Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted the television program The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known to his large audience of radio, television, and live-performance fans as "champagne music".
A honky-tonk is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano used to play such music. Bars of this kind are common in the South and Southwest United States. Many eminent country music artists, such as Jimmie Rodgers, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Ernest Tubb, Johnny Horton, and Merle Haggard, began their careers as amateur musicians in honky-tonks.
Loretta Lynn is an American singer-songwriter. In a career which spans six decades in country music, Lynn has released multiple gold albums. She is famous for hits such as "You Ain't Woman Enough ", "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' ", "One's on the Way", "Fist City" and "Coal Miner's Daughter" along with the 1980 biographical film of the same name.
Polly Adelaide Hendricks Hazelwood, known professionally as Del Wood, was an American pianist.
John LaGale Horton was an American country music, honky tonk and rockabilly singer and musician, during the 1950s and early 1960s, best known for his saga songs that became international hits beginning with the 1959 single "The Battle of New Orleans", which was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. The song was awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame Award and in 2001 ranked No. 333 of the Recording Industry Association of America's "Songs of the Century". His first No. 1 country song was in 1959, "When It's Springtime in Alaska ".
Una Winifred Atwell was a Trinidadian pianist who enjoyed great popularity in Britain and Australia from the 1950s with a series of boogie-woogie and ragtime hits, selling over 20 million records. She was the first black person to have a number-one hit in the UK Singles Chart and is still the only female instrumentalist to do so.
The Lawrence Welk Show was 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.
The Lennon Sisters are an American vocal group initially made up of four sisters from a family that had seven sisters in all and five brothers. The original quartet consisted of: Dianne, Peggy, Kathy, and Janet. All 12 Lennon children were born in Los Angeles, California.
Ellen Muriel Deason, known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer. She broke down a barrier to women in country music with her 1952 hit recording "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", which also made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts and turned her into the first female country superstar. “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” would also be her first of several pop crossover hits. Wells is the only artist to be awarded top female vocalist awards for 14 consecutive years. Her chart-topping hits continued until the mid 1960s, paving the way for and inspiring a long list of female country singers who came to prominence in the 1960s.
Mirriam Johnson, known professionally as Jessi Colter, is an American country music artist who is best known for her collaborations with her husband, country singer and songwriter Waylon Jennings, and for her 1975 country-pop crossover hit "I'm Not Lisa".
"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" is a 1952 country song written by J. D. "Jay" Miller, and originally recorded by Kitty Wells. It was an answer song to the Hank Thompson hit "The Wild Side of Life."
Gladys Mills, known as Mrs Mills, was an English pianist who was active in the 1960s and 1970s, and who released many records. Her repertoire included many sing-along and party tunes made popular in the music hall, using a stride piano technique.
Ralna Eve English is an American-born singer from Haskell, Texas. She gained fame as half of the husband-and-wife singing duo of Guy & Ralna with then-husband Guy Hovis, both of whom were featured performers on The Lawrence Welk Show.
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.
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.
Michaela Maree Gehrmann, who performs as Micky Green, is an Australian-born blues and pop singer-songwriter. Green left home at the age of 18 years to work in modelling but has mainly concentrated on her music career. At the age of 21 Green relocated to Paris, France. Her debut album White T-Shirt was released there on 27 August 2007, which peaked at No. 12 on the French Albums Chart. Her second album, Honky Tonk, appeared on 18 January 2010, and reached the top 40. Her most popular single, "Oh!", was issued in May 2008 and peaked at No. 12 on the French Singles Chart. As a model Green has worked for Christian Dior and Diesel but by 2010 she had "all but quit modelling".
Jayne Walton Rosen was an American entertainer, singer and actress, who worked as Lawrence Welk's Champagne Lady from 1940 until 1945.
Georgia Holt is a retired American singer-songwriter, actress, and former model. She is the mother of singer and actress Cher.
Willie "Jay" Lee Webb was an American country music singer. He is known for his 1967 song, "I Come Home A-Drinkin' ", which was written as an "answer song" to his older sister Loretta Lynn's #1 1967 hit "Don't Come Home A Drinkin'".
"I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" is a song written and performed by American country artist Loretta Lynn that was also released as her debut single. The song was among the first to not only be recorded by Lynn, but also to be penned by her. She composed the song while living in the state of Washington, maintaining her role as a housewife and occasional member of a local country music band. The composition was later recorded in California after Lynn was given money by a local businessman, who was impressed by her singing. "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" was then issued as a single under the newly founded and independent Zero Records label in March 1960.
