Lawrence Welk Calcutta Yamaha Genos Roland G70 by Rico

Lawrence Welk Calcutta Yamaha Genos Roland G70 by Rico

Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) 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 (and critics) as "champagne music".

Welk was born in the German-speaking community of Strasburg, North Dakota. 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).

Welk was a first cousin, once removed, of former Montana governor Brian Schweitzer (Welk's mother and Schweitzer's paternal grandmother were siblings). Welk's paternal great-great grandparents, Moritz and Magdalena Welk, emigrated in 1808 from Germanophone Alsace-Lorraine to Ukraine.
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.
Welk decided on a career in music and persuaded his father to buy a mail-order accordion for $400 (equivalent to $5,105 in 2019) 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.
Welk did not learn to speak English until he was twenty-one and never felt comfortable speaking it in public. Welk became an iconic figure in the German-Russian community of the northern Great Plains—his success story personified the American dream.

Welk was married for 61 years, until his death in 1992, to Fern Renner (August 26, 1903 – February 13, 2002), with whom he had three children. One of his sons, Lawrence Welk Jr., married fellow Lawrence Welk Show performer Tanya Falan; they later divorced. Welk had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Known as a skillful businessman, Welk had investments in real estate and music publishing. He was the general partner in a commercial real estate development at 100 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. The 21-story white tower, located on the bluffs overlooking Santa Monica Bay at Ocean Avenue, is the tallest building in Santa Monica. It was a joint venture with the engineering firm Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall. Its largest original tenant was GTE, now Verizon. Welk also owned the adjacent 16-story luxury apartment building at 1221 Ocean Avenue--[30] the "Lawrence Welk Champagne Towers", and Welk made his personal residence in the complex. He built the adjacent 11-story Wilshire Palisades office building at 1299 Ocean Avenue at Arizona Street.

Designed to resemble a white ocean liner, it has a wedge-shaped "bow" edge, receding "decks" with railings, and air conditioner covers that look like smokestacks. Its shape creates a landscaped plaza on the corner, and the result is a landmark.

Welk enjoyed playing golf, which he first took up in the late 1950s, and was often a regular at many celebrity pro-am tournaments, such as the Bob Hope Desert Classic.

Welk was awarded four US design patents:
A musically themed restaurant menu
An accordion-themed tray for serving food at a restaurant
An accordion-themed tray for serving food at a restaurant
An accordion-themed ashtray

A devout Roman Catholic, Welk was a daily communicant, as corroborated by numerous biographies, by his autobiography and by his family and his many staff, friends and associates throughout the years.

In 1961, Welk was inducted as a charter member of the Rough Rider Award from his native North Dakota.[38] In 1967, he received the Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. He later served as the Grand Marshal for the Rose Bowl's Tournament of Roses parade in 1972. Welk received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1980.

In 1994, Welk was inducted into the International Polka Music Hall of Fame.
Welk has a star for recording on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6613½ Hollywood Boulevard. He has a second star at 1601 Vine Street for television.
In 2007, Welk was a charter member of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana.
Welk's band continues to appear in a dedicated theater in Branson, Missouri. In addition, the television show has been repackaged for broadcast on PBS stations, with updates from show performers appearing as wraparounds where the original shows had commercial breaks. The repackaged shows are broadcast at roughly the same Saturday night time slot as the original ABC shows, and special longer rebroadcasts are often shown during individual stations' fund-raising periods. These repackaged shows are produced by the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority.