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Gail Farrell (born October 6, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter, best known for her work on the variety program The Lawrence Welk Show . [1]
Born in Salinas, California, she grew up in Durant, Oklahoma as an only child on her father's cattle ranch. She learned music from her mother who taught her piano lessons while her father taught her to ride horses. She began to perform publicly at age six at rodeos and talent shows, in church, and on pickup beds on the back of trucks stumping for local political candidates. She also learned how to sing gospel music from her grandmother. While attending the University of Tulsa, majoring in piano performance, she took part in the Miss Oklahoma Pageant and won in talent and swimsuit competitions. She also attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York during the summer to further hone her talents as a piano player.
After graduating magna cum laude in 1969, she flew out to Los Angeles, California to become a pre-school music teacher, but decided to audition for Lawrence Welk since he and his band performed every Saturday night at the Hollywood Palladium. She got the maestro's attention in a tag dance, tapping him on the shoulder and asking if she can sing for him. She sang Cotton Fields in front of 3000 people at the Palladium. Welk asked her to appear on the opening broadcast the following September. She officially joined the Musical Family three shows into the 1969–70 season and over the course of the next twelve years, she sang solos, played piano, sang in duets with Dick Dale (famously singing Brewer & Shipley's "One Toke Over the Line") and in trios; first with Sandi Griffiths, and Mary Lou Metzger and later for "Gail, Ron & Michael" a mixed trio that featured her husband Ron Anderson and Michael Redman. In addition, she also developed as a songwriter, writing vocal arrangements for both trio groups. Her exposure on The Lawrence Welk Show opened doors in her career, making notable television appearances on Match Game , Dinah! , and The Mike Douglas Show .
The Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma [ which? ] christened Gail Farrell Drive in her honor in her hometown of Durant. The Welk show ended in 1982. Since then, Farrell has continued to pursue singing/songwriting, as her arrangements have been covered by artists such as Barbara Mandrell and featured on the soap opera Knots Landing . She sang with numerous recording artists and her vocals have appeared in numerous commercials and television/film soundtracks. Most recently, she appeared on several Welk-related television specials for PBS such as Milestones & Memories and Lawrence Welk, Precious Memories. She reunited with fellow Welk castmates Ava Barber, Ralna English and Mary Lou Metzger for the four-woman revue, Four Wunnerful Women. She also had a voice role in the animated Disney feature The Little Mermaid . [2]
Farrell married Ron Anderson on December 7, 1979; they live in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and have twin daughters, Erin and Lauren (born in September 1982). She was previously married to Rick Mallory and Bob Lawson.
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 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 Public Broadcasting Service (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.
Mary Lou Metzger is an American singer and dancer best known as a cast member on The Lawrence Welk Show.
Jimmy Roberts was an American tenor singer. He was a featured performer on the TV variety program The Lawrence Welk Show during its entire broadcast run from 1955 to 1982.
Ava Marlene Barber is an American country music singer and performer. She is best remembered for her performances on The Lawrence Welk Show throughout much of the 1970s and early 1980s.
Sandi Griffiths is an American singer. She is best known as a performer on American television's The Lawrence Welk Show.
"Anacani" María Consuelo Castillo-López y Cantor-Montoya is a Mexican singer best known as a featured performer on The Lawrence Welk Show television program.
Norma Zimmer was an American vocalist, best remembered for her 22-year tenure as Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady" on The Lawrence Welk Show.
Kathie Sullivan is an American-born singer who appeared on television's The Lawrence Welk Show from 1976 to 1982.
James Louis Turner is an American singer-songwriter, who has national credits from Broadway, television, and radio. Well-known from The Lawrence Welk Show as the country/pop bass baritone from 1979 until its eponymous host retired in 1982, he was earlier cast on Broadway for the original Jesus Christ Superstar, while he was in New York City on a Nashville folk rock tour. He was nominated in 2008 for a Dove Award as a country and gospel singer for his first radio release in the Christian music genre. He is the founder of The Sounds of Purpose and remains on the board of directors of this music-charged charity.
Ronald David Anderson is an American singer who appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show for the last two years of its run as a member of the singing trio of Gail, Ron and Michael.
Michael M. Redman is an American singer who was a member of television's The Lawrence Welk Show from 1980 to 1982 as part of the trio Gail, Ron and Michael, with Ron Anderson and Anderson's wife, Gail Farrell.
"Cindy" is a popular American folk song. According to John Lomax, the song originated in North Carolina. In the early and middle 20th century, "Cindy" was included in the songbooks used in many elementary school music programs as an example of folk music. One of the earliest versions of "Cindy" is found in Anne Virginia Culbertson's collection of Negro folktales where one of her characters, Tim, "sang a plantation song named 'Cindy Ann'," the first verse and refrain of which are:
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.
"Oh Happy Day" was a 1952 surprise hit song, one of the first whose initial popularity was driven by teenagers rather than support from the music industry.
Steve Smith is an American singer best known from television's The Lawrence Welk Show.
The Dinning Sisters were an American sisters singing group, active from the late 1930s to 1955. They made a handful of film appearances and had several hit records at the height of their popularity in the late 1940s.
Jayne Walton Rosen was an American entertainer, singer and actress, who worked as Lawrence Welk's Champagne Lady from 1940 until 1945.
Natalie Nevins was an American singer who appeared on television's The Lawrence Welk Show from 1965 to 1969.
"He Touched Me" is a gospel song written by Bill Gaither in 1963.