Kriti Mehrotra
Claire Stingl Sardina was merely a young girl growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when she developed an intense passion for music, only for it to remain unwavering as the years passed. Raised by a single mother in a household of six children, she found peace as a choir singer while attending Messmer High School, but she never could have imagined it would pave her future. All of this, along with much more, has been explored in the biographical musical drama ‘Song Sung Blue,’ leaving fans curious about her overall career trajectory as well as current net worth.
How Did Claire Sardina Earn Her Money?
While Claire Sardina reportedly hoped to pursue a career in music from an early age, she understood the reality of the industry and how difficult it can be for a singer to establish themselves. Therefore, upon graduating from high school, she chose to study Cosmetology at the two-year Milwaukee Area Technical College, all the while also actively figuring out who she is as an artist. She subsequently kick-started a career as a hairdresser and even began dabbling as a Barbra Streisand as well as a Patsy Cline tribute act, which gained her a lot of success in the early 1980s.
Claire knew she was on the right track, so she seized every possible opportunity she could and even blind auditioned for Don Ho impersonator Mike Sardina’s band Positive Traction in 1987. The audition sadly led nowhere at the time, but both their lives were completely turned upside down around two years later when they came across one another at the Wisconsin State Fair. According to records, it was she who suggested they could start a new Neil Diamond tribute band together during a conversation, which he loved so much that they got to work within days.
The band Lightning and Thunder was thus born, with the chemistry between Claire and Mike being so undeniable that they not only attracted big crowds but also soon fell head over heels. Over the years, not only did their musical act grow to the point where they were headlining local fairs, festivals, and other shows, but their relationship also evolved into a happy marriage. Unfortunately, things did change for them professionally a decade later because the mother of two (from a previous union) lost her left leg after a car ran over the front yard of her own home.
The incident obviously devastated Claire, but following extensive rehabilitation as well as support from loved ones, she was able to return to her love for performing with a prosthetic leg. In fact, with the moniker Thunder in the tribute act, she took to the stages of Wisconsin State Fair, Summerfest Music Festival, and several arenas as an opening act for bands like Pearl Jam. But alas, Lightning and Thunder ended in 2006 after Mike sadly passed away from complications of a head injury — she understandably did not want to go on with the band without him.
However, Claire herself has not stepped away from the industry; in fact, she has since launched a new act under the banner of Thunder After Lightning as an homage to her late husband. She does have a business partner/friend in this endeavor in the form of singer Toney Luciano, and together, they cover artists such as Abba, Blondie, and Patsy Cline, among many others. Thunder After Lightning’s sound is primarily disco-esc, enabling them to attract big crowds wherever they are hired, whether by local festivals, businesses, or fairs in the surrounding area.
Claire Sardina’s Net Worth
Since Claire Sardina has been actively working for over four decades as of writing, it goes without saying that she has definitely managed to accumulate significant wealth over the years. She has obviously chosen to keep the details of her finances well out of the limelight, so we unfortunately do not know much regarding her precise income, but we do have some estimates. From what we can tell, a tribute act used to earn roughly $20,000 to $30,000 a year in the 1980s, which increased to $30,000 to $40,000 in the 1990s. However, over the past couple of decades, tribute bands covering famous artists such as ABBA, Blondie, Neil Diamond, and Patsy Cline have been even more in demand. Thus, they can currently make up to $5,000 for a small show or $20,000 for a large show, enabling them to secure close to, at least, $70,000 a year. Taking all these aspects into account, along with her experience, her being the subject of ‘Song Sung Blue,’ and her potential assets, investments, returns, as well as expenses as both a mother and grandmother, we estimate Claire Sardina’s net worth to be $3 million.
Read More: Song Sung Blue: Are Sex Machine and Mark Shurilla Based on Real Musicians?
