Sandy studied at Berklee School Of Music, and then moved to New York where she
played the role of Janis Joplin in a Broadway musical, did the rounds of the
piano bars, and played with Jaco Pastorius amongst others. She formed a band
with Mick Ronson which recorded two albums for Electra, and also had a solo
album produced by Dieter Meier of Yello. Since 1987 she's lived in London, working
with husband and guitarist Steve Bywater: I played double bass for a few tracks
on the 1996 album
Skating (Bonjour Records). Now signed to
One Little Indian,
Sandy has released three albums in recent years:
Electric Chair,
East
Overshoe and
Nobody's Sweetheart.
I worked on the first two of these, where Sandy and the band created a strikingly
original soundscape, mixing influences from Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Captain
Beefheart, blues, cajun, world music and free improv. The band included
Steve Bywater on electric guitar sonics,
Ray Majors
(ex-Mott The Hoople) on blues and slide guitar, Greek music maestro
George
Hadjineophytou on saz, banjo and percussion, multi-instrumentalist
Dave Coulter, and
myself on double bass.
I no longer work with Sandy, but you can find out more information at her
record
company site.
In Memoriam
Very sadly, Sandy's husband Steve Bywater died at the end of 2000, after
East Overshoe had been completed.
He is sorely missed.