late 80's. Yet another thing that really set The Family Stand apart from the rest was that they wrote, played, produced and arranged their own material. Despite the positive reactions from the few people that actually got to hear the record, not much of their sheer enthusiasm transcended into radio and retail. And it became clear from early on that the band's unusual name confused a lot of people.
"Evon Geffries, she was a fictitious character that we just made up, basically to fuck with people's heads", Sandra laughed. "But it was nobody, I mean, it was still the three of us in the group and it was just a fictitious character that supposedly embodied all of our spirits and souls and hearts and minds. But the problem with it was that we had to explain too much and also people kept calling me Evon. It was like 'OK, we gotta change that 'cause if someone else calls me Evon again...(laughs). So, Evon got buried in the Atlantic ocean." Hence the name change to The Family Stand . I asked Sandra what the name symbolized. "Actually, it's two-fold, it's like an ode to Sly & The Family Stone and that kind of energy because he fused Rock, Funk and Pop, all in one band also, but bringing it into the nineties, we tried to stand for something a little different, trying to stand up and make a change and that's what the name was about."

Amazingly, the lack of commercial success the group suffered with their first record, didn't affect The Family Stand at all, at least not negatively. Instead, they returned in 1990 with "Chain", an album that was even stronger than the debut and which yielded the huge hit "Ghetto Heaven". It became a #3 hit on the American R&B charts and even landed at #10 on the U.K.chart, helped by the exquisite remix by Soul II Soul's Jazzie B. The beautiful ballad "In Summer I Fall" was another top 20 hit in the U.S. and the soulful "Sweet Liberation", issued in 1991, was a minor hit. Although "Chain" didn't do as well as the group had hoped, it did give them the opportunity to tour, both in- and out of America.
"We were all over Europe and Japan. In fact, we toured more over there than we did in the States. The biggest tour we did in the States was in 1990, when we were opening up for Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers, which was a lot of fun, because we went through all the 'hippie-parts' of the States; up in 'Frisco, Oregon, I mean, we went through all these fabulous places that I otherwise would probably never have seen. You know, these whole hippie towns! (laughs)"

In the beginning of 1992, Family Stand issued their third album, "Moon In Scorpio", which originally was planned to be a double-CD. The title was drawn from a planetary/astrological position that referred to the "the hidden nature of things", "resurrection, regeneration". "Moon In Scorpio" was a very diverse album. Musically, it offered a bold mix of heavy Rock, Jazz and R&B all of which undoubtedly pushed the boundaries of what a "black" group was "supposed" to do. And those who had bought "Ghetto Heaven", thinking that it was a good representation of what the Family Stand were about, got confused. The record company had given The Family Stand an unusual amount creative freedom, but were having troubles with how to market it. The end result was that the Rock stations in America ignored it, because it was "too much R&B", the R&B stations did the same thing, because they perceived it as a Rock record. These problems are incidentally described in the song "Plantation Radio".
"We had a great hit with 'Ghetto Heaven', but the problem was that it was just a taste of what the Family Stand was about", Sandra said. "On the rest of the album -and 'Moon In Scorpio' especially- we tried to give you the full scope of it and without major, major, major hands being held and backs being supported, it just wasn't gonna happen."

One person who understood -and loved- both "Chain" and "Moon In Scorpio" was the skilled dancer/choreographer, turned Pop-Dance  icon, Paula Abdul. Paula requested Peter, Jeff and Sandra to write and produce her and the trio were, according to Sandra, "exited about the prospect of doing something a little bit more musical for someone like Paula Abdul". And they sure did. The "Spellbound" album, which came out in 1991 and contained the gold-selling single "Rush, Rush", is arguably Miss Abdul's finest effort to date. That same year, The Family Stand also contributed to "Slave To The Vibe", the second album they did for the Staten Island-based duo Aftershock (Guy Routte and J.M. Rivera) and the next year, The Family Stand trio worked their magic on Daryl Hall, whose "Soul Alone" album, issued in 1993 on Epic, contained the brilliant "I'm In A Philly Mood" and Hall's version of Marvin Gaye's "(When Did You) Stop Loving Me, (When Did I) Stop Loving You".

In the beginning of 1993, The Family Stand called it quits, but the decision to disband the group had nothing to do with internal problems. Peter Lord and Jeff Smith continued to work as producers and songwriters and Sandra was immediately signed as a solo artist to Elektra Records, where she cut an album, scheduled for a late 1993 release. But as fate decided, it would take four years before Sandra's solo career took off.
"I've been working on my solo album ever since the Family Stand broke up. Gone through about, oooh... 30-40 songs, 2 record companies, 3 record company presidents, 4 A&R people", Sandra chuckled, seemingly unaffected by the madness she's been through. To make a long story short, shortly after the initial solo album was finished in '93, it was retracted. There were songs to be replaced, production that needed to be updated, and it wasn't until 1994 that Sandra was released from her Elektra contract. She chose to sign with Warner and her first single "Rise", lifted from the brilliant "Mack Diva Saves the World" album, came out in the fall of 1996. That year, Sandra also sang on "I Believe In You", a beautiful duet with Curtis Mayfield, taken from his "Back To The World" album and TAFKAP, or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince recorded one of Sandra's songs "Soul Sanctuary" and issued it on his "Emancipation" CD.

Sandra kept been busy throughout '97, doing vocal production for (among others) the all-female group Phajja, on their debut album "Seize The Moment". In September, after what seemed like forever, Warner finally released the long-awaited follow-up to "Rise", which was a remixed version of the uplifting "Chocolate". That song was also featured on the soundtrack to the popular U.S. sitcom "Living Single". Sandra called the "Chocolate" single "a Female Symphony", as she was guested by Phajja and fellow Warner act LeSchea on vocals, plus rappers Nonchalant and Yo Yo.   Sandra continued to perform and record tracks, but in the spring-summer of 1998, unhappy with how badly her records had been promoted, Sandra was released from her contract with Warner (about the same time as the Family Stand were released -not dropped- from Elektra). The good news is that Sandra probably will be working with Peter Lord and Jeff Smith of the Family Stand again (who, by the way, made one of the best albums this year with "Connected"). As Peter recently explained in an interview with this scribe, he and Jeff are hoping to "go back to where they started from", i.e. "recording a producer's album" which will feature both Sandra and new Family Stand songstress Jacci McGhee. Keep your eyes on these pages for further developments!