|
Norma Zimmer,
Champagne Lady (1959-1954)
Lawrence Welk's Longest Tenured Champagne Lady
Norma
Zimmer was Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady"
for more than two decades. She replaced Alice Lon in
1959.
The soprano was born after her violinist
father had an accident in a Seattle shipyard, ending
his musical career and sending him back to Idaho to
work in the mines in 1923. The injury crushed her
father's spirit and left him bitter and drinking
heavily. Eventually, the family moved back to
Washington and settled in Tacoma, where they
survived the Great Depression. As her family
suffered through hunger and malnutrition, both her
mother and father became alcoholics. On the advice
of a talent agent, she left home at age 18 for Los
Angeles, California and got hired by NBC for $24 per
show.
Norma Zimmer
Becomes New Champagne Lady
Zimmer
sang with a succession of top vocal groups
including
the Norman LuBoff Choir, Walter Schumann, Alfred
Newman, the Pete King Chorale,
the Ken Darby Singers, among them -- and she
appeared on most of the popular television
variety shows during the 1950s. After Alice Lon
left the Show in 1959, Lawrence Welk launched a
nationwide search for a replacement using the
Show as a live audition. After passing on
contender Jane O'Brien, Welk selected Zimmer who
had worked as a studio singer his 1956
Thanksgiving album.
In 1962, Zimmer told Welk
that she wanted to retire to raise her children.
Welk asked her to stay until he could find a
replacement. Unable to find a suitable
replacement, Welk kept asking Zimmer to come
back each week for the next 20 years. As the
show's Champagne Lady, Zimmer sang one solo, one
duet (often with Jimmy Roberts) and then danced
with Welk.
After the Welk Show ended
in 1982, Zimmer retired (for real) with her
husband, Randy, in Park City, Utah where she
remained until her death in on May 10, 2011. She
was 87.
|