Sandy West

Birth Name:

Sandra Sue Pesavento

Birth Date:

July 10, 1959

Birth Place:

Long Beach, California

Death Date:

October 21, 2006

Place of Death:

San Dimas, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Lung cancer

Cemetery Name:

Forest Lawn Memorial Park

Claim to Fame:

Music

Associates:

Kim Fowley

Sandy West's ferocious drumming fueled the influential all-female ’70s rock band the Runaways which she co-founded with Joan Jett. Along with band members Lita Ford, Cherie Currie and Jackie Fox, they had such hits as "Cherry Bomb", "Hollywood", "Queens of Noise" and a cover version of the Velvet Underground's "Rock & Roll". Never a major success in the United States, the Runaways became a sensation overseas, especially in Japan, thanks to the single "Cherry Bomb" as headliners with Cheap Trick and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers opening for them. The band never achieved mainstream success due to the mismanagement of pedophile / rapist (indisputable facts verified by countless victims) and manager of the Runaways Kim Fowley. After four short years the Runaways broke up and Sandy West continued sporadically in the music business but never achieved the level fame that Joan Jett and Lita Ford enjoyed post-Runaways.

Not So Fun Fact

After a concert in Orange County, California 36-year-old Kim Fowley, band manager and agent for the Runaways, raped 16-year-old Jackie Fox with multiple witnesses including Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Cherie Currie and Sandy West. None of her bandmates came to her defense.

Jackie Fox went back to her birth name of Fuchs, graduated with her Juris Doctor from Harvard University, where Barack Obama was one of her classmates. She speaks Italian and French, as well as conversational Greek and Spanish and is one of the top entertainment lawyers in Hollywood today.

And if that’s not bad enough, Joan Jett gave the eulogy at the funeral for Kim Fowley.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Forest Lawn Memorial Park

4471 Lincoln Avenue

Cypress, California, 90630

USA

North America

Map:

Cemetery map of Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, California

Grave Location:

Garden of Protection, Block 20, Lot 4324, Space 3

Grave Location Description

As you drive through the gates of Forest Lawn (bor-ring) go straight and turn right on Memory Lane, right on Cypress Drive and then left on Guardian Drive. Stop halfway down at the point where the low wall indents on the left (even with the statue of David in the distance on your left). Go up the short steps and turn to the right and find a large pine tree and you will find Sandy West is buried just one row behind (west) and slightly to the north of the pine tree.