Sandra Alfred showed a talent for entertaining at an early age and by the age of ten, she was enrolled in the Aida Foster stage school. During the 1950s she appeared on the British radio programme Educating Archie, on television on The Dave King Show and played a naughty fourth former in the 1954 film The Belles of St Trinian’s.
She recorded her first single in 1957, a novelty song called Six Day Rock, and tried again in 1963 with A Sweet Love on the Parlophone label, using the name Mandy Mason.
Reinventing herself as Sandra Barry, she released Really Gonna Shake (March 1964) accompanied by a backing group called The Boys, who later became The Action.
Barry recorded three more singles on Pye: The End of the Line (written by Tony Hatch), Question and Stop! Thief. None of the singles were commercially successful.
Sandra reappeared on the London pub circuit in 1973 as the lead singer of the group Slack Alice, calling herself Alice Spring. She later used the same name to front a New Wave group called Darling.
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