Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas.
James W. Sturr Jr. is an American polka musician, trumpeter, clarinetist, saxophonist and leader of Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra. His recordings have won 18 out of the 24 Grammy Awards given for Best Polka Album. Sturr's orchestra is on the Top Ten List of the All-Time Grammy Awards, and has acquired more Grammy nominations than anyone in the history of musical polka awards.
The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in North America. Founding members Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner were recruited by Linda Ronstadt as band members, some touring with her, and all playing on her third solo album, before venturing out on their own on David Geffen's new Asylum Records label.
"Paradise City" is a song by the American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured on their debut album, Appetite for Destruction (1987). Released as a single in January 1989, it is the only song on the album to feature a synthesizer. The song peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100—becoming the band's third single to reach the top 10—and number six on the UK Singles Chart. It also topped the Irish Singles Chart, their first of three singles to do so.
Slovenian-style polka is an American style of polka in the Slovenian tradition. It is usually associated with Cleveland and other Midwestern cities.
"Beer Barrel Polka", originally in Czech "Škoda lásky", also known as "The Barrel Polka", "Roll Out the Barrel", or "Rosamunde", is a 1927 polka composed by Czech musician Jaromír Vejvoda. Lyrics were added in 1934, subsequently gaining worldwide popularity during World War II as a drinking song.
Those Darn Accordions, commonly abbreviated as TDA, are an American accordion band from San Francisco, California, originally formed in 1989 by Linda "Big Lou" Seekins.
"Squeeze Box" is a song by the Who from their album The Who by Numbers. Written by Pete Townshend, the lyrics are couched in sexual double entendres. Unlike many of the band's other hits, the song features country-like elements, as heard in Townshend's banjo picking.
The Mike Schneider Polka Band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a Slovenian-style polka group that performs at approximately 100 events annually in Wisconsin and throughout the United States. Founded in 1996 by Mike Schneider, the band is a four-time award winner and 16-time nominee from such organizations as the National Cleveland Style Polka Hall of Fame, the Wisconsin Polka Boosters, the Wisconsin Polka Hall of Fame, the Wisconsin Polka Music Awards, and the Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI).
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American musician best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specific songs by contemporary musicians. He also performs original songs that are style pastiches of the work of other acts, as well as polka medleys of several popular songs, most of which feature his trademark accordion.
The Knewz is a polka band based in Buffalo, New York, which was started in 1990 by Mike Burka, Tom Picciano, and Tommy Wanderlich. The band plays many original songs, covers of country and rock songs, and also traditional Polish polkas, obereks, and waltzes.
Louis Bashell was an American polka musician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was known for playing the Slovenian-style polka. He was nicknamed "Milwaukee's polka king".
LaVerne Donald "Verne" Meisner was an American polka musician born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and raised in Whitewater, Wisconsin. He was inducted into five halls of fame, including the International Polka Association Hall of Fame as a "Living Legend" in 1989. He is best known for the songs "Memories of Vienna" and "El Rio Drive."
Roman 'Romy' Louis Gosz was a popular and commercially successful polka musician in the upper Midwest. Gosz's music featured the Bohemian brass style and appealed to the many ethnic groups found throughout the region.
The 1975 are an English pop rock band formed in 2002 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. The band consists of lead vocalist, principal songwriter and rhythm guitarist Matty Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer and primary producer George Daniel. The name of the band was inspired by a page of scribblings found in Healy's copy of On the Road by Jack Kerouac that was dated "1 June, The 1975".
Don Peachey is an American band leader, accordionist, musician and recording artist who has been performing and recording since the 1950s with The Don Peachey Band, aka Don Peachey and His Orchestra. Peachey was elected to the International Polka Hall of Fame in 2011 by the International Polka Association.
The Chardon Polka Band is an American, Ohio-based, Cleveland-Style polka band. It was started by Jake Kouwe in 2003 when he recruited four other teenagers to form a polka band at Chardon High School, and the group was originally called "The Chardon High School Polka Band" and included an accordion, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, electric guitar, and tuba. The group got their start in the school's music room and played at local senior centers and nursing homes in the Chardon area. Kouwe cites Weird Al Yankovic as his inspiration for playing the accordion as he started lessons on the accordion after seeing Yankovic in a VH1 special. The popular satirist remains a role model for The Chardon Polka Band. The band had slowly gained notoriety among Polka fans and in the Cleveland music scene in general, but got mainstream attention when they were featured in a reality show named Polka Kings on Reelz in 2015, even though the show was quickly cancelled. The band currently plays over 200 shows a year and has grown to be one of the Cleveland music scene's most recognizable performers playing at a mixture of festivals, schools, nursing homes, and bars, but also tours nationally and headlines many of the nation's top folk festival and Oktoberfest celebrations, playing a mixture of original music, classic polkas, and covers of pop songs. The band was also one of the founding members of the Cleveland revival of Dyngus Day. The band has released ten full-length albums, all independently, four of which were nominated for a Polka Hall of Fame award for either the album or one or more songs.
Brett Tuggle was an American musician who is best known for his keyboard playing with Fleetwood Mac and the David Lee Roth band.
