Lawrence Welk
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Born

  • March 11, 1903
  • Strasburg, ND

Died

  • May 17, 1992
  • Santa Monica, CA

Marriages / Children

  • Fern Renner (1931)
  • Shirley (b. 1932)
  • Donna (b. 1937)
  • Lawrence (b. 1940)

Theme Song

  • Bubbles in the Wine

Lawrence Welk

Best remembered for his weekly television program, Lawrence Welk was clearly the king of dance music. With his familiar ''a-one, a-two'' he kicked off his particular brand of ''Champagne Music,'' which still echoes today in reruns on public television. Though his music is often thought of as corny or ''Mickey Mouse,'' Welk always said he knew what the people wanted and gave it to them. His continuing popularity long after other orchestra leaders had faded into the pages of history proved he knew what he was doing.

Born to immigrant parents in North Dakota and raised on a farm, Welk spoke only German in his early life and dropped out of school after the fourth grade. His first accordion was a handed-down family heirloom. He soon earned enough money selling pelts to buy a new one for $15, and by age 17 had decided on a career as a musician. His eye on a $400 mail-order accordion, Welk made a deal with his father. If his father would buy the accordion, he promised to remain on the family farm until he was 21, repaying the debt out of his earnings. He kept his promise and on the day he turned 21 headed to nearby Aberdeen, South Dakota, to find work.

Welk's inability to read music proved a critical handicap in his job search, so when he was offered the chance to tour with an orchestra he accepted without hesitation. Though the bandleader often failed to pay salaries at the end of the week he was learning to read music. After leaving the orchestra he spent time leading small bands, often for one night only, before joining the vaudeville troupe the Peerless Entertainers. It was with this group of performers that he learned the value of variety and versatility -- elements that later helped his success on television.

When the group broke up in 1927 he and three other former members decided to head to New Orleans. They stopped in Yankton, South Dakota, overnight, and Lawrence, by chance, managed to line up a thirty minute radio broadcast on WNAX. Listener response was tremendous and he was offered a one-week contract, which stretched out to three years. Welk also served as station manager. After leaving the station, he toured the Northern Plains states, later returning to WNAX for another three-year engagement. It was in Yankton where he met his wife, Fern, who was a nurse. They were married during a one-night engagement in Sioux City, Iowa.

A few months later the orchestra traveled from Wisconsin to Phoenix for a date at the Mirador Ballroom only to find the building boarded up when they arrived. Welk had spent all his cash reserves on the trip and was forced to pawn his diamond ring in order to feed his group. He convinced the ballroom's owners to re-open by promising to assume responsibility for any losses. After four weeks of capacity crowds the ballroom was back in business and Welk had his ring back, the very same ring that he can be seen wearing on his television program.

In 1940 Welk began a nine-year association with the Trianon Ballroom in Chicago, after which he returned to touring the country. In 1951, while traveling from northern California to a date in Texas, he stopped in Los Angeles to visit the manager of the Aragon Ballroom. The ballroom was on hard times and Welk offered to skip his Texas engagement and play at the Aragon for four weeks at union scale and a 50-50 split of the gate.

It turned out to be the best move he ever made. Local television station KTLA had been doing a weekly program from the ballroom. Welk's first broadcast was a huge success and the station committed for the full four weeks. After fulfilling his commitments on the road Welk returned to the Aragon, where he remained for ten years, until 1961, when he moved to the Hollywood Palladium.

His local television program was picked up by ABC in 1955 and became one of the top-rated programs on the network until it was cancelled in 1970. Welk continued producing the program in syndication for eleven more years, and a stage version of it continues in production to this day at the Welk Resort Center and Champagne Theatre in Branson, Missouri. Lawrence Welk died of pneumonia at his home in 1992.