Sandy & Junior was a Brazilian pop music duo consisting of siblings Sandy Leah Lima (born January 28, 1983) and her brother Durval de Lima Junior (born April 11, 1984). They have one of the 10 best-selling albums ever in Brazil. Sandy and Junior are Brazilians.
They first gained notoriety by being the children of Xororó from popular country duo Chitãozinho & Xororó.
Sandy & Junior began by singing children's songs and country-influenced tracks (their first single, "Maria Chiquinha", is a classic country song). Once they reached adolescence, they changed their style to pop-influenced songs, mainly ballads and upbeat songs. The style change was in 1997. They reached their peak between 1998 and 2001 when they became the biggest pop phenomenons in the country, selling out stadiums and breaking sales records.
They had a self-titled weekly television series between 1999 and 2002 on Rede Globo and released the movie Acquaria in 2003; Sandy also starred in the soap opera Estrela Guia (Globo) in 2001. Earlier, they had appeared in Renato Aragão movie O Noviço Rebelde, in 1997.
In 2002, they were the first Brazilian artists sell out Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
On April 17, 2007 Sandy & Junior announced that an MTV Unplugged album to be recorded in May 2007 would be their final work together, through a video posted on their website addressed to their fans and in a press conference, stating also that their career as a duo would be over at the end of 2007.
Both have experienced solo work: Junior moved on to being the drummer of alternative rock band Nove Mil Anjos (which also featured former Charlie Brown Jr. member Champignon on bass guitar); Sandy, on the other hand, took a couple of years off to finish her Bacherlor's Degree in Portuguese/English and marry long-time beau Lucas Lima, who not only happened to share her last name, but is also a well-know classical/pop musician, composer and head of the musical group Familia Lima.
In 2009, Junior took on the artistic name of Junior Lima and started a series of guest appearances on the concerts of Crossover Live, created by DJ Julio Torres and Amon Lima, (also from Familia Lima and Lucas Lima's brother). The Crossover Live project plays on night clubs mixing classical music from a live violin and electronic music from a DJ. The guest appearances turned into yet another branch of the already alternative project, called Dexterz. Junior is currently touring both South and North Americas with Dexterz, and taking on occasional jobs as a music producer and/or director.
In 2010, Sandy released her first solo album, which was produced by husband Lucas Lima and brother Junior Lima. She co-wrote every single track and is now touring the country.
Their 17 years of career has granted them partnerships with several national and international artists, such as Xuxa, Roberto Carlos, Milton Nascimento, Laura Pausini, Toquinho, Gilberto Gil, Ivete Sangalo, Enrique Iglesias and Andrea Bocelli, and more than 15 million albums sold around the globe, making them the ninth best selling Brazilian artists of all time.
