Randy Sparks (b. 29 July 1933, Leavenworth, Kansas) is a musician, singer-songwriter and founder of The New Christy Minstrels and The Back Porch Majority. 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. 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 by that same name. He wrote the song "Today" 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).Randy Sparks also sang the opening credits of the theme song of the movie 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.In 2009, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him and The New Christy Minstrels.
Randy and his second wife Diane Jergens have four children.
2
As of September 2008. He lives in Mokelumne Hill, California, a former gold mining town, with his wife Diane Jergens. They live in a historic building, which is also a museum of memorabilia of the gold rush days, and Diane occasionally tends bar at the Hole In The Wall Saloon, located in the downstairs of their home.
3
After many years of semi-retirement and running his California ranch, he recently re-formed a group of New Christy Minstrels alumni. This group tours under the name Randy Sparks and the Minstrels. [December 2002]
Sparks left the group in May 1963 after growing tired of the demands of arranging, managing, supervising the group, as well as performing. The group disbanded in 1971 after such minor hits as "Chim Chim Cheree" (#20) from the Mary Poppins (1964) soundtrack. He recently returned and performed with a revived group of "Minstrels."
6
One of the group's first hits was Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." Their debut album in 1962 for Columbia Records won a Grammy and went to #19 on the Billboard charts. A hit single off their second album, "Green, Green", hit #3 in 1963.
7
The New Christy Minstrels took their name from Christy's Minstrels, a performing group founded by Edwin Pearce Christy (1815-1862). In 1842 Christy, a Philadelphia-born showman, organized Christy's Minstrels, an ensemble that turned Negro spirituals, contemporary popular songs and seemingly anything else with a tune that could be carried into a huge sensation.
8
Singer and guitarist and folk musician who performed solo mixing folk music and Broadway tunes before the "folk craze" of 1958 (The Kingston Trio, The Highwaymen) had him founding the upbeat The New Christy Minstrels in the early 1960s.
Founder and first music director of the successful pop/folk chorus The New Christy Minstrels, he also wrote, or co-wrote, many of their biggest hits ("Green, Green", "Today" and "Saturday Night").
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark
$15 Million
