Lenny Gomulka at age 5 took an immediate interest in polka music. He especially liked the drums which he self-taught himself in spare time. His formal training began at age 11 when inspired by his mother to take trumpet instruction. Before organizing his own polka band, Lenny spent his years as a sideman. He performed with and/or recorded with every top reigning polka band in Chicago during the past 24 years with…
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.…
*Deceased in 2008* Even to aficionados, most polka bands sound familiar. If you tune in to the middle of a song on the radio, you will have a hard time distinguishing one band from another. This is not true of the Johnny Vadnal Orchestra. It has always had a unique sound, different from everybody else in the polka world, mostly because of Vadnal’s way of playing the dominant accordion instrument. Vadnal’s accordion has…
Emily Pinter began her music and dancing at the early age of five, studying piano, ballet and tap dancing. At age 16, while dancing with the Alliance of Polish Clubs group, the dancing instructor took ill, and Emily was asked to take over the class. The following year she was hired full-time, launching her on a career of dancing. In 1948, Emily directed her first recital. She continued with musical lessons on piano,…
Bruno’s singing career began early. He learned to sing the “Two Bucks Polka” at the age of five as he heard the song played on the Oskierko Polka Show over WJOB Radio in Hammond, Indiana. During his grammar schools days he tried to play the accordion. He did not care for this instrument and his interest switched to the trumpet. He attended the Roseland Conservatory of Music and got instruction from a private…
Walt Groller was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on February 12, 1931. His parents were Austrian immigrants. At four years of age, they bought him a small accordion. He was a self taught musician who picked up the Austrian folk songs his mother sang to him. After chores on the small family farm were done, he would practice many hours everyday. He was hired for his first engagement at age twelve,…
Since his birth November 17, 1933, Larry Chesky has resided in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Thanks to his parents, Wanda and Joe, Larry was introduced to music at the age of six. He was given his first accordion. Whenever you saw Larry, you saw that accordion. They were inseparable. With the help of his father, Joe, Larry’s first band, “The Polka Dots,” was formed when he was twelve years old. After its first regional radio…
Joe Wojkiewicz was born in Hafa Park, Wisconsin. By the time he entered school, he was already performing on stage. As his desire grew to perform, so did his talents. He became interested in the polka music field as his father had a band. Joe got started with ballroom promotions, but was interrupted by WWII, while in the Army. Any time he had a chance, he made a point to visit ballrooms, especially…
Today’s most eligible polka bachelor is Jimmy Sturr. He is Irish, earns big figures a year and owns a radio station. At the ripe old age of thirteen, Jimmy was off and playing. The first bookings were those classical traditional, all-out, three-day Polish weddings. That kind of experience comes to few bandleaders. A full music scholarship gave Jimmy the chance to attend the Valley Forge Military Academy. After that came the University of…
Bernie Goydish has been an active member of the polka community for more than 28 years. He is a musician, bandleader, promoter, record manufacturer, distributor, and polka disc jockey. He introduced more young new polka bands to the field than anyone else. His Sunday polka radio show is the longest running in New Jersey, 18 years. He has unselfishly donated thousands of hours to polka oriented charitable functions and organizations. Through the use of…
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…
Ladislav John Ostanek was born of Yugoslavian parents on April 20, in Duperquet, Quebec, an only child. When he was five years old, his family moved to the St. Catharines area. At the age of nine, Walter began playing the Button Diatonic accordion. Without formal training, he progressed at a remarkable rate. When he was twelve years old, Walter received his first piano accordion. Four years later, in 1951, Walter Ostanek formed his…
Happy Louie was born August 4, 1934 in Ware, Massachusetts. His mother is Polish and living. His father was French, and is deceased. At the age of nine, he played his first note on a Bugle and then changed to a B-flat Trumpet and has kept it up ever since. Happy Louie attended the eight grades of St. Mary’s Polish Grammar School in Ware, where he was taught to write and speak the…
He was born on April 20, 1919, in Southbridge, Massachusetts, where he still lives. It seems that Polka music has been a part of his life as long as he can remember. His singing was inherited from his mother, who was a polka contest winner in Southbridge, twice. In 1943, Johnny joined the U.S. Navy. After boot training, he was assigned to the Great Lakes Basic Engineering School. On a weekend pass,…
In 1933, a fresh 18-year old country kid named Ray Stolzenberg launched his band, The Northern Playboys, at a dance in LeRoy, Minnesota. From small community dance halls they went on the road to playing in ballrooms from St. Paul to Cedar Rapids, from Kansas to Chicago for the next 18 years, going practically seven days a week. Stolzenberg, a drummer, had about a thousand arrangements in his music library. He was featured…
Casey was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 25, 1921. At the age of seven, he began concertina lessons whenever he had money. At the age of eleven, Casey played his first wedding, along with his father and brothers, Eddie and John, who were also musicians. When Casey’s father retired, the “Siewierski Brothers” continued without him. The Siewierski Brothers proved to be very versatile, each of them switching instruments during a performance. During the…
Johnnie Bomba was born in Chicago. While in the 4th grade at Sacred Heart School. He started playing clarinet with the school band. In 7th grade he already played with local dance bands, and in 8th grade formed his own group. In De La Salle High School he was the first chair alto clarinetist in the concert band. He formed a 15-piece dance band and played dance halls, ballrooms, and hotels. During World War…
Stan was born in South Meriden, Connecticut in 1910. He attended St. Stanislaus School, and after finishing 7th grade, his parents told him they needed some financial support, and Stan had to go to work at age 13. He worked at various jobs: in a silver factory, for a rug company, as a co-manager of a gas station, order expeditor in a factory, and a head receiving clerk in a department store. He…
Al Soyka was born May 6, 1922 in Rockville, Connecticut. At the early age of thirteen the Soyka Trio was formed with Al on the accordion, brother Ray on vocals and cousin Ed on the violin. The group entered a local talent show and won first prize, which was a trip to radio stations in Boston, Massachusetts. A polka band was formed with Al’s three brother, Ray, Stanley and Edwin, and also his cousin…
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…
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