Pete Fountain - Lawrence Welk Presents and similar items

Catalog Number: CRL-57200 Condition Details: Vinyl plays with crackles (play-graded). Cover looks great; a few creases near edges; light-scuffing, discoloration spots, and surface impressions (front/back); slight discoloration on back. Inner-sleeve is original (plastic). Spine is easy-to-read with mild-wear. Minor shelf-wear along top/bottom-edge; some wear to corners. Opening is crisp with signs of light use and divots. (Not a cut-out.) Tracks: When My Baby Smiles At Me Summertime If I Had You La Vie En Rose On The Alamo Tiger Rag I Want A Girl (Just Like The Girl That Married Dear Old Dad) Dancing In The Dark My Blue Heaven That Old Feeling I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover Hindustan About The Record: A talent scout for Lawrence Welk, who saw Fountain performing at the Pier 600, brought him to the attention of Larry Welk, son of television bandleader Lawrence Welk. Persistent persuasion from the son led the senior Welk to invite Fountain to join the Lawrence Welk orchestra in Los Angeles, where he relocated and lived for two years. Fountain became well known for his many solos on Welk's ABC television show, The Lawrence Welk Show. He was rumored to have quit when Welk refused to let him "jazz up" a Christmas carol on the 1958 Christmas show. Other accounts, including one in Fountain's autobiography A Closer Walk With Pete Fountain, indicate he in fact played a jazzy rendition of "Silver Bells" on the show which upset Welk, leading to Fountain's departure in early 1959. In an interview, Fountain said he left The Lawrence Welk Show because "champagne and bourbon don't mix." Fountain was hired by Decca Records A R head Charles "Bud" Dant and went on to produce 42 hit albums with Dant. After Welk's death, Fountain would occasionally join with the Welk musical family for reunion shows.