Lawrence Duchow (May 9, 1914 – December 16, 1972) was an American

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

bandleader who recorded on the

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

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 244 at the 2020 census. History Potter was established near a Native American village along the Manitowoc River. It was originally named Muskratville beca ...

, 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. 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 Harold Loeffelmacher (March 14, 1905 – January 30, 1988) was an American musician and bandleader best known for forming the polka band known as the Six Fat Dutchmen. The band, based in New Ulm, Minnesota, traveled extensively and played as man ...

. Duchow played many of his shows at Kleist's Hall in

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

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. 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 that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, 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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Duchow, Lawrence