By DAN ARMONAITIS
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 at his home in Chesnee from complications caused by a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 76 years old.
The youngest member of The Sparkletones, 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.”
Denton said Childress was more than a bandmate; 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 wintertime 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 community of Clifton, Childress wrote The Sparkletones’ 1958 song, “Cotton Pickin’ Rocker.” Like his bandmates, he was a graduate of Cowpens High School.
The earliest incarnation of The Sparkletones also included a female member named Sandra Vess but she was not part of the lineup that achieved international acclaim.
The Sparkletones’ meteoric rise to fame began in January 1957 when a CBS talent scout named Bob Cox came through Spartanburg to audition young performers for the television network. A talent competition was held at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, and The Sparkletones took first prize, which was an appearance on the “Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour.”
Cox was so impressed with the four teenage musicians that he resigned his position at CBS to become their manager. Soon, Childress and his bandmates, who had never been out of their home state before, were on a plane to New York and signed to the ABC-Paramount record label.
“These guys were rock stars even before Marshall Tucker came to town,” said Chesnee-based musician and producer Tim Lawter, a former member of the Marshall Tucker Band, who were also from Spartanburg. “Those cats were ‘bad.’ These fellows were playing rockabilly, and that was like speed metal back in those days… And you get your picture made with Elvis Presley, I mean, that’s pretty big.”
On a personal note, Lawter described Childress as having “the most crystal blue eyes I’ve ever seen on a human being.” Lawter added, “And they just sparkled because he always seemed so upbeat and positive.”
The Sparkletones even influenced a young Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, who, under the name Tom & Jerry, originally recorded music that was similar in spirit to that of the Spartanburg natives. As Simon & Garfunkel, they sang a snippet of “Black Slacks” during a 1969 performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, which was first released on the legendary folk-pop duo’s 1997 box set, “Old Friends.”
The Sparkletones’ lineup of Childress, Bennett, Arthur and Denton last performed together in 2011 when the group appeared at Viva Las Vegas, an internationally recognized convention that’s billed as “the biggest rockabilly party in the world.” The Sparkletones also did reunion shows in England in the early- to mid-2000s.
Although Childress spent more than four decades working for the Spartanburg-based Milliken and Company, he never lost his enthusiasm for music. As recently as the last year or two, he could be found playing at open pickin’ sessions at such venues as the Chesnee Opry House.
Childress also performed in bands with his older brother, Billy, who died in 1975. They played together in a pre-Sparkletones group called The Volts and a post-Sparkletones outfit billed as Howard Childress & the Clefs.
Childress was a close friend to such Spartanburg music icons as the late guitarist Hank Garland and the late banjo player Bobby Thompson, who became A-list session instrumentalists in Nashville.
Childress’ last onstage public appearance was earlier this year at the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, where he, Arthur, Denton and Randall Lark, who took over for Bennett in The Sparkletones, accompanied Greer-based singer-guitarist Brandon Turner at the sold-out release show for “There Goes the Neighborhood,” an album featuring local musicians performing songs written by Spartanburg native Randy Foster.
“Howard, for some reason, kind of took a liking to me,” said Turner, who first met Childress in the late 1990s. “Sometimes, he’d just call me out of the blue and say, ‘hey, how you doing?’ or ‘where are you playing?’ He was just a genuinely good and caring guy.
“He loved music and he loved guitars, but mostly he loved people. He really did.”
Cowpens-based singer-songwriter Matthew Knights said he, too, has fond memories of Childress. A few years ago, Knights — along with Turner and local musicians Freddie Vanderford and Shane Pruitt — formed a group called Mill Billy Blues that shared the stage with The Sparkletones twice at The Showroom at Hub-Bub in Spartanburg and once at the Chapman Cultural Center.
“It was a real honor and a real privilege to play with Howard and those guys,” Knights said. “He was always so open and would let you right in and would just encourage you so much. … Howard just stayed young with (music) and really enjoyed playing.”
In August 2018, The Sparkletones played a sold-out concert at the now-defunct Frank’s Coffee and Music Hall, an intimate performing space in the Gramling community of Inman. It wound up being Childress’ last full concert with the group.
“Howard had been in the Music Hall maybe three, four or five times prior to performing there that night, and he was just always so gracious,” said Frank Beeson, who operated the venue with his wife, Amy. “I never dreamed, with the size of our place, that we would actually be able to host something of that caliber.
“It was a memorable show. The place was packed. In fact, we had to turn people away. But for those who were there, it was like they were 17 years old again. It took them right back to the day when ‘Black Slacks’ was on the chart. And the band was so good.”
In a statement, Childress’ daughter, Kimberly Childress Ward, and his son, Dean Childress, wrote: “In addition to his love of family, our daddy’s passion for music was as strong as anything, and he was proud to be part of Spartanburg’s rich music history. He was always happiest with a guitar in hand and when playing with others.
“Our family would like to thank everyone for their immense outpouring of love and support during these past several months. Daddy always said that he admired the special bonds shared between generations of musicians in our community. We have truly felt that bond and are blessed beyond measure.”
We are so sad to hear of Howard’s death. He fought the good fight. Our prayers are with the family & friends.
I grew up with Howard and his cousin Carson in Clifton. I had not seen him recently but I heard that he was ill. I am so very sorry to hear of his passing, and my prayers go out to his family.