Steve Smith (born May 30, 1945) is an American singer best known from television's ''

The Lawrence Welk Show ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 195 ...

''.

Biography

Born and reared in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

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 ...

; he graduated from

San Lorenzo High School San Lorenzo High School, also known as "SLz", is a public high school located in Ashland, California, and is part of the San Lorenzo Unified School District. The school's student body reflects the diversity of its surrounding and nearby communit ...

and attended the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Westmont College Westmont College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Montecito, California. It was founded in 1937. History Ruth Kerr, owner and CEO of the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company, established the school as the Bible Missionary Institute in ...

in Santa Barbara, California, where he met fellow Westmont students Bob Duncan, Greg Dixon, and Johnny Johnson. The foursome sang all over campus as a quartet, which in 1965 drew the attention of bandleader

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 ...

. They were at the

Hollywood Palladium The Hollywood Palladium is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with room for up to 4,000 ...

watching Welk's music makers perform when they got the chance to audition for Welk. The Blenders, with Smith singing lead tenor, joined the show later that year and were a popular fixture of the Musical Family until they broke up in 1967. Smith stayed on as a featured vocalist and, in addition to solo numbers, sang both as a part of a barber shop quartet and as lead vocals in the Curt Ramsey Quintet. Smith also did multiple duets with the

Lennon Sisters The Lennon Sisters are an American vocal group made up of four sisters. The quartet originally consisted of Dianne (aka DeeDee; born Dianne Barbara, December 1, 1939), Peggy (born Margaret Anne, April 8, 1941), Kathy (born Kathleen Mary, Augu ...

primarily with Kathy Lennon on the show. On October 8, 1966, in a Welk musical tour of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, Smith sang " Three Coins in the Fountain". He left the show in 1969 to pursue a solo career of his own, which included stints on ''

The Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey ...

'' and as part of 1950s-style group

The Diamonds The Diamonds are a Canadian vocal quartet that rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s with 16 ''Billboard'' hit records. The original members were Dave Somerville (lead), Ted Kowalski (tenor), Phil Levitt (baritone), and Bill Reed (ba ...

. Today, Smith and his wife Hope live in the

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...

valley of California and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, where they operate a ski resort while he still pursues singing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Steve 1945 births Singers from San Francisco American male singers Living people Westmont College alumni Lawrence Welk