Lawrence Welk

In the early 1990s the U.S. Congress refused federal funding to restore Welk's boyhood home in Strasburg, ND, as a museum. His many still loyal fans, hearing of this, donated the money themselves, and to this day the Welk Home and Museum has been restored and maintained entirely by private funds.

Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1989.

His show was initially canceled by ABC-TV in 1971, after 17 years as a Saturday night perennial on the network, because of a question of viewer demographics. Advertisers and networks were convinced that they should gear their shows to younger, urban audiences, who were thought to have the buying power, and Welk's audience was simply considered too old. In what was then considered a bold move, Welk began producing shows for first-run syndication, and by the start of the 1971 fall season he was back on the air, where he remained until he retired 11 years later. Ironically, many of the stations that carried his show were local ABC affiliates.

Co-founder (with Randall Wood, former owner of Dot Records) of Ranwood Records in 1967.

Recorded prolifically before and during his TV years, primarily for Columbia, Coral, Dot and Ranwood, scoring a #1 single and album with "Calcutta" in 1961.

He formed his first band in 1927 and named it "Lawrence Welk and his Hotsy Totsy Boys.".