*Deceased in 2009* Matias “Math” Sladky grew up on a farm near Wahoo, Nebraska. With the love of polka music in his heart, when his folks would go to a dance, he would head straight for the stage where he would sit all evening watching the musicians. Sladky always wanted to play drums but his father tried early on to convince him to play the accordion. At 14 years old, with his father’s…
Eddie Siwiec began playing polka music in 1969 and continues to this day. He credits his parents, Chester and Catherine, and his uncle, Joe Smiell, renowned musician, composer and bandleader from Oakland, California, with introducing him to the wonderful world of music and dance. Edward is the youngest of four children and was born along with his twin sister on March 9, 1955, in Dearborn, Michigan, the hometown of Henry Ford, as he…
Freddy “K” Kendzierski has been a fixture in the polka scene for over thirty-five years. He was born in the Bronx, New York, which was then a mecca for polka music with greats like Bernie Witkowski and Regina Kujawa. At the age of seven, Fred decided he wanted to play the accordion and started taking lessons from Bernie Witkowski’s cousin Walter. In the early 1960’s, when the neighbors started to move out of…
Li’l Richard Towalski was born in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. When he was four years old, grandma began taking him to picnics at Caldwell Woods. At age ten, he formed a polka band and started his musical career playing in local clubs, at carnivals, wedding and anniversary parties. All the while, grandma helped him with the Polish lyrics. He recorded his first 45 rpm single on the Ampol label at age fourteen. At…