Sandra Denton "Pepa" was born in Kingston, Jamaica on November 7, 1964. Her family moved to Queens, New York, when she was a child. In 1985, while studying nursing at Queens Borough College, she met Cheryl 'Salt' James. They began rapping together. In 1986, they formed Salt-N-Pepa. Sandra made her debut that year, along with Cheryl, on an album called 'Hot, Cool, & Vicious'. In 1988, Spinderella joined Salt-N-Pepa, as their D.J. Sandra, Cheryl and 'Dee Dee' made their second album, 'A Salt with a Deadly Pepa', in 1988. In 1990, Sandra had her first child, named Tyran. Since then, she has made a guest appearance on Ricki Lake (1992), teaching teens the responsibilities of being a teenage mother.