Sandy started playing professionally at age 15 and continued working steadily in clubs during her undergraduate and graduate collegiate years. Turning full-time professional, she was on the road for 4 years where, she says, she earned "her doctorate in street music."

Returning to Memphis in 1983, Sandy opened Lafayette's Corner on the new Beale Street and headlined there for a year. During 1984, she recorded and released:"If You Got It" and "Memphis in May" produced by Jim Dickinson. She performed at the Memphis In May Festival with the Memphis Horns (with special guest, Rufus Thomas) and soloed in the Beale Street Music Festival. She sang the National Anthem and "Memphis In May" in front of 30,000 people at the Memphis Showboats Football game.

Sandy left Memphis for San Francisco to write and record for 3 years and then moved to Missouri to write music for an animated movie for kids, all the while performing at regional clubs, state fairs and festivals. She also released a single "You Are Not Forgotten" to call attention to missing POW's. In 1989 Albert King recorded "If You Got It" and in 1990 Sandy returned to Memphis where she released her first CD "Southern Woman." With this recording Sandy was invited to tour the United Kingdom both as a solo performer and with an English band for over a month. She performed at various festivals: Arts in the Park, Eureka Springs Blues Festival, Southern Heritage Festival, and always Beale Street clubs: Rum Boogie, Blues City, Black Diamond, Joyce Cobbs, Kings Palace & Blues Hall. One interesting gig was writing "Mad Dog Boogie", a football theme song used for the Memphis Mad Dog team.

During 1997, the great Luther Allison recorded "Just As I Am" and "It's A Blues Thing" on his last album, Reckless, which was nominated for a Grammy. Also during 1997, Sandy recorded and released her "Memphis Rain" CD which was honored by the Memphis and Shelby County Film and Music Commission. Performances and regular appeareances at Borders, Center for Southern Folklore, Elvis Presley's, and headlining WEVL's Blues on the Bluff, as well as, featured songwriter concerts in South Florida and the Home Shopping Network wrapped up the 1990s.