- Attended high school with Jan Berry and Dean Torrence, of Jan & Dean, Phil Spector and others who went on to careers in rock and roll.
- He played drums on the 1960 novelty song "Alley-Oop" by The Hollywood Argyles, which was actually a group of studio musicians and backup singers assembled by producer Gary Paxton. Nelson has said that by the time the song was ready to be recorded, everyone had been drinking cider all day and were completely drunk. Nevertheless, the song went to the #1 spot on the Billboard charts.
- Due to many of his vinyl albums having a woman pictured on the front cover, many record buyers got the impression that "Sandy" was a female artist.
- As of 2016, was living in Boulder City, NV.
- After gaining respect as a session drummer, he played on such songs as "To Know Him Is To Love Him" (Phil Spector's Teddy Bears, 1958), "Alley-Oop" (The Hollywood Argyles, 1960), and "A Thousand Stars" (Kathy Young and the Innocents, 1960).
- 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 versions of popular hits plus a few original compositions.
- He signed in 1960 with the Imperial label and pounded out two more Top 40 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, reported that "Let There Be Drums" had gone Top 10 in both the United Kingdom and United States. All three were instrumentals (a feat rarely repeated). Guitar playing on these hits was by co-writer Richard Podolor, later a songwriter and record producer.
- His instrumental recording "Teen Beat", 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.
- His principal importance is that he found a place for drum rock solos in hit instrumental singles, and the more reckless elements of his style no doubt influenced other musicians, such as surf drummers and, later, Keith Moon.
- Sandy Nelson was the biggest -- and one of the few -- star drummers of the late '50s and early '60s era in which instrumental rock was at its peak.
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