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Similar Kathie Sullivan, Charlie Parlato, Bob Lido, Mahlon Clark, Tanya Falan WelkâRoberts | ||
The semonski sisters hot diggity
The Semonski Sisters were a family musical act that appeared on television's The Lawrence Welk Show from 1975 to 1977.
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The sextet consisted of sisters Diane (born 1956), Donna (born April 20, 1958), Joanne (born July 23, 1960), Valerie (born March 1, 1962), Audrey (born March 28, 1963) and Michelle (born August 16, 1967). They were born and raised in Hackettstown, New Jersey to parents Joe and Roberta "Rusty" Semonski.
Musically gifted, the family moved to Altamonte Springs, Florida in 1974 and after just two months there, the sisters got to sing in public for the first time when they and their parents went to see Donald O'Connor perform at Disney World's Top Of The World dinner theater. O' Connor invited the girls onto the stage to perform two numbers. The band leader at Top of the World knew that Lawrence Welk was coming to Florida for the Disney Golf Classic, and he arranged an audition for the sisters with Welk at Channel 9 studios in Orlando, Florida. Encouraged by their audition, Welk invited them out to California to be on his show.
The Semonskis spent two and half seasons as members of Welk's Musical Family from 1975 to 1977. During their time with the show, the series as a whole had a far greater focus on musical skits (a medium at which the sextet was particularly adept) than it did without them. Eldest sister Diane left in late 1976 to pursue a solo singing and songwriting career, and the act was a quintet until they themselves left a year later.
Today Diane is employed by Fletcher Music in The Villages, Florida where she teaches residents how to play organ music. She also gives weekly performances singing songs from the Lawrence Welk Show.
