Randy Sparks

Randy Sparks
Randy Sparks in 1964
Background information
Birth name Lloyd A. Sparks[1]
Born (1933-07-29) July 29, 1933
Leavenworth, Kansas, United States
Genres folk
Instruments guitar, banjo
Years active 1958–current
Associated acts The New Christy Minstrels, The Back Porch Majority

Randy Sparks (born 29 July 1933, Leavenworth, Kansas) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and founder of The New Christy Minstrels and The Back Porch Majority.

Biography

Sparks grew up in Oakland, California, and attended the University of California at Berkeley. His first musical engagement was at the Purple Onion in San Francisco.[2] In the late 1950s, he had a solo career and released two albums on the Verve label, a self-titled album in 1958 and Walking the Low Road in 1959. The single "Walkin' The Low Road" had previously reached the Cashbox magazine Top 60.

In 1960, he formed a trio called "The Randy Sparks Three" and had an album of the same name. He wrote the song "Today"[3] which was a hit for the New Christy Minstrels for their 1964 album of the same title for Columbia Records (CL 2159/CS 8959) and he wrote "Green, Green" with Barry McGuire for the 1963 album Ramblin (CL 2055/CS 8855).[4]

Sparks had the starring role in a 1960 film drama, The Big Night.

Sparks also sang the opening credits of the theme song of the 1958 film Thunder Road. In an email to DJ Allyn in 2009, he explains how Robert Mitchum had asked that he play his kid brother in the movie and writing the music, but ended up just singing the theme song written by Mitchum.[5]

In 2009, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him and The New Christy Minstrels.[6]

References

  1. ↑ BMI.com Accessed 2011-04-12.
  2. ↑ The New Christy Minstrels in Person, Columbia CL 1941, liner notes.
  3. ↑ allmusic.com Accessed 2011-04-12.
  4. ↑ allmusic.com Accessed 2011-04-12.
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-11-11. Retrieved 2012-10-15. DJ Allyn The Soundtrack of My Life
  6. ↑ Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated Archived 2012-10-13 at the Wayback Machine.


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