Sparkle Moore – Nostalgia Central

Rockabilly bombshell Sparkle Moore was born Barbara Morgan on 6 November 1936 in Omaha, Nebraska.

The quintessential bad girl, she dressed in leather (and often in men’s clothes), with her short blonde hair greased back in an Elvis Presley-style pompadour.

Taking her stage name from the Dick Tracy comic strip character Sparkle Plenty (who also had long blonde hair), she was “discovered” by Omaha disk jockey Grahame Richards at KOWH and signed to the Cincinnati-based Fraternity label to issue her debut single featuring two of her own compositions, the hiccupping Rock-a-Bop b/w Skull and Cross Bones, in late 1956.

Although still just 17 years old, she toured America in support of the record, even opening for Gene Vincent at the peak of his fame.

The sultry “Killer b/w Tiger” followed in 1957, but Moore learned she was pregnant soon after and abruptly quit performing to become Barbara again and focus on raising a family.

A 22-track CD of home recordings – Spark-A-Billy – was released in 2010.