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.
Frank John Yankovic was an American accordion player and polka musician. Known as "America's Polka King", Yankovic was considered the premier artist to play in the Slovenian style during his long career. He was not related to fellow accordionist "Weird Al" Yankovic, although the two collaborated.
Whitehall Township is a township with home rule status in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The township's population was 26,738 as of the 2010 census.
The Grammy Award for Best Polka Album was an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for quality polka albums. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
Leonardo "Flaco" Jiménez is an American singer, songwriter and accordionist from San Antonio, Texas. He is known for playing Norteño, Tex Mex and Tejano music. Jiménez has been a solo performer and session musician, as well as a member of the Texas Tornados and Los Super Seven.
Ladislav John "Walter" Ostanek, CM is a Canadian musician. He is known as "Canada's Polka King." He has received twenty-one nominations for Grammy Awards and won three.
John Serry Sr. was an American concert accordionist, arranger, composer, organist, and educator. He performed on the CBS Radio and Television networks and contributed to Voice of America's cultural diplomacy initiatives during the Golden Age of Radio. He also concertized on the accordion as a member of several orchestras and jazz ensembles for nearly forty years between the 1930s and 1960s.
Allentown Central Catholic High School (ACCHS) is a private, parochial school located at 301 North Fourth Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown, ACCHS predominantly serves students from the Lehigh Valley region of the state.
The Lehigh Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference, known informally as the Lehigh Valley Conference or LVC, was an athletic conference consisting of 12 of the largest high schools from Lehigh and Northampton counties in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. It was part of District XI of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA). In 2014, its teams were mostly assimilated into the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, an even larger 18-team league of the largest high schools in the Lehigh Valley and Pocono Mountains regions of eastern and northeastern Pennsylvania.
Jo-El Sonnier is an American singer-songwriter and accordionist who performs country music and Cajun music. Originally signed to Mercury Nashville Records, Sonnier charted several minor singles on the Billboard country charts in the late 1970s. By the late 1980s, he had signed to RCA Records, breaking through with the Top Ten hits "No More One More Time" and a cover of Richard Thompson's "Tear Stained Letter". Although his chart success waned at the beginning of the 1990s, he has continued recording music, releasing more than thirty albums primarily on independent labels.
Joseph Anthony Vitale is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. In a career spanning more than 55 years, Vitale has played with many of the top names in music during a career dating back to the 1970s.
Walter Solek or Walt Solek was a Polish-American lyricist, musician, performer, and radio show host who introduced English-language lyrics into polka music in the United States. Solek was known as the "Clown Prince of Polka" and died on April 1, 2005, at the age of 94.
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".
The culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania dates back to the settlement of the city and the surrounding Lehigh Valley in the early 1700s by Germans of the Protestant Lutheran, Moravian, and Reformed faiths, who fled religious persecution and war in Europe to settle in Allentown and its surrounding towns and communities. Before their arrival, the region had been historically inhabited by Lenape Native American tribes.
Autry DeWalt Mixon Jr., known professionally as Junior Walker, was an American multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who recorded for Motown during the 1960s. He also performed as a session and live-performing saxophonist with the band Foreigner during the 1980s.
Larry Chesky, born Lawrence J. Ciszewski, was an American accordion player, Polka band leader, inductee in the International Polka Hall of Fame, and manager of the Rex Records label.
The 2005 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team was an American football team that represented Lehigh University during the 2005 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Lehigh finished third in the Patriot League.
