Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 - May 17, 1992) 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.
Early life
Welk was born in the German-speaking community of Strasburg, North Dakota.[2] He was sixth of the eight children of Ludwig and Christiana (née Schwahn) Welk, Roman Catholic ethnic Germans who emigrated in 1892 from Odessa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine).[3][4]
Welk was a first cousin, once removed, of former Montana governor Brian Schweitzer (Welk's mother and Schweitzer's paternal grandmother were siblings).[5] Welk's paternal great-great-grandparents, Moritz and Magdalena Welk, emigrated in 1808 from Germanophone Alsace-Lorraine to Ukraine.[6]
The family lived on a homestead that is now a tourist attraction. They spent the cold North Dakota winter of their first year inside an upturned wagon covered in sod. Welk left school during fourth grade to work full-time on the family farm.[3][7]
Welk decided on a career in music and persuaded his father to buy a mail-order accordion for $400 (equivalent to $5,411 in 2021)[8][9] He promised his father that he would work on the farm until he was 21, in repayment for the accordion. Any money he made elsewhere during that time, doing farmwork or performing, would go to his family.[10]
Welk did not learn to speak English until he was twenty-one and never felt comfortable speaking it in public.[11] Welk became an iconic figure in the German-Russian community of the northern Great Plains-his success story personified the American dream.[12]
29 мар 2023
