1963 - 1969
The Sparks started as a group when some young boys got together to make music. As was the case in the rest
of the Netherlands and other countries as well. Twan van Well, a real Shadows fan together with Piet Hoebers
and Ben Fransen, completed with drummer Loetje Vollenberg, started playing together. First they had only
instrumental covers from the Shadows later when Ben Hermsen joined the group other non-instrumental songs
were added to the repertoire.
They became very succesful in the south of Holland and the German region just across the border. Also they
won several talent scouting contests and even made a demo-record for the Polygram studios but it was never
released.
A year or so later the group changed a bit. Drummer Loetje Vollenberg was replaced by Frans Derks and Jan
Soberje joined as piano/organ player. Still a year or so later Hay Hoebers joined the band when Ben Franssen
had to join the army.
1970-1990
The group stopped as a band which played every week because people started studying, got married or started
a business. Still they came together on special occasions to do a performance.
1990-2015
The Sparks really started their second career after the first Beatnight in Horst. Six groups came together
in a kind of reunion concert and played in a sold out Merthal for 1700 enthousiast people. The Sparks were
one of the groups performing here and got so many reactions that they decided to play on. This has been
going on for some 12 years now. In those years the Sparks released three CD's. Drummer Frans Derks decided
to stop and was replaced by Bert Voesten. Bassplayer Ben Franssen had to stop for health reasons and was
replaced by Peter Verberne. The rest of the group remained the same as in the early years.
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