Today’s most eligible polka bachelor is Jimmy Sturr. He is Irish, earns big figures a year and owns a radio station. At the ripe old age of thirteen, Jimmy was off and playing. The first bookings were those classical traditional, all-out, three-day Polish weddings. That kind of experience comes to few bandleaders. A full music scholarship gave Jimmy the chance to attend the Valley Forge Military Academy. After that came the University of…
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Bernie Goydish has been an active member of the polka community for more than 28 years. He is a musician, bandleader, promoter, record manufacturer, distributor, and polka disc jockey. He introduced more young new polka bands to the field than anyone else. His Sunday polka radio show is the longest running in New Jersey, 18 years. He has unselfishly donated thousands of hours to polka oriented charitable functions and organizations. Through the use of…
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Charlie Hicks is a pioneer in the polka field from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. At eighteen years of age, he already displayed his musical talent by playing accordion. In 1930 he formed a small dance band. In 1937 he made his first recording for RCA Victor. He then joined the staff of radio station WREN in Philadelphia and provided music for their Polish, Italian, Jewish and American radio shows. When the Major Bowes Hour was…
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Born in 1908, Victor “Fezz” Fritsche started his own band in 1940. He used seven men mostly, sometimes three or four. In the early 50’s, he had the “Fezz Fritsche Show” on KNUJ radio in New Ulm, Minnesota. He called his orchestra the “Goosetown Band”. Fezz sprung out of Goosetown, the area that New Ulm sonamed because geese roamed free on the streets and yards in pioneer days. He profited from his band and…
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