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…
Dean Hansen was born in Ithaca, Ne in April of 1933 into a farming family of German ancestry. He was stricken with polio at the age of four and suffered paralysis of his right leg. Fearing his condition would prevent dean from ever farming, his parents introduced him to music by buying him an accordion. After several surgeries, he was able to walk and take music lessons from various teachers including Fritz Poppe, who influenced…
Musician and ballroom owner Cliff Hermel was born March 18, 1918 in Mankato, Minnesota. He graduated from high school in 1934 and entered the wholesale business with his father A.H. Hermel. He was on the road in that business for 17 years, all the while though being very active and well known as a drummer. He worked with most territorial bands and started his own in 1945. Cliff was best known for…
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.…
Hank Haller of Westlake, Ohio, is a musician, vocalist, bandleader, deejay, has made numerous recordings and leads a traveling band. Mention Hank Haller and visions of oompah music and “lederhosen” [short leather pants], come to mind. But Haller is more. He is a very prolific recording artist in the polka field with seventy albums and three videos to his credit, with over one quarter of a mullion albums sold. While he…
Fred Hudy’s introduction to music was at the age of 10 when a representative of the Midwest Accordion School visited SS. Peter and Paul School on Chicago’s Southwest side. Practicing daily, he soon joined his first polka band with Richie Gomulka and Louie Jedlowski called “Little Louie and the Lucky Boys.” At the age of twelve he and this band took second place on the then famous Morris B. Sachs amateur hour. The…
The words Polka Music and Johnny Haas are synonymous. It is rare that one is said without the other, for this man of worldwide fame was polka. But let’s find out more about this legend. Johnny Haas said he was half-Polish and half-Pennsylvania Dutch, and he used his background to its best advantage. Having been bitten by the “Music Bug” at an early age. Haas began playing the drums at age 9.…
One of the best-loved American Slovenian performers on the button accordion was Matt Arko Hoyer, the “granddaddy” of the button accordion players and pioneer performer of Slovenian polka and waltz music. Matt was born in Slovenia in 1891. He came to the U.S. in 1911 and settled in Cleveland. As he learned to build, repair and tune accordions while in Slovenia, he continued this work in America. He formed the Hoyer Trio,…
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…
Johnny Hyzny was born in Chicago, Illinois April 25, 1930 to Joe and Ann Hyzny. They also had another son named Joe, who played the accordion at a very early age. John’s father figured that if Joe learned to play the accordion, John could learn from him. But John had always had his eye on the drums. Finally one Christmas, John received a set of drums. Years later, John was taught to play…
Born in Frankenmuth, Michigan, on August 9, 1932, lived there until his decease. Having a natural affinity to music, at age 12 he began playing a forty-eight bass accordion, then acquired his own and played his first job the following New Year’s Eve. With his father, Otto Herzog, playing the banjo, and his friends Bill Braeutigam on the drums and Arno Rogner on the guitar, his first band was formed. Being of German…
While still in his early teens, Henry Mocarski, of Windsor, Connecticut started a polka band with Emil Juda on drums, Ray Zak on sax, and Henry Mocarski on accordion. Using the first names of Ray Zak and Henry Mocarski, the Ray Henry Orchestra was born. This group played in a local restaurant for approximately 2 ½ years with much of their earnings used to build up their polka library. Then they made plans…