The singer reminisces about her 35-year-long career.
It's well-known that Szandi started her career as a teenage singer. She was 19 when she moved in with Csaba Bogdán, who was 16 years older. By then, Bogdán was already a renowned, successful pop musician, a guitarist for Első Emelet, with several albums and national tours under his belt.
"1995 - The year I moved in with Csabi. We felt an incredible strength within us, we started to create and realize our dreams with full force. Not long after, my album was released in Japan, and songs of mine were included in compilation albums in five countries, alongside artists like the Spice Girls and DJ Bobo. That's how I became known in these countries," Szandi recalled on her social media.
"We traveled a lot, including to Midem Asia in Hong Kong, where I performed before the band Aqua. They were just breaking out with 'Barbie Girl', and we prepared in the same dressing room. It's a great feeling to look back on this period. It’s moments like these when I realize how much I’ve lived through in the past 35 years," she added in her swipable post, offering a glimpse of her almost childlike self.
Born in 1976, Szandi had already performed in the rock operas "Les Misérables" and "The Beasts" at the Szeged Open Air Theatre in 1988. She wasn't even 12 years old when she won the Mini Tini pop singing contest out of 400 applicants. On Christmas 1988, Szandi's sister Viki spotted Miklós Fenyő at an Old Boys concert, approached him, and asked him to listen to her sister.
In November 1989, Szandi's first album, titled "Kicsi lány" (Little Girl), was released and quickly sold 270,000 copies, making her the youngest Hungarian artist to earn a platinum record. In her early career, she was frequently seen wearing a Swiss cap, which became one of her trademarks when, upon visiting the Fenyős, a cap fell from the top shelf of a hallway cupboard, and Szandi tried it on. Fenyő liked the look so much that Szandi 'kept on' wearing the red Swiss cap, even featuring it on the cover of her second album.
In 1990, her album "Tinédzser l’amour" sold well over 250,000 copies. In 1991, she starred in "Szerelmes szívek," a film based on her life, playing the role of high school student Timi. The film's soundtrack, also titled "Szerelmes szívek," became a platinum album, selling 250,000 copies.