* En anglais uniquement
Drummer
Sandy West co-founded the groundbreaking all-female hard rock band
the Runaways in tandem with her friend
Joan Jett. Born Sandy Pesavento in Long Beach, CA on July 10, 1959,
West mostly grew up in nearby Huntington Beach, and started playing the drums at age 9. She remained with
the Runaways throughout their 1975-1979 existence, and by all accounts never quite got over the band's breakup. Initially, she and
Runaways guitarist
Lita Ford attempted to form another project, which fell through when the duo failed to find compatible musicians.
West subsequently formed the
Sandy West Band and issued one solo EP titled The Beat Is Back. She continued to gig locally throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, but unlike
Jett,
Ford, or singer (and future actress)
Cherie Currie, she never managed to parlay her
Runaways notoriety into a full-time career. This was due in part to her battles with drug and alcohol addiction, which took their toll on her ability to make a living. In the 2004
Runaways documentary Edgeplay,
West talked about trying to make ends meet through construction jobs, and alluded to a time spent as a money collector for drug dealers. Although she reunited with
Currie and
Jackie Fox for a one-off concert in 1994, the full-fledged
Runaways reunion she'd hoped for never came together. In a tragic end to
West's already sad post-
Runaways story, she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005, and succumbed to the disease on October 21, 2006.