I was born on March 11, 1903 and I died on May 17, 1992. I was a musician, accordion player, bandleader, and television impresario. I was born in Strasburg, North Dakota to German Catholic immigrants from Czarist Russia.My music was conservative, concentrating mostly on pop song standards, polkas, and novelty songs, delivered in a smooth, calming, good-humored easy listening style. My show was warm and family-oriented.In the 1920s, I led big band engagements in the eastern South Dakota area. During the 1930s, I led a travelling big band, specializing in dance tunes and "sweet" music. The band performed in many places across the country, particularly in the Chicago, Illinois area. In the early 1940s the band travelled to California for a six-week engagement at the Aragon Ballroom. This gig turned into a 10 year stint, drawing crowds of nearly 7000 on a regular basis.In 1952, I settled in Los Angeles, California. That same year, I began producing The Lawrence Welk Show on KTLA in Los Angeles. The show was first aired nationally on ABC in 1955. My television program had a policy to only play well known songs and tunes from previous years, so that the target audience would only hear numbers that they were already familiar with. This strategy proved commercially successful.Although born in the United States, I spoke with a slight but notable European accent that many, especially ladies, found to be quite appealing. My TV show was recorded as if it were live and was sometimes quite free-wheeling. I often took ladies from the audience for a turn around the dance floor. During one show I brought a cameraman out to dance with one of the ladies and took over the camera myself.The reputation for "corny music" notwithstanding, my musicians were always top quality, including accordionist Myron Floren and New Orleans Dixieland clarinetist Pete Fountain. I was noted for spotlighting individual members of my band and show. My band was well-disciplined and had excellent arrangements in all styles. One notable showcase was my album with the noted jazz saxophonist Johnny Hodges. Our instrumental cover of the song "Yellow Bird" was a hit.By the time The Lawrence Welk Show went off the air, it had a distinctly dated feel to it. I began in the hep days of American Bandstand and other big band television programs, and I never changed the format of my show. I still maintained the big band image that had originated before the show even went to color, and by the early 1980s, this wasn't so much a style as a hinderance. At that point some pop-culture songs (such as those of John Denver) had been featured on the show, where songs originally written for one man holding a guitar were rescored for a small chorus flanked by dozens of musicians. This was feasible, but it may be that the quality of these newer songs suffered for it.I was married for over sixty years, until my death, to Fern Renner, who bore me three children. One of my sons ended up marrying fellow Lawrence Welk Show performer Tanya Falan.My California automobile license plate read A1ANA2, referencing my trademark count-off before each number, "A one, and a two..." This plate is visible on the front of a Model A Ford in one of the shows from 1980. My band continues to appear in a dedicated theater in Branson, Missouri even though I am now deceased. A resort community in Escondido, California is named after me.I learned English only when I was already an adult because I always spoke German at home. When I was asked about my ancestry, I replied always with "Alsace-Lorraine, Germany"; although not strictly correct, many German-Russian and German-Ukrainian Roman Catholics have roots or links to Alsace-Lorraine, and identify themselves as such.I died from pneumonia in Santa Monica, California at the age of 89, and I am buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
