Randy Sparks

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.

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.

His first wife, Jackie Miller, was one-half of Jackie and Gayle (Gayle Caldwell) and was part of the original ten-member lineup of The New Christy Minstrels in 1961. Gayle came in later as a replacement.

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.

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."

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]

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.