Artist Name
Frankie Yankovic and His Yanks

heart icon off (0 users)
Logo
transparent

Artist Image
artist thumb

Functions

transparent
Data Complete
percent bar 50%

Album Releases refreshview
transparent
Greatest Polka Hits (2000)
transparent
One More Time (1993)


Members
members icon 1 Male

Origin
flag Davis, USA

Genre
genre icon Folk

Style
style icon Folk

Mood
mood icon Fun

Born

born icon 1915

Active
calendar icon 0 to dead icon 1998

Cutout
transparent

Alternate Name
Frankie Yankovic

heart icon Most Loved Tracks
1 users heart off Frankie Yankovic and His Yanks - Who Stole the Kishka


youtube icon Music Video Links
No Music Videos Found...



Artist Biography
Available in: gb icon flag icon
Frank John "Frankie" Yankovic (July 28, 1915 in Davis, West Virginia – October 14, 1998 in New Port Richey, Florida) was a Grammy Award-winning polka musician. Known as "America's Polka King," Yankovic was the premier artist to play in the Slovenian style during a long and successful career.

Of Slovene descent, Yankovic was raised in South Euclid, Ohio. He released over 200 recordings in his career. In 1986 he was awarded the first ever Grammy in the Best Polka Recording category. He rarely strayed from the Slovenian-style polka, but did record with country guitarist Chet Atkins and pop singer Don Everly. He also recorded a version of the “Too Fat Polka” with comedian Drew Carey.

Yankovic was the son of immigrant parents. His father, a blacksmith, and his mother, a cook, met in a lumber camp in West Virginia where they both worked. When Yankovic was young, his family moved to Cleveland and he became enthralled by the brass bands that played at Slovenian social functions. His mother took on boarders to help with the family finances, including a man named Max Zelodec who performed Slovenian tunes on a button box. Yankovic acquired an accordion at age 9 but never took lessons. By the late 1920s, in his early teenage years, he was a working musician, playing for community events. In the 1930s, he formed a business relationship with Joe Trolli and began making radio appearances on stations such as WJAY and WGAR. As his reputation spread, he sought opportunities to make phonograph records, but the major labels turned him down. His first records were made for the Yankee and Joliet labels operated by Fred Wolf.
Yankovic enlisted in the armed forces in 1943, and cut numerous records while on leave, prior to his departure for Europe. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge where a severe case of frostbite nearly required the amputation of his hands and feet. Fortunately, he was able to beat the gangrene before that became necessary, and was awarded a Purple Heart. The doctors urged him to have his fingers amputated, but he refused, as that would have ended his music career.
Yankovic hit the national scene when he earned two platinum singles for Just Because (1947) and Blue Skirt Waltz (1949). Yankovic obtained the title of America's Polka King after beating Louis Bashell, Romy Gosz, Harold Loeffelmacher and the Six Fat Dutchmen, Whoopee John Wilfahrt, and Lawrence Duchow in a battle of the bands in Milwaukee at the Milwaukee Arena on June 9, 1948.
Yankovic also hosted the television series Polka Time for Buffalo, New York-based WKBW-TV for 26 weeks in 1962. He commuted from Cleveland to host each episode, which aired live. He also hosted a similar show at WGN-TV Chicago at about the same time. He won a Grammy Award in 1986 for his album 70 Years of Hits. He was the first winner in the Polka category. The NARAS (Grammy) organization dropped the category in 2008.
He has performed with musical comedian and fellow accordionist "Weird Al" Yankovic, although the two are not related. Al, who also performs polka music among many other styles, has jokingly hypothesized that he was given accordion lessons as a child because his parents thought that "there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world." Al performed accordion on "Who Stole the Kishka?" on one of Frankie's final records, Songs of the Polka King, Vol. 1. A portion of Frankie's "The Tick Tock Polka" is included in the song "Polka Face" on Weird Al's Alpocalypse; it was used as a lead-in for "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha.

Yankovic died on October 14, 1998 in New Port Richey, Florida, from heart failure, at the age of 83. He is buried in Cleveland's Calvary Cemetery. Hundreds of friends, family, his loyal fans and fellow musicians attended his memorial service. At his peak, Yankovic traveled extensively and performed 325 shows a year. He sold 30 million records during his lifetime.

In Bob Dolgan's 2006 biography of Yankovic, Frankie's longtime drummer Dave Wolnik observed that Yankovic didn't have a street named for him in his own hometown. This launched a campaign by the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum and City Councilman Michael Polensek, and in a ceremony on August 21, 2007, the square at the intersection of Waterloo Rd. and East 152nd St. in Cleveland (41.569°N 81.5752°W), not far from where Yankovic grew up, was named in his honor.
wiki icon

Wide Thumb
transparent

Clearart
transparent

Fanart

transparent icontransparent icon

Banner
transparent icon

User Comments

transparent iconNo comments yet..


Status
unlocked icon Unlocked
Last Edit by massie
28th Sep 2015

Socials


Streaming


External Links
fanart.tv icon musicbrainz icon last.fm icon website icon unlocked iconwebsite icon unlocked iconamazon icon