Lawrence Welk was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as "champagne music" to his radio, television, and live-performance audiences.
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 23, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, and 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves, among other purposes, as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The hall is a compromise between a vineyard-style seating configuration, like the Berliner Philharmonie by Hans Scharoun, and a classical shoebox design like the Vienna Musikverein or the Boston Symphony Hall.
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 1955 to 1971, followed by 11 years in first-run syndication from 1971 to 1982. Repeat episodes are broadcast in the United States by PBS stations. These airings incorporate an original program — usually, a color broadcast from 1965 to 1982 — in its entirety. In place of the commercials, newer performance and interview clips from the original stars and/or a family member of the performers are included; these clips are occasionally updated.
Edwin LeMar "Buddy" Cole was a jazz pianist, organist, orchestra leader, and composer. He played behind a number of pop singers, including Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby.
An organ recital is a concert at which music specially written for the organ is played.
Johnathan Zell is an American musician, best known as a trumpeter from The Lawrence Welk Show, a musical, variety-show television series.
Norma Zimmer was an American vocalist, best remembered for her 22-year tenure as Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady" on The Lawrence Welk Show.
Lawrence "Bullfrog" Hooper was an American musician and vocalist. He was best known to television audiences as part of The Lawrence Welk Show as a featured singer and pianist in Welk's orchestra.
Robert Wilkie Burgess is an American dancer and singer. He was one of the original Mouseketeers. Later, he was a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show.
Henry Falcon Cuesta, Sr., was an American woodwind musician who was a cast member of The Lawrence Welk Show. His primary instrument was the clarinet, but he also played saxophone. At an early age, Cuesta began studying classical violin and then switched to woodwinds. He proved himself gifted and was selected to play while he was still in high school with the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Richard David Maloof was an American musician who played bass and tuba for the Lawrence Welk orchestra.
Dudley "Big Tiny" Little, Jr. was an American musician who appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1959. His primary instrument was the piano.
Jerry Burke was a musician who played the organ and piano for the Lawrence Welk orchestra from 1934 to 1965.
Wayne Ea Marshall is a British pianist, organist, and conductor.
Carl Patrick "Cubby" O'Brien, better known by his nickname Cubby, is an American drummer and former child actor. He is known as one of the original Mouseketeers on the weekday ABC television program The Mickey Mouse Club from 1955 to 1958.
Bob Kames was an American musician who specialized in genres such as polka. Kames is credited with developing and popularizing the modern-day version of the song "Dance Little Bird," which is much better known by its more common name, The Chicken Dance. Kames is a member of the Wisconsin Area Music Industry's Hall of Fame.
The Semonski Sisters are a family musical act that appeared on television's The Lawrence Welk Show from 1975 to 1977.
Stephen James Taylor is an American composer best known for his film and TV scores. He has earned four Emmy nominations, two Annie nominations, and a DVD-X Award on "Best Original Score to date ('05).
Robert Vernor Hammack, Jr. was an American musician, originally from Texas, whose principal instrument was jazz piano. He led a prolific career in Los Angeles as a pianist, organist, conductor, arranger, and composer in (i) live venues, (ii) broadcast studios for radio and television, and (iii) recording studios for records, radio, television, and film. Hammack flourished in a wide spectrum of genres that included dixieland, Blues, swing, sweet dance music (e.g., Lawrence Welk), easy listening, gospel, liturgical jazz, musical theatre, Tin Pan Alley, classical, and film score.
Lorin J. Whitney was an American organist and recording artist who played on Christian radio programs such as the Haven of Rest in the 1930s–1950s. His organ music programs were heard on the CBS Radio and NBC Blue Networks in the 1930s. He founded the Whitney Recording Studio in Glendale, California, in 1957, where he had a pipe organ installed. His studio organ was used for recordings by Whitney and other organists, along with furnishing accompaniment for singers. The studio accommodated large orchestras and was widely used by various entertainers to record secular music albums in the 1960s–1990s. After the studio was acquired by MCA in 1978, the MCA Whitney studio was used largely for popular music recordings.
