Tuesday, October 24, 2006

RIP: Sandy West



Sandy West, drummer for the seminal girlpunk band the Runaways, dead at 47. Via CNN:


SAN DIMAS, California (AP) -- Sandy West, whose ferocious drumming fueled the influential all-female '70s rock band the Runaways, which she co-founded with Joan Jett, has died of lung cancer. She was 47.

West died Saturday night at a hospice in San Dimas, east of Los Angeles, her manager Mara Fox said. She was diagnosed a year ago.

West was only 16 when she started the Runaways in 1975 with Jett, a singer and guitarist.

Along with band members Lita Ford and Cherie Currie, they had such hits as "Cherry Bomb" and "Born to Be Bad."

"We shared the dream of girls playing rock and roll. Sandy was an exuberant and powerful drummer," Jett said in a statement. "I am overcome from the loss of my friend. I always told her we changed the world."




The Girls

1 comment:

dave said...

Jeez, I feel old... I remember getting that first Runaways elpee in the proto-punk summer of 1976, along with the Ramones first album, at my local Tower Records.

They're all dropping like flies, goddamit...