Sander Lloyd Nelson (December 1, 1938 – February 14, 2022) was an American

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

. Nelson, one of the best-known rock and modern

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

drummers of the late 1950s and early 1960s, had several solo instrumental

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

hits and released over 30 albums. He was a session drummer on many other well-known hits.Bob Cianci, ''Great Rock Drummers of the Sixties''. Hal Leonard Corporation, 2005, pp.120-131 He lived in Boulder City,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, where he continued to experiment with

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

on keyboards and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Life and career

Sander Lloyd Nelson was born in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

to Lloyd and Lydia Nelson on December 1, 1938. Nelson attended University High School with Jan Berry and Dean Torrence, who later became recording stars as

Jan and Dean Jan and Dean were an American rock music, rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940). In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf m ...

, and Kim Fowley. In 1959, Fowley produced Nelson's first recording, "Geronimo" by the Renegades (a band made up of Nelson, Richard Podolor,

Bruce Johnston Bruce Johnston (born Benjamin Baldwin; June 27, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who is a member of the Beach Boys. He also collaborated on many records with Terry Melcher (his bandmate in Bruce & Terry, the Rip Chords, and ...

, and songwriter Nick Venet). Although the single flopped on the national charts, it charted in some of the Mid West markets. The song featured in the 1959 film '' Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow'' released by

American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...

. After gaining respect as a session drummer, Nelson played on several hit singles including the Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is To Love Him" (1958), The Hollywood Argyles' " Alley Oop" (1960) and Kathy Young and the Innocents' " A Thousand Stars" (1960).Charlie Gillett, ''The Sound of the City: the rise of rock and roll''. Da Capo Press, 1996, p.104 His

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

recording "

Teen Beat ''Teen Beat'' was an American magazine geared towards teenager, teenaged readers, published 1967–. Over its history, the magazine had multiple teen idols on its cover, including John Travolta, David Cassidy, Leif Garrett, Menudo (band), Menud ...

", on Original Sound Records, rose to number 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1959. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. Subsequently, he signed with the Imperial label and pounded out two more

hits, " Let There Be Drums", which went to number 7 on the Hot 100, and "Drums Are My Beat". In December 1961 the British music magazine, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', reported that "Let There Be Drums" had gone Top 10 in both the United Kingdom and United States. All three were

s (a feat rarely repeated).

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

on these hits was played by co-writer Richard Podolor, later a

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

. Near the end of 1963, Nelson was in a motorcycle accident. The injuries necessitated amputation of his right foot and part of that leg. Nonetheless, Nelson continued to record into the early 1970s, releasing two or three albums a year, consisting of

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of popular hits plus a few original compositions. In September 2008, Nelson and a few friends, recording as Sandy Nelson and the Sin City Termites, released a new record of original compositions, ''Nelsonized'', on the independent Spinout label. Other band members included Eddie Angel (guitarist for Los Straitjackets), Remi Gits, and Billy Favata of Torturing Elvis. Nelson died in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

on February 14, 2022, at the age of 83 from complications of a stroke he had in 2017.

Discography

(with Billboard (BB) and Cashbox (CB) peak positions)

Singles

" (BB #4, CB #4) / Big Jump—Original Sound 5 (1959) *"Drum Party" / "Big Noise From Winnetka" — Imperial 5630 (1960) *"Party Time" / "The Wiggle" — Imperial 5648 (1960) *"Bouncy" / "Lost Dreams" — Imperial 5672 (1961) *"Cool Operator" / "Jive Talk" — Imperial 5708 (1961) *"Big Noise From The Jungle" / "Get With It" — Imperial 5745 (1961) *" Let There Be Drums" (BB #7, CB #9) / "Quite A Beat" — Imperial 5775 (1961) *"Drums Are My Beat" (BB #29, CB #57) / "The Birth Of The Beat" (BB #75) - Imperial 5809 (1962) *"Drummin' Up A Storm" (BB #67) / "Drum Stomp" (BB #86, CB #100) - Imperial 5829 (1962) *"All Night Long" (BB #75) / "Rompin' & Stompin'" - Imperial 5860 (1962) *"...And Then There Were Drums" (BB #65, CB #95) / "Live It Up" (BB #101) - Imperial 5870 (1962) *"Teenage House Party" / "Day Train" — Imperial 5884 (1962) *"Let The Four Winds Blow" (BB #107) / " Be Bop Baby" — Imperial 5904 (1962) *" Ooh Poo Pah Doo" / "Feel So Good" — Imperial 5932 (1963) *"You Name It" / "Alexes" — Imperial 5940 (1963) *"Here We Go Again" / "Just Bull" — Imperial 5965 (1963) *"Caravan" / "Sandy" — Imperial 5988 (1964) *"Drum Shack" / "Kitty's Theme" — Imperial 66019 (1964) *"Castle Rock" / "You Don't Say" — Imperial 66034 (1964) *"Teen Beat" '65 (BB #44, CB #37) / "Kitty's Theme" — Imperial 66060 (1964) *"Reach For A Star" (BB #133) / "Chop Chop" — Imperial 66093 (1965) *"Let There Be Drums '66" (BB #120) / "Land Of 1000 Dances" — Imperial 66107 (1965) *"Drums A Go Go" (BB #124) / "Casbah" — Imperial 66127 (1965) *"A Lover's Concerto" / "Treat Her Right" — Imperial 66146 (1965) *"Sock It To 'Em, J.B." / "The Charge" — Imperial 66193 (1966) *"Pipeline" / "Let's Go Trippin'" - Imperial 66209 (1966) *"The Drums Go On" / "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" — Imperial 66246 (1966) *"Peter Gunn" / "You Got The Hummin'" - Imperial 66253 (1966) *"Rebirth Of The Beat" / "The Lion In Winter" — Imperial 66350 (1969) *" Manhattan Spiritual" (BB #119) / "The Stripper" — Imperial 66375 (1969) *"Let There Be Drums And Brass" / "Leap Frog" — Imperial 66402 (1969) *"Sapporo '72" / (B-side unknown) -

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

50830 (1972, unreleased) *"Dance With The Devil" / "Sunshine Of My Life" — United Artists 383 (1974) *"Drum Tunnel" / "Boogie #5" — Veebletronics 1 (1984) *"Hunk Of Drums" / "Witch Hunt" — Veebletronics 2 (1984) *"A Drum Is A Woman" / "Boogie #5" — Veebletronics 3 (1984)

Albums

NOTE: There were separate Cashbox charts for stereo and mono albums until 1965 *''Sandy Nelson Plays Teen Beat'' - Imperial 9105 (Mono)/12044 (Stereo) (1960) ::Originally issued with white cover, later issued with red cover. Features re-recorded version of "Teen Beat" *''He's a Drummer Boy'' (Later retitled ''Happy Drums'') - Imperial 9136/12089 (1961) *''Let There Be Drums'' (BB #6) - Imperial 9159 (CB #7)/12080 (CB #17) (1962) *''Drums Are My Beat'' (BB #29) - Imperial 9168 (CB #24)/12083 (CB #31) (1962) *''Drummin' Up a Storm'' (BB #55) - Imperial 9187 (CB #82)/12189 (1962) *''Golden Hits'' (BB #106) - Imperial 9202/12202 (1962) *''Country Style''- Imperial 9203/12203 (1962) ::Reissued in 1966 as ''On The Wild Side'' *''Compelling Percussion'' - Imperial 9204/12204 (1962) ::Reissued in 1966 as ''...And Then There Were Drums'' *''Teenage House Party'' - Imperial 9215/12215 (1963) ::Reissued in 1966 with different cover *''The Best of the Beats'' - Imperial 9224/12224 (1963) ::Reissued in 1966 with different cover *''Beat That Drum'' - Imperial 9237/12237 (1963) *''Sandy Nelson Plays'' - Imperial 9249/12249 (1963) *''Be True to Your School'' - Imperial 9258/12258 (1964) *''Live! In Las Vegas'' (BB #122) - Imperial 9272 (CB #58)/12272 (1964) ::Despite the title, all tracks are studio recordings with live audience dubbed in *''Teen Beat '65'' (BB #135) - Imperial 9278/12278 (1965) *''Drum Discothèque'' (BB #120) - Imperial 9283/12283 (1965) *''Drums a Go-Go'' (BB #118, CB #82) - Imperial 9287/12287 (1965) *''Boss Beat'' (BB #126) - Imperial 9298/12298 (1966) *''"In" Beat'' (BB #148) - Imperial 9305/12305 (1966) *''Super Drums'' - Imperial 9314/12314 (1966) *''Beat That #!!@* Drum'' (CB #94) - Imperial 9329/12329 (1966) *''Cheetah Beat'' - Imperial 9340/12340 (1967) *''The Beat Goes On'' - Imperial 9345/12345 (1967) *''Soul Drums'' - Imperial 9362/12362 (1967) *''Teen Drums'' -

Sunset Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...

SUS-5166/SUM-1166 (1967) *''Boogaloo Beat'' - Imperial 9367/12367 (1968) *''Rock and Roll Revival'' - Imperial 12400 (1968) *''Rebirth of the Beat'' - Imperial 12424 (1969) *''Manhattan Spiritual'' - Imperial 12439 (1969) *''Groovy'' - Imperial 12451 (1970) *''Disco Dynamite'' - United Artists L35491 (1975)

Budget compilations

*''Walkin' Beat!'' - Sunset SUM-1114 (Mono)/SUS-5114 (Stereo) (1966) *''Teen Drums'' - Sunset SUM-1166/SUS-5166 (1967) *''And There Were Drums (Drums And More Drums)'' - Sunset SUS-5224 (1968) *''Heavy Drums'' - Sunset SUS-5261 (1969) *''Sandy Nelson Plays Fats Domino Hits'' - Sunset SUS-5291 (1970) *''Drums, Drums, Drums'' - Sunset SLS 50060 (Stereo) (1972)

References

Bibliography

Joel Whitburn Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in W ...

, ''Top 40 Hits'' *Marc Ribowsky, ''He's A Rebel'', 1989, Penguin Books,

External links

Sandy Nelson & The Sin City Termites on MySpaceDiscography at Instromania (in French)
*

Sandy Nelson biography Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname *Sandy (surname), a list of people *Sandy (Iranian music band), Iranian singer, compos ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

* *
Sandy Nelson -- Boulder City's cave man - Las Vegas Sun NewspaperSandy Nelson Interview
at NAMM Oral History Collection (2012) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Sandy 1938 births 2022 deaths American amputees Imperial Records artists Musicians from Santa Monica, California 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians The Teddy Bears members American male songwriters Drummers from California