Lawrence Duchow (May 9, 1914 – December 16, 1972) was an American bandleader recorded on the

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

label from 1932 to 1954.

Career

Born in

Potter, Wisconsin Potter is a village in Calumet County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 253 at the 2010 census. History Potter was established near a Native American village along the Manitowoc River. It was originally named Muskratville becau ...

, Duchow was a member of the

International Polka Association The International Polka Association (IPA) is located in Chicago, Illinois and dedicated to the study and preservation of polka music and the cultural heritage of Polish Americans who have made this music tradition part of their heritage. The IPA ...

and

Polka Hall of Fame The National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum in Euclid, Ohio, United States. It traces the history of the Cleveland-style polka, from its Slovenian roots from the 19th century, through American factory and mining towns w ...

. With his Red Raven Orchestra, named after the Red Raven Polka, he competed in polka contests against the bands of

Frankie Yankovic Frank John Yankovic (July 28, 1915 – October 14, 1998) was an American accordion player and polka musician. Known as "America's Polka King", Yankovic was considered the premier artist to play in the Slovenian style during his long career. He ...

, Whoopee John Wilfahrt,

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 ...

, Louis Bashell, and Harold Loeffelmacher. Duchow played many of his shows at Kleist's Hall in

. At one time, he had a weekly radio show on WGN in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In November 1947, he had a ''Billboard'' chart hit with "Swiss Boy", which reached number 23. He was involved in a bogus check scandal in 1953 and arrested in New York. He then resettled in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, but he returned to Wisconsin in 1969.

References

1914 births 1972 deaths People from Calumet County, Wisconsin Musicians from Wisconsin 20th-century American musicians Polka musicians {{Wisconsin-stub