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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZWELK, Lawrence(b 11 March 1903, Strasburg ND; d 17 May 1992, Santa Monica CA) Accordionist, bandleader. Began leading polka/sweet dance bands in the 1920s; had about 20 hits with 'champagne music' including 'Bubbles In The Wine' '39 (the band's theme); others were no. 2 'Don't Sweetheart Me' '44 (vocal by Wayne Marsh) backed with top 20 'Mairzy Doats' (vocal by Bobby Beers), a nonsense song that had five hit versions that year, and 'Shame On You' '45, with a vocal by Red Foley, was Welk's last hit until '53. He had a regional TV show from '51, went national mid-'55 and stayed until the 1970s, becoming one of the biggest things on the tube with musical variety. He was a figure of fun for his corny music and for what appeared to be a Czech accent, but he was in fact a shrewd hard-working musician whose highly competent band could and did play anything; the secret of the programme was constant music, unrelieved by chat or celebrity egos. When he began recording for Dot in 1960, label boss Randy Wood allegedly advised him to play music for listening rather than dancing, and his success continued to rise. When ABC-TV cancelled the TV show in 1971 Welk produced it himself and it was carried by more stations than before. Myron Floren was the featured accordionist (d 23 July 2005, aged 85); singers included the Lennon Sisters, Joe Feeney (d 16 April 2008, Carlsbad CA aged 76), Norma Zimmer, Alice Lon, Larry Hooper (with a sepulchral voice: his cover of Don Howard's 'Oh Happy Day' was Welk's return to the national singles charts). Jazzmen playing with the band included Dick Cathcart on trumpet, Pete Fountain and Peanuts Hucko on clarinet, Mahlon Clark on reeds; the band later recorded with Johnny Hodges on Dot. Twenty more hit singles '56-65 included a no. 1 instrumental 'Calcutta' '60, with Frank Scott on harpsichord. But Welk sold albums: 42 made the top 200 in 1956; having recorded for Vocalion, OKeh and Decca on 78s he reached his fame with albums on Coral (a Decca subsidiary), then switched to Dot '60 and had several more top ten LPs. The sound of the programmes and the records was always technically excellent. His California Ranwood label specialized in keeping things in print that major labels wouldn't bother with; there were still four dozen Welk CDs in print years after his death, including most of the hit sets from earlier years. His best-selling autobiography was Wunnerful, Wunnerful. |