and the Blues

Sweet music flows from the region's artists

By Ross Raihala
The Forum - 05/16/1999

Lawrence Welk, a native of Strasburg, N.D., helped many other artists get their start in the music business. His television program enjoyed a 27-year run

Where to begin when compiling a list of the region's musicians who went on to national prominence? It's as easy as ah-one and ah-two ...

A North Dakota farm boy named Lawrence Welk never forgot his roots, even after he became the nation's king of "champagne music."

Born March 11, 1903, on a wheat farm near Strasburg, 60 miles southeast of Bismarck, Welk taught himself the accordion at the age of 12. Forty years later, Welk made his ABC television debut and forged his place in American history.

As a teen, Welk earned money for his family playing barn dances, but vowed to stay home until he was 21. By 1927, Welk formed his own band and spent several years performing on the Yankton, S.D., radio station WNAX by day and touring the region's ballrooms by night.

In 1938, Welk landed his first major concert at the St. Paul Hotel in Pittsburgh. His band spent the next 10 years headquartered in Chicago, hitting the road whenever and wherever he was called.

A gig in Santa Monica, Calif., eventually led to Welk's job at ABC. His hour-long Saturday evening show hit the air as a summer replacement in 1955 to mixed reviews - TV Guide groused that the show lacked "sparkle and verve."

The American public, however, disagreed and turned "The Lawrence Welk Show" into what "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows" called "one of the major musical success stories in all of television history."

Lawrence Welk named his band the "Hotsy Totsy Boys" in the early 1930s. By 1938 he came up with "The Champagne Music of Lawrence Welk.

Welk's formula for success was simple. He presented an hour's worth of music aimed squarely at the wholesome American family. He never attempted to hide his heavy German accent, either, and grew to accept those who poked fun at his stiff demeanor and "wunnerful, wunnerful" proclamations.

"We try to please our audience," Welk once said. "We try to bring it some joy, happiness, relaxation and always in good taste - the kind of entertainment that should come into the home." Welk launched many future stars, including Lynn Anderson, a Grand Forks native who won a Grammy for "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" and former WDAY musical director Frank Scott who wrote more than 2,000 of the arrangements showcased on Welk's show.

In 1971, ABC let Welk go because the network felt his audience, however large, was too old for its target demographic. Undaunted, Welk continued a successful run in syndication, with his last original episode airing in 1982.

During his television career, Welk also published several books and amassed a fortune in the millions. But he always returned to North Dakota, either to perform for his longtime fans or to collect numerous accolades, including an honorary doctor of music degree from North Dakota State University in 1965.

Welk died in 1992 at age 89. Today, Welk's grandson is vice president and general manager of the Welk Resort Center in Branson, Mo., a complex that includes a 7,300-seat theater, a 158-room resort and a 400-seat restaurant. Welk's homestead has been converted into a museum and a stretch of Highway 83 in Emmons County is now known as "Lawrence Welk Highway." 

If Welk made his name by celebrating purity, Peggy Lee will forever be remembered for heating up the nation to a "Fever" pitch.

Lee

Lee is perhaps best known for her 1958 interpretation of that hot little number. The Jamestown, N.D., native is also a noted songwriter and Academy Award nominee for her role in 1955's "Pete Kelly's Blues."

Born Norma Dolores Egstrom on May 26, 1920, the vocalist survived a rough upbringing, including the loss of her mother at age 4 and merciless beatings by her stepmother.

The youngster found refuge in singing. At 14, she entered - and won - a talent contest in Valley City, which led to a regular gig fronting a band. From there, she moved on to Fargo, where she sang at the Powers Hotel and on WDAY radio. Program director Ken Kennedy also gave the vocalist a new name, Peggy Lee.

Lee went on to front orchestras in Minneapolis and Chicago and in 1941, Benny Goodman signed her on for a two-year stint that resulted in the huge hit "Why Don't You Do Right (Get Me Some Money Too)."

"(Lee was) one of the few singers of the '40s whose popularity remained undiminished through the '50s after the emergence of rock and roll," wrote David McGee in 1992's Rolling Stone Album Guide. "Always sensual, always passionate, Lee projects high romance, stylish living and the allure of sustained desire."

A diabetic, Lee has also lived through a staggering number of ailments. In 1961, she contracted double pneumonia. She broke bones in near-fatal falls in New York and Las Vegas. In 1985, Lee underwent four angioplasties and double-bypass heart surgery.

In October, Lee suffered a stroke. Shortly after, her granddaughter Holly Foster-Wells promised Lee's "fighting spirit is as strong as ever." Last year, Mojo magazine named Lee to the No. 36 position of its list of the 100 greatest pop singers of the 20th century, while the Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted her into its ranks along with Bruce Springsteen, Tim Rice and the late Bobby Darin.

Like Lee, Peter Schickele has worn many musical hats, writing and arranging for classical, jazz, rock and folk ensembles.

Born July 17, 1935, in Ames, Iowa, Schickele grew up in Fargo. While a boy, he wrote, directed and acted in plays in his basement, but eventually moved on to music.

Schickele studied theory under Sigvald Thompson, conductor of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, and for a time claimed to be the city's sole bassoonist. Schickele earned a scholarship to Swarthmore (Pa.) College and went on receive his master's degree at New York's Julliard School of Music.

Influenced by both Bartok and Elvis Presley, Stravinsky and the Everly Brothers, Schickele found work in nearly every aspect of music. He moved effortlessly between composing an orchestral work for the St. Louis Symphony, contributing to the Broadway play "Oh! Calcutta!" and scoring segments for "Sesame Street." "

P.D.Q. Bach" is Schickele's most-famed creation, an alter ego in which he claims to be the long-lost son of Johann Sebastian. Nearly every major symphony in this country - as well as the London Symphony Orchestra - has performed the works of P.D.Q. Bach. Several of Schickele's P.D.Q. recordings have won Grammy Awards.

Schickele continues to write and occasionally returns to town to guest with the F-M Symphony.

Other composers of note: 

Alf Clausen is the Emmy-winner behind the music of "The Simpsons." He grew up in Jamestown, graduated from NDSU in 1963 and went on to score films like "Mr. Mom," "Splash" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" as well as "Moonlighting" and "Alf" on the small screen.

"I'm really proud of my roots," said Clausen, who has been with "The Simpsons" since its 14th episode. "I find that having been raised in North Dakota provided me with a really good center to make it through the pressures of Hollywood on a weekly basis unscathed." 

Valley City native James Ployhar moved to Fargo in 1952 to lead the Agassiz Junior High School band. In his spare time, he wrote original works as well as arrangements of standbys like "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

In 1969, Ployhar shifted to composing full time and has written hundreds of pieces for school bands and orchestras, as well as North Dakota's official state march "The Flickertail." He also acted as co-producer of the 1994 film "Iron Will." 

While it may be remembered as "The Day the Music Died," Feb. 3, 1959 was also the day a Fargo rock star was born. Sort of.

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died that day in a plane crash moments after leaving Mason City, Iowa. They were set to play a gig in Moorhead and the show's promoters scrambled to find local talent to fill the bill.

Two Fargo brothers, Bob and Bill Velline, answered the call, deciding at the last minute to call their band the Shadows. Soon after, Bob Velline changed his name to Bobby Vee.

The Moorhead performance was Vee's first in public, but it wasn't truly his "big break." His band took off that June when they released "Susie Baby." Vee went on to score 38 songs in Billboard's top 100 charts, six of which went gold.

In the years since, Fargo's a cappella quartet the Blenders have carved out a successful niche, touring the nation and recording for Universal Records. Punk bands Hammerhead and godheadSilo found underground acclaim earlier this decade.

The city's biggest star, however, is the million-selling blues vocalist/guitarist Jonny Lang.

Now 18, the musician born Jonny Langseth went from singing along to Michael Jackson songs at 3 to fronting his own local band as Kid Jonny Lang at 13.

Shortly after moving to the Twin Cities in 1995, the Star Tribune was comparing him to a young Mick Jagger. By the end of the year, Lang signed on with A&M Records.

Lang's 1997 album "Lie to Me" topped a million in sales - a figure almost unheard of for a blues record. His second record, "Wander this World," hit stores in October. In February, Lang performed in front of more than 22,000 people in the Fargodome as the opening act for the Rolling Stones.

Next up for Lang? In December, he spoke of releasing a record of his acoustic work.

"I hope to take all those songs that I've written and ... Well, I've always wanted to give an album out for free," he said. "I hate the fact you have to pay for music in the first place. That's always been a dream of mine."