The Music

The Music with Sandy Kastel

Someone forgot to tell Sandy Kastel that you can't have it all...

Sandy Kastel is a singer, songwriter and author. As a result, Sandy enjoys a successful career as a multi-genre entertainer. This former Miss Nevada and Miss America contestant also runs her own record label, publishing company and enjoys sharing what she has learned with others as a motivational speaker, giving seminars and working one-on-one with young women who have dreams of becoming the next Miss America. Kastel is not the typical beauty queen and there is nothing typical or predictable about this recording artist.

Whenever Sandy performs, her optimistic personality, enthusiasm and warm smile are contagious and anyone who has seen her shows will tell you she's “one hundred percent performer and friendly to everyone she meets.” These are a just few of the attributes that make Sandy successful in all her endeavors.

When Sandy's parents met, it was a true case of jazz meets country. Sandy, born in San Francisco, was barely two weeks old when she experienced her first cross-country flight, as her mother, artist Wanda Jean Armstrong, boarded an airplane with Sandy to join her father, saxophonist, Dick Kastel, who was in the Army Air Force Band in Washington, D.C. Sandy has been traveling ever since.

After leaving the service, Sandy's father toured for few years with big bands in the Midwest, where Sandy's sister, Linda was born in St. Louis, Missouri. When Sandy was almost four, her parents bought a home in Mesquite, a small town outside of Dallas, Texas, close to where her mother was born and raised, where Sandy experienced the influences of country music, down-home values and patriotism that would help mold Sandy's personality and love of country music.

When her father joined the Harry James Band he moved his family to Las Vegas, the Entertainment Capital of the World, where Sandy decided she wanted to be a performer on the big stage. A benefit of her father playing in the showrooms of the Hotels was watching the great entertainers perform such as Sinatra & the Rat Pack, An Margret and Elvis Presley. While she watched from the light booth, Sandy learned from the best.

As Sandy Kastel entered the professional world of entertainment she performed in many of the Las Vegas lounges and showrooms, in production shows, musicals, plays, commercials, television and film. She has toured the US and Canada, parts of Europe and Asia. In 2007 she released This Time Around, paying tribute to the great performers she watched as a child and Only In Las Vegas, the companion album to her television show, The Event.

In 2009 Sandy teamed up with industry heavy hitters, Ron Aniello, Multi-Platinum, Grammy nominated record producer (Lifehouse, Jars of Clay, Patty Scialfa), two time Grammy winning bassist, Jimmy Haslip (YellowJackets, Bruce Hornsby, Chaka Khan) and legendary Grammy nominated jazz keyboardist, Jeff Lorber (Kenny G, Michael Franks, Amy Winehouse).

Sandy Kastel has come full circle returning to her country roots, writing songs for her album, contributing to the book Life Choices: Navigating Difficult Paths and sharing her experiences and stories with other young women in her books and seminars. Sandy is "just a country girl in a big city world."

INDIANA RAIN is the result of combining Kastel's multi-cultural musical background with what happens "when life takes a detour." Keep your eyes on INDIANA RAIN – Sandy Kastel will never fail to take you on a journey…