Robert Howard Ralston ( July 2, 1938- July 1st 2025) was an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

who performed on 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 1955 t ...

'' from 1963 until 1982, when the series ended.

Career

A native of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, Ralston graduated from

Montebello High School Founded in 1909, Montebello High School is a public high school which is part of the Montebello Unified School District, and has an enrollment of approximately 2,600 students in grades 9-12. Its campus is located in Montebello, California, a sub ...

in 1955 and attended Wheaton College in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

on a full music scholarship. Before finishing his degree, he transferred to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, from which he earned a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

degree in composition and accompanying in 1964. During his college years, Ralston played six nights a week with the

Freddy Martin Frederick Alfred Martin (December 9, 1906 – September 30, 1983) was an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist. Early life Freddy Martin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Raised largely in an orphanage and by various relatives, ...

orchestra (1959-1962) at Los Angeles's

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as "The Grove", is an affluent and the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods of Miami, neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by North Prospect Driv ...

nightclub, where in 1962,

Welk Welk or WELK may also refer to: People * Ehm Welk (1884–1966), German writer * Lawrence Welk (1903–1992), American musician Other uses *Welk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, a village in Poland * WELK, a radio station in West Virginia, United States ...

invited him on his show as a guest musician. Playing with Freddy Martin lasted until the summer of 1963, when one of Welk's original pianists, Jerry Burke, fell ill and soon died, and Ralston was hired on a permanent basis. The Welk programs feature Ralston's piano and organ solos, but they frequently include his performances as a singer, dancer, and comedian. He arranged music and continued to perform for the Music Makers live and on television until 1982 when Welk retired from active performing. Since 1988, he has been the pianist and organist for the Founders Church of

Religious Science The Religious Science movement, or Science of Mind, was established in 1926 by Ernest Holmes and is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical spiritual movement within the New Thought movement. In general, the term "Science of Mind" applie ...

in Los Angeles, an affiliate of the

Centers for Spiritual Living The Centers for Spiritual Living (CSL) is a spiritual philosophy promoting Religious Science that was founded by Ernest Holmes in 1926, with the publication of his book '' The Science of Mind''. Before 2011, it was two organizations known as Un ...

. Throughout his career, Ralston has recorded several hundred albums; many of them as a solo artist or with bandleaders, including Welk,

Ray Conniff Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s. Biography Conniff was born November 6, 1916, in Attleboro, Massachusetts, United S ...

, and

Billy Vaughn William Vaughn, popularly known as Billy Vaughn (born Richard Smith Vaughn, April 12, 1919 – September 26, 1991) was an American musician, singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records. Biography Vaughn was bor ...

. He has also been active in the preservation of theater

pipe organs The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ...

across America and has been a guest

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

for several symphony orchestras. Ralston appeared as host in a 1999

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

rerun of Lawrence Welk's "Time" show. He still holds regular concerts in his home with various guest vocalists.

Personal life

Ralston and his

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

-born wife, Fietje, were married on March 3, 1963, and had two adult children. The Ralstons resided Granada Hills in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

in Los Angeles. Ralston died peacefully at his home in

Los Angeles California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city ...

, on June 1st 2025. Ralston's parents were Bradford Ralston and the former Marjorie Elizabeth Norton (1911–1998), an early cartoonist for

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

. In 1928, Disney hired her as an

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. After the penciller creates a drawing with pencil, the inker interprets this drawing by outlining and embellishing ...

, the thirteenth person employed by the new company. She was the first female voice actor for

Minnie Mouse Minerva "Minnie" Mouse is an American cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. The longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a red or pink bow, blue (or pink or red) polka-dotted dress, w ...

in the 1929 cartoon ''

Wild Waves ''Wild Waves'' is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on December 18, 1929, as part of the ''Mickey Mouse'' film series. It was the fifteenth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the twelfth of that year, as well as the last to be r ...

''. Ralston's brother, Frederick Carleton "Rick" Ralston (born August 25, 1941), founded Crazy Shirts in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. His paternal aunt and uncle,

Esther Ralston Esther Ralston (born Esther Louise Worth, September 17, 1902 – January 14, 1994) was an American silent films, silent film star. Her most prominent sound picture was ''To the Last Man (1933 film), To the Last Man'' in 1933. Early life and c ...

and Howard Ralston (1904–1992), were actors.

Legal issues

Ralston was arrested in 1984 for the molestation of a 13-year-old boy that he met in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

and brought to California. When police raided his home, pornographic slides were discovered of at least 13 other boys. Ralston eventually pled guilty to one felony count of committing a lewd act with a child under age 14. In a plea bargain with the District Attorney's Office, three other lewd conduct charges involving two other boys were dismissed. Los Angeles police detective Steve Hales stated outside the courtroom, "'In all my years working with sexually exploited children, that was the most inappropriate sentence on a pedophile I've ever seen." Ralston was sentenced to 5 years probation and no contact with children.

References

External links

Bob Ralston official webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ralston, Bob 1938 births Living people American keyboardists USC Thornton School of Music alumni Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni Entertainers from Montebello, California People from San Bernardino County, California Musicians from Los Angeles Theatre organists Mensans Lawrence Welk 20th-century American pianists American male pianists 21st-century American organists American people convicted of child sexual abuse