the lawrence welk show cast where are they now

When my brothers said we were in the Smithsonian, I said I feel old enough to be in the Smithsonian!” “We were in Photoplay and Radio Mirror and every movie magazine you can image. “From the 1950s and ‘60s, they had records and movie magazines with the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley and the Lennon Sisters ,” Peggy said. Two Lennon brothers recently called Peggy after they saw a Smithsonian exhibition on music through the ages. “The voices are still there, just like when we were tiny little kids, that hasn’t changed at all,” added Peggy.

“We have made all of our friends promise that if they see us up there and are thinking, ‘uh-oh,’ they will get a hook and pull us off,” said Kathy, laughing. The Lennons are surprised when they realize it’s been 56 years since the Welk premiere.

In the documentary, they discuss their experiences on the Welk series as well as the killing of their father, William Lennon, by a stalker who was infatuated with Peggy. They penned their autobiography, “Same Song, Separate Voices,” in 1985 and last year, a documentary of the same name aired on PBS and is available on the website. They will be returning to California for the second annual Lennon Family Concert and Fundraiser at the Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club on Friday and Saturday. Since 1994, Kathy, Janet and, for the last 13 years, younger sister Mimi, have been performing, primarily at the Welk Resort Champagne Theatre in Branson, Mo. They were a mainstay on the series until 1968, then in 1969 got their own ABC musical variety series “Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters.” They also appeared on “The Andy Williams Show,””The Ed Sullivan Show” and performed for years in Las Vegas.ĭee Dee, 72, and Peggy, 71, are retired, but the Lennon Sisters are still harmonizing. They scored their first hit “Tonight, You Belong to Me” in 1956. Their harmonies were pure, with Peggy singing the high notes, Kathy the low, and Dianne - known as Dee Dee - and Janet, in the middle. On Christmas Eve 1955, “champagne music” bandleader Lawrence Welk introduced the Lennon Sisters from Venice - Dianne, Peggy, Kathy and Janet - on his popular ABC musical variety series, “The Lawrence Welk Show.” And before you could say “a-one-and-a-two,” the girls, ages 9 to 16, were an overnight phenomenon.

The lawrence welk show cast where are they now