Bill Page
{{short description|American musician}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Bill Page
| image = BillPageWelkBandeBay.jpg
| image_size =
| birth_name =
| alias =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|09|11}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|4|26|1925|9|11}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| death_place = Studio City, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| instrument = English horn, bass clarinet, bassoon, clarinet, flute, oboe, piccolo, saxophone
| genre = Big band, classical, jazz, orchestra
| occupation = Instrumentalist, band leader, entrepreneur
| years_active =
| label =
| associated_acts = Boyd Raeburn, Del Courtney, Lawrence Welk
| website =
}}
Bill Page (September 11, 1925 – April 26, 2017) was an American reed player, band leader, and entrepreneur who was best known for his work in the Lawrence Welk Band.{{Cite web |url=http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/history_culture/lawrence_welk/fifty_years.html |title=50 Years on National Television: The Lawrence Welk Show |access-date=2014-10-12 |archive-date=2018-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024035417/https://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/history_culture/lawrence_welk/fifty_years.html |url-status=dead }}
Early life
Page is a World War II veteran of the European theater, serving in the US Army.{{cite web|title=Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada on November 2, 1973 · Page 48|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/150753304/|website=Newspapers.com|date=2 November 1973 |accessdate=17 May 2018|language=en}} He attended Wright Junior College (now known as Wilbur Wright College).[http://www.welkmusicalfamily.com/welkbios5.html Lawrence Welk Music Makers Bios]
Early musical career
Page played with Del Courtney and Boyd Raeburn before joining the Lawrence Welk Show in 1951.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19590111&id=PQAzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6OIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2879,1327444 Lawrence Welk Musician to Perform in High School]
Lawrence Welk Show
1950s newspapers give differing total numbers of woodwind instruments he could play, but among them were six saxophones, four clarinets, flute, piccolo, oboe, English horn and bassoon. He was often featured in numbers in which he played several instruments accompanied by Welk's orchestra.[http://www.welkmusicalfamily.com/welkbios5.html Lawrence Welk Music Makers Bios] On the 26 October 1957 broadcast, Welk boasted that Page could play "sixteen" instruments, with Page then playing the 1951 song "Am I In Love?" on eleven of them.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEPYFpLst1Q | title=Bill Page on 11 Instruments | website=YouTube }}
After the Lawrence Welk Show
Page left the Lawrence Welk Show in 1965 and went on to perform with Barry Manilow, Ted Mack, Frank Gorshin, Judy Garland, and on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.[http://welkmusicalfamily.blogspot.com/2007/09/bill-page.html The Welk Musical Family: Bill Page]
Personal life
Page would eventually settle permanently in Studio City, California. He is the father of musician and entrepreneur Scott Page of Pink Floyd, Supertramp, and Toto fame and host on syndicated radio show Business Rockstars, as well as Tanya Page, an executive at Sony.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwulbGgQNuk Business Rockstars, Host Scott Page]
Page died on April 26, 2017, at the age of 91.[http://www.welkmusicalfamily.com/welkbios5.html Musical Family Bios 5]
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.welkmusicalfamily.com/welkbios5.html Stars of the Lawrence Welk Show]
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Category:United States Army personnel of World War II
Category:Musicians from Chicago
Category:Musicians from Los Angeles
Category:People from Studio City, Los Angeles