Parks was born in
Philadelphia, the son of a psychiatrist. Carson's early musical training began as a student at the internationally acclaimed
American Boychoir School (formerly known as The Columbus Boychoir School). After attending
Phillips Academy in
Andover, Massachusetts, the
University of Miami and then
Carnegie Mellon University, he began working in Los Angeles. In 1959, with college friend Bernie Armstrong, he formed the Steeltown Two and first recorded for the small Gini label. The duo also worked as one half of a reformed version of
Terry Gilkyson's band,
The Easy Riders, and in 1960 they performed on the soundtrack of the
John Wayne film
The Alamo. The pair also worked as The Kinsmen with singer Bud Dashiell, before Parks left in 1962. He then formed a new version of the Steeltown Two, with his younger brother,
Van Dyke Parks, occasionally adding singer Pat Peyton as the Steeltown Three and the Southcoasters. Following the success of
The New Christy Minstrels, Gilkyson and the Parks brothers formed a choral group, the Greenwood County Singers, featuring five men and two women. They released four albums on
Kapp Records between 1963 and 1965, later becoming known as The Greenwood Singers and finally The Greenwoods. The group had two minor hits, "Please Don't Sell My Daddy No More Wine" reaching number #64 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in 1966, and included singer Gaile Foote, whom Carson Parks married. =="Somethin' Stupid"==