Standing at five foot, two inches, Susan Wendelken loves to allow a new audience to underestimate her. Appearances are deceiving; she just needs you to hear her voice once, and then she owns you.
Susan began singing in clubs in 1989 with an array of New York area bands. She received countless accolades from local, national, and international publications for her work with the band One Step Beyond. The band received airplay on many radio stations, and was played on The Howard Stern Show. Among other honors, One Step Beyond was chosen to open for Black Sabbath on the Levi's sponsored local band stage at the Jones Beach Theater. Their music was featured in an award winning independent film, "Playing With Mr. Greeley" and in "The X Games". After a showcase at Rockergrl music festival in Seattle, Courtney Love called Susan "charismatic".
Susan has worked with many great local acts as well as members of national acts like King Missile, White Trash, and Grammy nominated artist Joaquin Lievano. In 1999, she joined the celtic-rock band ALTERnaTRAD and began playing the local Irish music scene. Their combination of traditional Irish music and rock & roll struck a chord with the press and soon generated a sizeable fan base. They played all the major festivals and opened for high profile Irish artists like Shane McGowan, Blink and The Revs. Susan has also shared the stage with many big names on the Irish scene, including Paddy Noonan, musicians from Riverdance, The Lord of The Dance, members of The Whole Shebang, Cherish The Ladies, The Prodigals and Steve Holloway, whose percussion was featured in the soundtrack to the motion picture, "The Brothers McMullen". Most recently, she performed alongside Sean O'Connor from Thin Lizzy.
Susan works as a session singer and is the featured female vocalist for the Andy Cooney Band as well as occasionally sitting in with popular Irish acts like Celtic Cross and Billy Keenan's Primetime Showband.
She can also be seen fronting the irish-rock project The Ride
as well as fronting the all-female heavy metal band Dormitory Effect
Recent media appearances include the "Jim Breuer Unleashed" show on Sirius Satellite Radio.
