On October 16, 2021, the polka world lost one of the most respected and loved polka promoters in the industry. Eugene (Gene) Swick passed away just two days after his 90th birthday after a long bout with multiple health issues. Born in the Polish neighborhood of Greenpoint in Brooklyn, NY, he went on to serve his country in the Air Force as a nuclear physicist. After 20 years of service, Gene retired as a lieutenant…
Bill’s radio career started in 1963 when involved with supporting a Rock n Roll radio show at Fordham U in NYC. He quickly got the radio bug and was invited by the Jesuit priest and station director, Father Trivett, to host a Polka show starting on November 28, 1964, on a low power college radio station. Shortly after that, he was the first to participate in a fundraising effort that raised the wattage to…
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…
Elmer Scheid was born on October 4, 1921 in New Ulm, MN. At the young age of 8 years old, he learned to play the concertina from his father and performed his first professional dance event with the John Fritsche Band at the age of 14. Elmer later played with the Six Fat Dutchmen and the Babe Wagner Band, which he managed from 1949 to 1951. He then created his own band, Elmer Scheid…
Gary Seibert, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, started playing the accordion at the age of 8. By the age of 12 he started his own two-piece band, resulting in over 60 years of musicianship. Throughout his school, Gary would play at the local canteen, parties, and of course, local Friday fish fries. Shortly after high school, Gary enlisted in the Navy where he used his musical talent to entertain the troops whenever the…
*Deceased in 2009* Matias “Math” Sladky grew up on a farm near Wahoo, Nebraska. With the love of polka music in his heart, when his folks would go to a dance, he would head straight for the stage where he would sit all evening watching the musicians. Sladky always wanted to play drums but his father tried early on to convince him to play the accordion. At 14 years old, with his father’s…
Eddie Siwiec began playing polka music in 1969 and continues to this day. He credits his parents, Chester and Catherine, and his uncle, Joe Smiell, renowned musician, composer and bandleader from Oakland, California, with introducing him to the wonderful world of music and dance. Edward is the youngest of four children and was born along with his twin sister on March 9, 1955, in Dearborn, Michigan, the hometown of Henry Ford, as he…
*Deceased in 2015* The gifted Eddie Skinger has always been clear about his commitment to his vocation. Over the past 62 years, he has become an accomplished and respected vocalist, musician, arranger and composer. His talent and ability shine through his music and can easily be considered as one of the bright lights within the Polka Industry. Eddie Skinger has performed and recorded for some of the greatest Polka bands of all time including: …
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…
Keith Stras was born in Chicago, on October 9, 1961. At an early age, Stras seemed to be interested in entertaining people. His late Uncle Ned Locke, a 25 year veteran of Chicagoland television and radio, was responsible for Stras being bitten by the limelight bug. Ned, a Circus Ringmaster on WGN’s “Bozo Circus” can also be credited for Stras’ other love, the circus. Stras, half Polish and half Italian, was first…
An explosive entertainer, polka dynamite, and charged with TNT describes one of the 1994 Polka Music Hall of Fames inductees. Born on the Fourth of July and growing up on the East Side of Buffalo, known as the city’s Polonia, “Scrubby” was exposed to polka music at a very early age. When he was six he started to play the accordion, first by ear, then with formal lessons. Later in his early teens,…
It was 1960 when it all started for Virginia Seretny on a small community radio station WILI in Williamantic, Conn. As a result of an association with a friend named Homer who was employed as a newscaster and Sunday morning DJ at the station who enjoyed polka music and featured it during his program. During this time the owner of the station purchased another station in nearby Putnam, Conn., and he offered the…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
When it comes to polka music the name of Sajewski is a household word, representing an association of over 80 years in the annals of Polish and polka music in America. Alvin Sajewski carried on the tradition established by his father, who opened their first music store in 1897 in Chicago. In those early years the inventory included theatrical books, sheet music, instruments, piano rolls and recordings. In time the store was flourishing and the…
The polka career of Chet Schafer began in 1950, when, together with Li’l Wally Jagiello, their voices were heard on a half-hour polka program on radio station WCRW in Chicago. But things didn’t roll for Chet until he started his own “Polka Hit Parade” program on station WTAQ, LaGrange, Illinois, in 1952. On this program he spun the best selling polka records according to the surveys, getting the idea from the then popular…
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