Steve Meisner was born into a musical family on April 17, 1961, in Beloit, Wisconsin, and raised in Whitewater, Wisconsin. He began playing the piano accordion at age five, performing soon after on stage with his legendary father, Verne Meisner. Since the age of 16, Steve has earned a living as a full-time musician and has performed with some of the nation’s top artists that include Myron Floren, Frank Yankovic, and Joey masculine. He has…
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Ted Lange has been active in the polka industry his entire life. He got his start on drums with his parents’ band, the buckeye polka band at age five, and to date, has performed in 34 states, Canada, Mexico and Europe in addition to appearing on over 40 recordings. In addition to his contributions as a musician, songwriter and arranger, Ted has served as a polka radio dj, festival promoter, president of the Ohio Polka…
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Born on June 5, 1945, in Buffalo, New York, Stephen w. Krzeminski was destined to make his mark in polka music. Standing tall at 6 feet, 3 inches by the time he was 16 years of age, the charismatic accordionist first led Big Steve’s Orchestra and later Big Steve and the Bellares until 1995. For over three-and-a-half decades, steve toured throughout the U.S. northeast and midwest and performed in Hawaii, Canada, and the Caribbean. His…
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John “Stanky” Stankovic was born into a family of coal miners and musicians in Nanticoke, Pa, in 1936. He discovered the accordion as a young child and was performing at house weddings by the age of nine. Even though John’s first polka band was called the Tip Toppers, town folks referred to the group as Stanky and the Coal Miners since most of his musicians came directly from the coal mines on their way to…
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Roger T. Lichwala was born on September 27, 1945, in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts. As a result of his exposure to polka music in his local Polish community, he began playing drums at the age of 14. Roger first gained national recognition while playing with the Happy Louie & Julia polka band from 1966 – 1967. In 1969, he teamed up with Billy Czupta, Carl Hoynoski, Mitch Biskup, Tom Kostek and Steve Dudas to form the…
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Leon “Bud” Hundenski was born in Canonsburg, Pa, on July 26, 1944. After his dad bought him his first accordion, he started taking private lessons at age nine. As a youth, bud won many solo amateur contests and formed his own trio by the time he was in junior high school. At age 17, he accepted an invitation to join Pittsburgh’s Bob Gazda band and went on to record and perform with the popular…
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