Dhaima was born Sandra Lucille on April 27, 1949 as
the first child to John and Susie Matthews. She grew
up in Nashville, Tennessee and though she graduated
from San Jose State University, she proudly reminded
the world that she was a graduate of Nashville`s Pearl
High School.

Sandra wrote her first song at the precocious age of
nine and was only twelve when she boldly walked,
unannounced, into the executive offices of Tree Music
Publishing and told them she was ready to make a deal.
She earned early recognition as a member of "The
Buttons" a singing group that consisted of Sandra and
Her teenage friend, Connie Burns. They recorded several
songs for Columbia Records. Some of their best
efforts are "Walk Away Girl" and "Pretty Little Love
Lights".

The charged atmosphere of the Sixtie`s civil rights
and peace movements served as the backdrop that set
the scene for her metamorphosis. The emergence of
Dhaima was more than a name change. Los Angeles was
the site of the new birth. Choosing the name "Dhaima"
(which means "love lives forever") was evidence of
Sandra`s new commitment to living her art as opposed
to simply performing it. Six years of bliss with
Wallace Allen produced their daughter Myshjua Loyhe,
their son Kahahn Wha-lee, and a permanent bond that
evolved into an abiding kinship.

She set the pace and the curve in many arenas.
Her mode of dress became astandard by
which `hip` was described. She was one of
the original hair sculptresses who pioneered the
braiding blitz that has become the fashion statement
that crossed the millennium. As an art major, hair
sculpture, painting, and pottery were some of the
living projects that earned her credits for college
graduation.

Following her graduation from San Jose
State University, and a short stay in the Bahamas where
she taught elementary school, Dhaima took a job at
United Artists Publishing in Hollywood. It was a move
that would forever change her life. Through her job
at UAP she encountered the profoundly spiritual
Rastafarian movement and the music of The Honorable
Robert Nesta Marley, O.M. Dhaima heard her calling in
the soulful melodies of reggae music and formed an
immediate bond with Bob and Rita Marley that would
endure throughout her life. Jamaica became her
spiritual home and she became an `unofficial` member
of reggae`s first family.

She felt that reggae was the last of the
`truth` music and as such became the medium
of her new musical expression. Her tenure as a
recording artist for Joe Gibbs Music in Kingston,
Jamaica produced a notable discography which included
two hit singles, "Inna Jah Children" and "A True" (a
duet with legendary reggae crooner Dennis Brown) both
of which topped the charts in the UK. She also made
history as the first American to host the hit Jamaican
television program Where It`s At.

Upon her return to Los Angeles she demonstrated
the continuum of her painting endeavor
with a twenty-piece art exhibit titled,
"The Color Of Love". Not long after, her
renaissance spirit attracted the attention of
struggling actor Philip Michael Thomas. Bolstered
by her faith, encouragement and insistence, he went to
the audition that landed him his career-defining role
as the second lead, Ricardo Tubbs, in the television
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