PASSINGS
Sparky Childress of Rockabilly Pioneers, The Sparkletones
SPARTANBURG, SC- Howard Childress
was only 14 years old when he and three other teenagers from Spartanburg County made their network television debut on “The Nat King Cole Show” in 1957. After Cole introduced The Sparkletones, a camera cut immediately to a close-up shot of Childress, whose boyish face was the first impression that most of America got of the early rock ‘n’ roll group best remembered for its smash hit, “Black Slacks.” Childress died Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019 at
his home in Chesnee, SC from complications caused by a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 76 years old. The youngest member of The Sparkle-
tones, Childress was known as “Sparky” and he electrified the audience with his rhythm guitar- playing and fancy footwork as the group tore through another of its songs, “Rocket,” followed by “Black Slacks,” during that first network TV appearance. In between the two songs, Childress
looked into the camera and said, “Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Now, we’d like to do for you our latest ABC-Paramount recording, and I hope y’all like it. So, here it is, ‘Black Slacks.'” The band, whose members at the time
ranged from ages 14 to 17, also included the late Joe Bennett on lead guitar, Wayne Arthur on bass and Jimmy Denton on drums. The Sparkletones are enshrined in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and were inducted into the Spartanburg Music Trail in 2013. “It’s a great loss,” Arthur said. “Just a
friend being gone is a loss. But he was ready to go, and at least he isn’t hurting anymore. … I was just telling his son, Dean, that I’d love to see what (Childress) and Joe are doing right now up in heaven.”
The Sparkletones, clockwise from top, were Joe Bennett, Wayne Arthur, Howard Childress and Jimmy Denton.
Denton said Childress was more than a band- mate; he was like “family.” “It’s devastating,” Denton said. “It broke
all of our hearts.” In addition to “The Nat King Cole Show,”
The Sparkletones also appeared on “American Bandstand” and “The Ed Sullivan Show” during their prime and once had the opportunity to meet Elvis Presley, who visited them in their dressing room following one of their many performances at the Royal Nevada Hotel in Las Vegas. “Black Slacks,” which peaked at No. 17 on
the Billboard Top 100 chart in 1957, is noted for its sputtering ‘bbbbbb’ intro, which Denton said was added by producer Don Costa after he heard Childress make the noise while coming in from the cold. “That (recording) was done in the winter-
time in New York, and the producer said, ‘hey, can y’all do that in harmony?'” Denton recalled with a laugh. Born on April 21, 1943 in the mill commu- nity of Clifton, Childress wrote The Sparkletones’
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