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…
Thomas Anthony (Tommy) Karas was born March 28, 1946 in Buffalo, New York. He was the eldest of four children born to Anthony J. and Carrie M. (Bieniek) Karas. Both sets of grandparents were Polish immigrants. His father was a steel worker at Bethlehem Steel and his mother was a stay-at-home mom caring for the children, John, Karen and Donna, who followed him in birth order. Tom and his siblings were raised…
Roger Bright of New Glarus, Wisconsin, was a musician, bandleader, recording artist, deejay and performer. Roger Bright was born February 12, 1937, and died August 28, 2001, at Boulder Colorado Community Hospital from a heart attack he suffered while performing at a polka festival in Boulder. Roger began his musical career at age twelve. He formed a band at age fifteen and made his first recording at the age of nineteen. …
Eddie Zavaski was born in January 31, 1924 in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, (8 miles South of Hartford) to Stanley & Pauline Zavaski. While growing up as a child he was very much influenced by music. Since he was first generation American born, his mother Pauline was instrumental in encouraging him to continue his Polish culture through the arts. She encouraged him to take up an instrument too. But, as a youngster, Eddie was…
Father Wally, as he was affectionately known, was one of eight children born to St. Louis and Magdeline Szczypula on September 22, 1916. He was born and raised in Chicago where he attended Five Holy Martyrs grammar school. He went on to Quigley Preparatory Seminary and then to St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundeline, Illinois where he was ordained a priest on May 1, 1943. Over the years, he became involved in…
Frank Grybosh had been a polka musician for 18 years and led a 6-piece orchestra under the name of “Frankie Gee” before he was tragically killed on January 1, 1970. Frank Grybosh was born in Ludlow, Massachusetts on October 9, 1936, and was the only child of Wanda (Topor) and Frank C. Grybosh. At a young age, he started playing the accordion and had an avid interest in polka music. He started his…
Wanda S. Pietrzak was a singer who achieved national acclaim in polka music’s only mother and daughter team, “Wanda and Stephanie.” As half of “Wanda and Stephanie”, known as “American’s Polka Sweethearts,” she recorded many albums. She scored a #1 polka hit in 1971 with a song she wrote, “Lover Oh Lover.” Wanda Koziol was born in Lackawanna, New York and was raised in Chicago in the musical family of Frank…
John (Jas) Stanley Przasnyski was born a twin on May 25, 1926, in Bristol, Connecticut. John was the eldest of the two boys. After World War II, John attended the Julius Hartt School of Music in Hartford and learned to play the drums. From the point, he was attracted to the music business and though he held daytime jobs, his heart was all music. As a member of the popular Connecticut Twins,…
Joe Rock, drummer boy extraordinaire, rising as perhaps one of the finest big band recording orchestras on the East Coast, began his career in the music field in the late 1930’s, in the greater Waterbury area, as the drummer in the Herb Lukowski Orchestra. His love and desire to excel in the field of polka music grew as time progressed. In the early 40’s due to the lack of progress within the…
Ray Dorschner was born in the tiny village of Ziattau, Wisconsin, one of seven children born to Theodore and Berta Dorschner. Theodore owned and operated a sawmill and woodworking business in Zittau and was an old-time fiddler. Dad and sons occasionally played for local parties and dances. Ray started playing button accordion at about five years of age and later switched to piano accordion. Ray attended elementary school in Zittau, high school in…
Bill Czupta was an acclaimed musician and formidable accordionist. He learned to play the accordion at an early age, and became a member of the group known as Bobby Sawicki and the New Englanders. Bill resided in Massachusetts, and in 1970 he joined The Golden Brass, which soon became a much-sought-after national polka band. He excelled at playing the accordion to the extent that many polka fans described him as having “walking…
Sylvester Wolan was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on March 8, 1904. During his youth he studied violin and trumpet with his father, but was also under the tutelage of professors and symphony musicians where he learned not only to play but compose. In 1918 he started to teach and form his own band. While performing with his father, he met a piano player by the name of Katherine Miakiewicz whom he later married…
The late Lawrence Welk is no stranger to millions of people. Through his efforts the polka and the accordion have become two items that have always been identified with making people happy. Welk was born to immigrant parents in March of 1903, in a farmhouse near Strasburg, North Dakota. He was one of eight children. Early on, his father taught him how to play the accordion, and by the time he was…
The late Tom Mrozinski of Minnesota, leader of The Mrozinski Brothers Aleatoric Ensemble, started his polka career at the age of 11, when he took up the clarinet and started to sit in with his dad’s band at age 12. It wasn’t long before other musicians noticed Tom’s Talent and asked him to join their bands. He often performed with Frank Pastuszak’s Polka Pals and Rodger Stigney’s Polish Brass, two of Minnesota’s popular…
Jan Robak was born in Poland on December 1, 1890, and passed away on September 8, 1967. He came to this country and Chicopee, Massachusetts with his violin at the age of ten. He started to play the violin in Poland and continued his study of violin and music after coming to this country. His first job in Chicopee was at the Johnson and Johnson Textile Mill. As he grew older he formed…
By age 12, Henry Jasiewicz discovered his love for music and was practicing with a muted trumpet in his basement, often while his parents were sleeping. In the years that followed, he also spent as much time as possible learning the violin. His musical career began in the 1930’s. In 1935 he helped organize the Polish Ambassadors Orchestra. It was at this time that he DJ’d a weekly radio broadcast over WHJB radio…
Bruce Kryger has been playing with his own band since 1954. In 1962 he joined with his brother Lucian and formed what became known as the Kryger Brothers Band. Bruce played the cordovox accordion and composed many of the arrangements for the band. The band had several hit recordings including “The Bridal Dance,” “The Boys from Wilkes-Barre” and “Mary on a Bike.” Bruce was a partner with his brother in the Kryger Music…
Kenny Bass (Peter Bastasic, Jr.) was considered one of the all time polka greats that made Cleveland the great polka center that it is. Since 1948 he had hosted radio programs on local area stations including former WSRS, WJMO, WBKC, WELW, WLYT and currently on the Chardon station. His parents the late Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bastaci raised Kenny, one of seven children (he had six sisters), instilling in him a liking for…
Joe was born on January 29, 1941, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. During his early childhood, his family moved to Blackstone, MA, where he was educated and graduated from the local High School. He subsequently received his Bachelor’s Degree in History and Government from Boston College and a Masters Degree in History from Framingham State College. Joe began his entertainment career at the age of 16 on Radio Station WNRI in Woonsocket, RI,…
John Michael Robel was born in Austria February 14, 1903. His parents, John and Mary, were Austrian immigrants of Slovak descent, who settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He took his first music lessons on a clarinet from Tommy Dorsey, Sr. Later, John played with Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey in the Elmore Band. The nickname “Jolly Jack” was unwittingly spawned on the bandstand by Tommy Dorsey when Tommy engaged in a friendly scuffle with…