He signed with Decca in 1941, then recorded for Mercury and Coral for small periods of time before moving to Dot in 1959. These records are quite rare and highly valued.įrom 1938 to 1940, he recorded frequently in New York and Chicago for the Vocalion label. In November, 1928, he recorded 4 sides for Gennett spread over two days (1 side was rejected) and in 1931, he recorded 8 sides for Paramount (during two sessions) that were issued on the Broadway and Lyric labels. In addition to the above-mentioned "Spiked Beer", Welk's territory band made occasional trips to Richmond, Indiana and to Grafton, Wisconsin to record a handful of sessions for the Gennett and Paramount companies. The record (Decca 18698) was #4 to Cooley's #5 on Billboard's September 15 "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" listing. From 1949 through 1951, the band had its own national radio program on ABC, sponsored by "The Champagne of Bottle Beer"Miller High Life. In 19, Welk led his orchestra in many motion picture "Soundies," considered to be the early pioneers of music videos. Welk collaborated with Western artist Red Foley to record a version of Spade Cooley's "Shame on You" in 1945.
His orchestra also performed frequently at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City during the late 1940s. In the early 1940s, the band began a 10-year stint at the Trianon Ballroom in Chicago, regularly drawing crowds of nearly 7,000. Welk's big band performed across the country but particularly in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. We play with a steady beat so that dancers can follow it." We place the stress on melody the chords are played pretty much the way the composer wrote them. Welk described his band's sound, saying "We still play music with the champagne style, which means light and rhythmic.
#LAWRENCE WELK CAST IN 1968 MOVIE#
The term "Champagne Music" was derived from an engagement at the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, when a dancer referred to his band's sound as "light and bubbly as champagne." The hotel also lays claim to the original "bubble machine," a prop left over from a 1920s movie premiere. They were too poor to rent rooms, so they usually slept and changed clothes in their cars. Initially, the band traveled around the country by car. "Spiked Beer" featured Welk and his Novelty Orchestra.ĭuring the 1930s, Welk led a traveling big band that specialized in dance tunes and "sweet" music (during this period, bands which played light, melodic music were referred to as "sweet bands" to distinguish them from the more rhythmic and assertive "hot" bands of artists like Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington). In 1927, he graduated from the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Īlthough many associate Welk's music with a style quite separate from jazz, he did record one notable song in a ragtime style in November 1928 for Richmond, Indiana-based Gennett Records. These included the Hotsy Totsy Boys and later the Honolulu Fruit Gum Orchestra. His band was also the station band for popular radio station WNAX in Yankton, South Dakota. He ledbig bands in North Dakota and eastern South Dakota. During the 1920s, he performed with various bands before starting his own orchestra. On his 21st birthday, having fulfilled his promise to his father, Welk left the family farm to pursue a career in music, which he loved.
Any money he made elsewhere during that time, doing farmwork or performing, would go to his family. Welk decided on a career in music and persuaded his father to buy a mail-orderaccordion for $400 (equivalent to $4,725 in 2015) He promised his father that he would work on the farm until he was 21, in repayment for the accordion. Growing up speaking German and English, Welk left school during fourth grade to work full-time on the family farm. They spent the cold North Dakota winter of their first year inside an upturned wagon covered in sod. The family lived on a homestead, which is now a tourist attraction. (Welk's mother and Schweitzer's paternal grandmother were siblings.) Welk's grandparents, Moritz and Magdalena Welk, emigrated in 1808 from Alsace-Lorraine to Ukraine. He was sixth of the eight children of Ludwig and Christiana (Schwahn) Welk, ethnic Germans who emigrated to America in 1892 fromOdessa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). Lawrence Welk was a first cousin, once removed, of former Montana governor Brian Schweitzer.
Welk was born in the German-speaking community of Strasburg, North Dakota. Shirley Welk, Donna Welk, Lawrence "Larry" Welk, Jr. His style came to be known to his large number of radio, television, and live-performance fans (and critics) as "champagne music". Lawrence Welk (Ma– May 17, 1992) was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951 to 1982.
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