Album Notes

Sandra Lea Wise was born in El Paso, Texas, but spent her youth in Brazil. When she was seven years old her parents moved to Rio de Janeiro. Sandra was educated in Brazilian schools and spoke Portuguese until she returned to the United States at the age of 18.

The Latin influence would be a permanent part of Sandra’s life. Her love of Latin languages and music is a part of her soul. It always comes as a shock to people that this almost 6-foot blonde and former Miss Tall Dallas, speaks Spanish and Portuguese natively.

Sandra has taught Portuguese in the Peace Corps and at St. Louis University, where she received her Master of Arts degree in Portuguese and Spanish Literature, and currently teaches Portuguese and Spanish at the University of Texas at Arlington. She enjoys the opportunity to inspire students to learn other languages and in the process get to know other cultures.

Over the years Sandra has performed Latin love songs and in 2003 had the opportunity to record the CD "Romance". In the process of recording a voice-over in Portuguese, Spanish and English for Nokia Phone Company, she met Jason LeBlanc, an accomplished songwriter and musician who recently retired from performing on the road and started his own recording company. He had always wanted to do a Latin album.

“I especially love the way Jason plays the guitar. He truly felt this music and his arrangements are very emotional. I wanted to make a romantic album that expressed all of the emotions of falling “in” and “out” of love,” says Sandra. “I translated some of the lyrics into English so that listeners could experience the romantic words even if they don’t speak Spanish or Portuguese. I’m really proud of our work and feel especially gratified that people are responding to it.”

The all-English version is called “Kiss Me!” Some of the songs didn’t have English versions, so I expanded on the lyrics that I wrote for Romance. The songs are the same on both CD’s, except for "A Noite Do Meu Bem" (The Night of My Love) from the Romance CD, which I replaced with "Kiss Me", the translated version of a famous Spanish song written by Consuelo Velazquez called “Bésame Mucho.”

“I dedicate “Romance” and “Kiss Me” to all the baby-boomers out there like myself, who love romantic music, listen to talk-radio, and are nostalgic for the good old days!”