Sandra Dianne

She was born Alessandra Dianne Ampuria on 16 September 1994,[1] in Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia.[2] She was the daughter of Ampuria Jasthy and Nur Syakinah Abdullah and had four siblings, a brother and two stepbrothers.[1][3] Dianne was brought up a Muslim,[3] and was a cousin of the actress Farah Nabilah.[1] She briefly worked as a craftsman at an engineering company in Kuala Lumpur before she decided to leave the job to focus on her music career.[2][4] She began to write music when she was 14 years of age and she did not have formal education in this field.[5]

When she was 20 years old in 2014, she took part in the TV3 reality television programme Mentor Legend, and was eliminated in the first week of the contest.[3] Dianne's debut single, "Hey! Kau", was released in June 2015 and received radio airplay in Malaysia and was charted on multiple radio lists.[6] She received the Red Box Award as the song "Hey! Kau" was one of the 10 most popular songs in Malaysia during 2016.[7] That same year, Dianne performed the song on Muzik Muzik, although she failed to qualify for the music competition Anugerah Juara Lagu.[8]

In April 2016, Dianne was one of the successful singers at the 25th Annual Harian Metro Tour Concert in Miri, Sarawak for her first appearance at the concert.[9] That same year, her second single, "Ku Tak Mahu Cinta", was released.[10] She released the ballad single Aku dan Kekasih in July 2017 so that she could challenge herself because ballads required more expression of emotion than pop songs.[4] The single was accompanied by a music video in which Dianne was depicted as a zombie after the publisher and recording companies wanted to portray the singer as unhealthy as a consequence of problems with stress following the end of a relationship.[7] Dianne's song failed to chart highly in Malaysia.[11] The following year, Dianne joined fellow singers Mell Ahmad and Lii in the special Dona group project.[12] She collaborated with Ben Zulu and Zizi Kirana on the single Terkemuka,[13][14] and then with then new singer Ryan Deedat on the song Salima in 2018.[11][14]

Dianne made an appearance on the TV3 telefilm Dari Jauh in 2019.[15] She was nominated for the Best Collaborative Singer Award at the ERA Digital Music Awards 2018 for her duet with Deedat in the song Salima.[16] The following year, she was one of 12 contestants of the third series of the Astro Ria programme Big Stage.[17] Dianne switched to running a salted fish business so that she could receive another source of income during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia.[18] The singles Jelaskan and Sandra that she recorded were released after her death.[19][20]

On the afternoon of 5 September 2020, Dianne lost control of the Haval H1 car she was driving in with her cousin on the North–South Expressway Central Link close to Subang Jaya as a result of brake issues and crashed into the left-hand side of an Nissan Almera ahead of her.[21][22] She died as a consequence of her injuries at approximately 1 am five days later in the Intensive Care Unit of Putrajaya Hospital.[22] Her remains was returned to Sabah and she was buried at Kampung Kauluan Islamic Cemetery, Tuaran.[23][24] A prayer ceremony was held for her at the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque, Putrajaya on 16 September.[25]

• Media related to Sandra Dianne at Wikimedia Commons