Ray is the son of Frank and Lottie Budzilek, who were both born in Warsaw, Poland. He played polka music at about 8 years of age on a toy piano. He then switched to accordion and began playing at weddings. He organized a musical aggregation in his late teens in his home town of Cleveland. It developed into a big band sound with a huge following. Ray’s vocals, his accordion, plus the…
Gene Wisniewski, was the son of Polish immigrants who settled in Connecticut where his dad, a tailor, worked in the weaving Mills in Manchester. At the age of 15, with three months of instruction on the accordion, he played his first jobs at weddings and taverns with his two brothers on banjo and sax. From then it developed into a nine-piece orchestra. This new career was interrupted by World War II when he…
Mattie Madura’s musical career began with an old broken violin given to Mattie’s father by an old friend. With time and bits of wire and glue, it was pieced together. When it was finished he gave it to his younger son, Mattie. From then on Mattie was “that boy with the violin.” At the age of nine, while attending St. Helen’s School, he learned to sing while playing the violin. His second love, the…