Drummer, singer, songwriter and guitarist Sandy West was born as Sandy Pesavento on July 10, 1959 in Long Beach, California and was raised in Huntington Beach. The most athletic of seven sisters, Sandy was an avid surfer and water skier. West began playing the violin as a kid, but soon switched to drums at age nine after her grandfather bought her...
[on her time as a member of The Runaways] Now that I look back even the rough times were good. How many teenage girls get to do what we did in a lifetime? We used to stick together, go to bat for each other, support each other. A lot of people think all we did was fight with each other, but that's not true. We had a lot of great times.
#
Fact
1
Time magazine described her as a "pioneering rock drummer".
2
Following her untimely death, she was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, Orange County, California.
3
Unable to support herself as a musician, she worked mostly in construction as well as a small amount of time as both a bartender and a veterinary assistant in order to keep herself afloat.
Her mother is shown interviewed throughout the documentary Edgeplay (2004) talking about her daughter's involvement in the band, The Runaways.
6
She was the drummer for the 1970s teenage/all-female rock group The Runaways...which also featured rock star Joan Jett, heavy metal star Lita Ford, and actress/rock star Cherie Currie.
$1.1 Million
