Frank John Yankovic (July 28, 1915 – October 14, 1998) was an American
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
player and
polka
Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas.
History
Etymology
The term ...
musician. Known as "America's Polka King", Yankovic was considered the premier artist to play in the
Slovenian style during his long career. He was not related to fellow accordionist and song parodist
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...
, although the two collaborated.
Background
Yankovic was born to
Slovene immigrant parents: Andrew Yankovic (''Andreas Jankovič'', 1879–1949) from
Kal and Rose T. Yankovic (née ''Theresia Mele'', 1886–1968) from
Cerknica
Cerknica (; , german: Zirknitz''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 120.) is a town in the Karst region of southwestern Slovenia, with a p ...
, who married in 1910. Yankovic was raised in the
Collinwood
Collinwood is a historical area in the northeast part of Cleveland, Ohio. Originally a village in Euclid Township, it was annexed by the city in 1910. Collinwood grew around the rail yards of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (now CS ...
neighborhood on
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
's East Side.
He released over 200 recordings in his career. In 1986, he was awarded the first-ever
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
in the
Best Polka Recording
The Grammy Award for Best Polka Album was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality polka albums. Honors in several categories are ...
category.
He rarely strayed from Slovenian-style polka, but did record with country guitarist
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music s ...
and pop singer
Don Everly
The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 1939 ...
. He also recorded a version of the "Too Fat Polka" with comedian
Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, he gained stardom in his own sitcom, ''The Drew Carey Show'', an ...
.
History
Yankovic's father, a blacksmith, and his mother, a cook, met in a
lumber camp
A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...
in West Virginia where they both worked. When Yankovic was young, his father moved to
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
to escape authorities who learned of his
bootlegging, and the rest of the family followed shortly thereafter. While living in Cleveland, he became enthralled by the brass bands that played at Slovenian social functions. His mother took on boarders to help with the family finances, including a man named Max Zelodec who performed Slovenian tunes on a
button box. Yankovic acquired an accordion at age 9, and received a few lessons from Zelodec. By the late 1920s, in his early teenage years, he was a working musician, playing for community events.
In the 1930s, he formed a business relationship with Joe Trolli and began making radio appearances on stations such as WJAY and WGAR. As his reputation spread, he sought opportunities to make records, but the major labels turned him down. His first records were made for the Yankee and Joliet labels operated by Fred Wolf,
and the expenses were paid for by Yankovic himself.
In 1940, he married his first wife June, and they began to raise a family. However, the expenses of family life quickly overcame the incoming money from his music career, so he opened a tavern, calling it the Yankovic Bar. It became a popular hangout for local musicians, and he continued to run it until he sold it in 1948, dedicating himself to the accordion.
Yankovic enlisted in the armed forces in 1943 and cut numerous records while on leave, prior to his departure for Europe. Yankovic was assigned duty in 1943 in the infantry as a
flame-thrower
A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in Worl ...
operator. He fought in the
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...
where a severe case of
frostbite
Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the han ...
nearly required the amputation of his hands and feet. Fortunately, he was able to beat the resulting
gangrene
Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...
before that became necessary, and was awarded a
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...
. The doctors urged him to have his fingers amputated, but he refused, as that would have ended his music career. After getting out of the hospital, he and four other musicians were assigned to special services to entertain the troops, including
General George Patton
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...
and his
Third United States Army
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (disambiguation)
* Third Avenue (disambiguation)
* Hig ...
.
Yankovic hit the national scene when he earned two platinum singles for "
Just Because" (1947) and "
Blue Skirt Waltz" (1949). Others who recorded the
Blue Skirt Waltz were the
Tunemixers and
Guy Lombardo
Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was an Italian-Canadian-American bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racer.
Lombardo formed the Royal Canadians in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert and Victor, and othe ...
both in 1949,
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted the ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as "champagne music" to his radio, tele ...
(
Myron Floren
Myron Floren (November 5, 1919 – July 23, 2005) was an American musician best known as the accordionist on ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' between 1950 and 1980. Floren came to prominence primarily from his regular appearances on the weekly televi ...
) in 1958,
Jim Ed Brown
James Edward Brown (April 1, 1934 – June 11, 2015) was an American country singer-songwriter who achieved fame in the 1950s with his two sisters as a member of the Browns. He later had a successful solo career from 1965 to 1974, followed by ...
and the
Browns in 1960,
Hank Thompson in 1962, and
Bobby Vinton
Stanley Robert "Bobby" Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is a American former singer and occasional actor, who also hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid trib ...
in 1976. Yankovic found a Bohemian Waltz called "Cervenou Sukynku," (written by Vaclav Blaha) or loosely translated, "Red Skirt Waltz." Yankovic asked
Mitchell Parrish
Mitchell may refer to:
People
*Mitchell (surname)
* Mitchell (given name)
Places Australia
* Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate
* Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst
* Mitchell, Northern Territor ...
("
Stardust", "
Sleighride") to write new lyrics to the melody. Parrish changed "red" to "blue". Yankovic sold over 2.5 million records and with the Tunemixers version and Guy Lombardo's version, it sold over 4 million records total in 1949. It was the second Cleveland-style song to sell over one million recordings.
Columbia Records initially refused to record "Just Because", because other versions of the song had been around for years without much success; only allowing it when Yankovic said that he would buy the first 10,000 records.
Yankovic obtained the title of America's Polka King after beating
Louis Bashell,
Romy Gosz
Roman 'Romy' Louis Gosz (August 2, 1910 Grimms, Wisconsin - August 29, 1966, Manitowoc, Wisconsin) was a popular and commercially successful polka musician in the upper Midwest. Gosz's music featured the Bohemian brass style and appealed to the ...
,
Harold Loeffelmacher and the Six Fat Dutchmen,
Whoopee John Wilfahrt
John Anthony Wilfahrt, (May 11, 1893 – June 15, 1961), the eldest son of John Wilfahrt and Barbara Portner, was a professional polka musician who recorded with Vocalion and from 1934, Decca. He went by the moniker "Whoopee John." He was inducte ...
, and
Lawrence Duchow in a battle of the bands in Milwaukee at the
Milwaukee Arena
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
on June 9, 1948.
In 1970, a house fire destroyed the gold records for "Just Because" and "Blue Skirt Waltz".
Yankovic also hosted the television series ''Polka Time'' for
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
-based
WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo and ...
for 26 weeks in 1962. He commuted from Cleveland to host each episode, which aired live. He also hosted a similar show at WGN-TV Chicago at about the same time.
He won a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
in 1986 for his album ''
70 Years of Hits
''70 Years of Hits'' is a compilation album by Frankie Yankovic, released through Our Heritage Records in 1985. The title refers to Yankovic having turned 70 years old that year. In 1986, the album won Yankovic the Grammy Award for Best Polka Rec ...
''. He was the first winner in the Polka category. The NARAS (Grammy) organization dropped the category in 2008.
He performed with musical comedian and fellow accordionist
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...
, although the two are not related. Al, who also performs polka music among many other styles, has jokingly hypothesized that he was given accordion lessons as a child because his parents thought that "there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world." Al performed accordion on "
Who Stole the Kishka?
Who Stole the Kishka?, originally spelled "Who Stole the Keeshka?" is a polka
Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka i ...
" on one of Frankie's final records, ''Songs of the Polka King, Vol. 1''. A portion of Frankie's "The Tick Tock Polka" is included in the song "Polka Face" on Weird Al's ''
Alpocalypse
''Alpocalypse'' is the thirteenth studio album by American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 21, 2011. It was the seventh studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pa ...
''; it was used as a lead-in for Weird Al's take on "
Tik Tok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
" by
Ke$ha
Kesha Rose Sebert (; born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on America ...
.
Death
Yankovic died on October 14, 1998, in
New Port Richey, Florida
New Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was counted at 16,728 in the 2020 census.
History
By ...
, from heart failure, at the age of 83. He is buried in Cleveland's
Calvary Cemetery. Hundreds of friends, family, his loyal fans and fellow musicians attended his memorial service. At his peak, Yankovic traveled extensively and performed 325 shows a year. He sold 30 million records during his lifetime.
Hometown square named in his honor
![Yanksq2a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Yanksq2a.jpg)
In Bob Dolgan's 2006 biography of Yankovic, Frankie's longtime drummer Dave Wolnik observed that "Yankovic didn't have a street named for him in his own hometown". This launched a campaign by the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum and City Councilman Michael Polensek, and in a ceremony on August 21, 2007, the square at the intersection of Waterloo Rd. and East 152nd St. in Cleveland (), not far from where Yankovic grew up, was named in his honor.
Former band members
* Denny Boneck (Milwaukee, WI), stand-up bass and back-up vocals. Played, toured and recorded with Frank as one of the "Yanks" from 1970 to 1981.
* Joseph A. Godec (upright 3/4 bass) and Frank Godec (guitar) toured Ely and range 1940-44 and 1951.
* Johnny Pecon - Button Box and Piano Accordion with the original "Frankie Yankovic and His Yanks" from 1946 through 1949. Johnny was considered the best polka accordion player of his time.
* Henry "Hank The Yank" Bokal - Drummer with the original "Frankie Yankovic and His Yanks" from 1941 through 1949.
* Anthony "Tops" Cardone was a member of the popular Yankovic Show band that toured in the early 1950s, playing in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and top nightclubs in the United States. Tops played second accordion with Frank's band.
* Georgie Cook - Banjo player, who helped Yankovic establish the "Cleveland Sound".
*
Joey Miskulin
Joseph Michael Miskulin (born January 6, 1949) is an American accordionist and producer. In a music career spanning more than four decades, Joey Miskulin has collaborated with a range of artists including Johnny Cash, John Denver, Emmylou Harr ...
- Began playing with Yankovic in 1962 at the age of 13. This was the start of a relationship that lasted for the next 35 years. Joey developed his skill with the accordion and music while touring with the band. Joey began writing and arranging songs for Yankovic, eventually arranging and producing some of Yankovic's albums, including the Grammy Award-winning album "70 Years of Hits".
* Jeff Winard - Accomplished accordionist from Milwaukee; traveled with Yankovic in later years.
* Rod Verette - played bass on Yankovic's west coast tour in late '80's.
* Marian "Lefty" Bell - played bass with Yankovic. His father was a tenor in the Slovenian operettas in Cleveland.
* Steve Kucenski - played 2nd accordion in the late 70s to early 90s.
* Adolph "Church" Srnick - long time bass player with Yankovic. Played the stand up 3/4 bass and also the "baby" electric bass from 1945 until he died in 1968
*Eddie "Teener"
[Carmela Black, Teener's daughter] - played banjo with Yankovic off and on from 1953 until his death in 1970. Toured and was featured weekly on his TV show. Co-wrote with Yankovic on "Happy Polka", which was originally written as a commercial for the TV show.
See also
*
Slovene Americans
Slovene Americans or Slovenian Americans are Americans of full or partial Slovene or Slovenian ancestry. Slovenes mostly immigrated to America during the Slovene mass emigration period from the 1880s to World War I.
History
The first Slove ...
References
Further reading
* Dolgan, Bob (2006). ''America's Polka King: The Real Story of Frankie Yankovic''. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers.
External links
Sample text from the book ''America's Polka King'' by Bob DolganLibrary of Congress essayon Yankovic.
*
ttp://www.soundfountain.org/rem/remyank.html Profile of Frank Yankovic at The Remington Sitebr>
New York Times article on Yankovic's deathGood 'Early Years' bio at CD Baby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yankovic, Frankie
1915 births
1998 deaths
People from Euclid, Ohio
People from Tucker County, West Virginia
American accordionists
United States Army personnel of World War II
American people of Slovenian descent
Burials in Calvary Cemetery (Cleveland)
Grammy Award winners
Musicians from Ohio
Polka musicians
Slovene-American culture in Cleveland
20th-century American musicians
20th-century accordionists
United States Army soldiers