John A. Klein, Jr. (June 4, 1918 – January 31, 1997) was an American musician who played drums for the

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, te ...

orchestra from 1951 to 1976 and on ''

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 1 ...

'' from 1955 to 1976. He was also Welk's second

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

. Born in Strasburg, North Dakota, Klein was the son of German-Russian parents and the oldest of five children. It was during his early years that he took up music, especially the drums, which he played with several area bands. Upon graduating from high school in 1936, Johnny first enrolled at the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of N ...

. Later he enrolled at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

, where he graduated with both a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Music Education. He also served in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1951, while Klein was studying for his master's degree in Columbia, Missouri, Welk and his orchestra came to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

for an engagement. Welk encouraged his cousin to try out for his band, which he accepted. For the next twenty-five years, in addition to being featured drummer, Klein was the band's equipment manager and the driver of the band truck while out on tour. However, ill health due to a bleeding

ulcer An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing o ...

forced him to step down full-time in 1976. After a recovering, he served as Welk's music

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

with the organization. He also continued to perform as well, often playing for the ''Sunday Swing'' at the Welk Resort in Escondido with a group called the ''Journeymen'' and with other clubs until his retirement in the 1990s. He died in 1997 after a brief illness in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific O ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Johnny 1918 births 1997 deaths People from Emmons County, North Dakota Musicians from North Dakota University of North Dakota alumni University of Missouri alumni American people of German-Russian descent Lawrence Welk 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians