Ed Guca was born on August 7, 1944 to a very musical Polish family in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His uncle played clarinet in a popular wedding band and was of particular influence in Ed’s love for Polka music. It was in his youth that Ed learned how to play the accordion from a teacher who showed him how to play from the heart. Ed formed his first band, The Polka Aces, in…
As a toddler, Joe Oberaitis was already the polka promoter herding the neighborhood kids together and making them listen to his polka records. By kindergarten, Joe was taking accordion lessons. At age seven, he had already appeared on the local television talent show, “The Gene Carroll Show,” playing Eddie Zima’s “Meet The Missus Polka,” which he learned by ear. Through grade school, he regularly played at school functions and then graduated on to Rubbermaid Parties.…
Stanley “Stas” Bulanda’s love for polka music started at a very early age while listening to the music of his fathers’ and uncles’ polka band. They would let him sit on the stage and started his musical education. After a few years, they even allowed him to sit in on the drums at some of their engagements. It was in high school that he teamed up with a few of his friends…
Eddie Habat was born in Cleveland, Ohio on September 16, 1926, the youngest child of John and Anna Habat. He had two brothers, John and Herman, and two sisters, Betty and Anna. When Eddie was eighteen months old, his mother was tragically killed in an auto accident. His father then returned to his homeland of Slovenia where he married Mary Cerar from Domzale, who came to Cleveland and raised the five Habat children.…