At
the tender age of three, Sandra began singing with her father, who played
guitar, her mother, who 
played piano, and her siblings. By the ripe old age
of five, she was singing solos at her home church, the Canton Baptist Temple
in Canton, Ohio.
Having been raised in a Christian home where music was such a vital part of everyday life, her introduction to Gospel music, as we know it today, arrived in 1954, when their family began going to concerts performed by the Blackwood Brothers and Statesmen Quartets.
Of course, her parents bought recordings of the quartets, and she began to sing along with them. Her love for Gospel music, with its signature harmonies, became deeply rooted in her life. She soon became a fixture in church and school music programs, singing solos, and in trios, various choirs, ensembles, and operettas.
In
1967 Sandra became an original member of the Blackwood Singers® and
traveled and performed with them throughout the United States and Canada
for several years. Among her hits and signature songs were "Only Jesus
Knows" and "Praise God Anyhow."
Eventually she had to accept the fact that traveling on a bus with her young children, Alicia and Ron, three hundred or more days a year, was far too burdensome, so she moved with them back to her home town of North Canton, Ohio, where she worked in an office and sang regularly with a local orchestra.
Many years have passed, but God has opened the door for her to return to singing the music she loves so much for a Savior whom she loves so much, accompanied, on the piano, by her husband Tommy Fairchild (whom she, by the way, loves so much).
It may sound trite, but looking back on so manyyears, so many
victories, and so many heartaches, Sandra states,"God has beenfaithful--it
hasn't always been simple, and the path has not always been easily discerned,
but at every turn, He's been there."
Of her husband, she wistfully claims, "Tommy has been such a wonderful friend for so many years; only the most awesome God could have orchestrated giving that friend to me to be my husband!" The "we-could-make-beautiful-music-together" line suddenly became a reality in the Fairchild home-but ultimately, it's the rest of us who will benefit.