“For years and years, he was a territorial band. He would then begin working to make a name for himself, as future Welk show star Bobby Burgess explained. “And I told my father if he would buy me the real good accordion, the best accordion that’s available, I would stay on the farm until I was 21 years of age.Īnd I waited four years for that day to come up,” Welk said. “I wanted a good accordion because the reeds kept breaking on those cheap accordions all the time,” Lawrence Welk said in a television interview in 1980. Growing up, Lawrence decided he wanted to become a musician and asked his father to buy him the instrument he would play for the rest of his life. He didn’t learn to speak English until he was 21. He would leave the fourth grade and work full-time on the farm. In March of 1903, Lawrence was born to German parents who came from Russia. For these reasons and more, once upon a time, the studio audience and now the home audience tap their toes watching The Lawrence Welk Show.īefore being in millions of homes across the nation, however, Lawrence Welk could be seen with his family at his home in Strasburg. That signature accent, the way he swung his baton and of course the sounds and steps of his brightly outfitted musical family. Although now only seen in re-runs, 70 years later, in this two-part series, we’ll hear from those who knew Lawrence Welk best, to find out why he’s still seen on television, which fans consider “Wunnerful.” That music and the man leading it would eventually capture the eyes and ears of the nation, not to mention its feet.
Though he wouldn’t hit the national airwaves until 1955, a son of North Dakota went on the air in California in 1951 with what would become known as his champagne music.
0 kommentar(er)
