Sandy Nelson

Description

Sandy Nelson (born Sander L Nelson, 1 December 1938, in Santa Monica, California) is a famous drummer.<p>His song "Teen Beat", released on Original Sound Records, rose to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1959. Subsequently he signed with the Imperial record label, and pounded out two more Top 40 hits, "Let There Be Drums", which went to #3 in the UK Singles Chart, and "Drums Are My Beat". All three were instrumentals (a feat rarely repeated).<p>He attended high school with Jan Berry, Dean Torrence (who together became Jan and Dean), and Kim Fowley. After gaining respect as a session drummer, he played on such well-known songs as "To Know Him Is To Love Him" (Phil Spector's Teddy Bears, 1958), "Alley-Oop" (The Hollywood Argyles, 1960), "A Thousand Stars" (Kathy Young and the Innocents, 1960) and many more.<p>Near the end of 1963, Nelson was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. The resulting injuries necessitated amputation of his right foot and part of that same leg. Nonetheless, he...