Norma Zimmer

Norma Zimmer
Zimmer and Lawrence Welk, 1961.
Background information
Birth name	Norma Larsen
Born	July 13, 1923(1923-07-13) Larson, Idaho
Died	May 10, 2011(2011-05-10) (aged 87) Brea, California
Occupations	Vocalist
Associated acts	Lawrence Welk Norman Luboff Choir

Norma Zimmer (July 13, 1923 – May 10, 2011) was a vocalist, best remembered for her 22-year tenure as Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady" on The Lawrence Welk Show.

Biography

Born as Norma Larsen on a dairy farm in Larson, Idaho, she grew up in Seattle after her father moved the family west. She was singing in a church choir when a guest artist suggested she travel to Los Angeles and audition for a musical group. When she turned 18, she did just that. In 1944 she married Randy Zimmer.

She sang with a succession of top vocal groups — the Norman Luboff Choir, the Pete King Chorale, and the Ken Darby Singers among them — and she appeared on most of the popular television variety shows during the 1950s. She landed a small singing part in the Bing Crosby movie Mr. Music (1950), and provided the singing voice for the White Rose in the Disney film Alice in Wonderland (1951).^[1][2] She also worked as a studio singer and performed on Welk's 1956 Thanksgiving album.

Zimmer sang with a quartet called The Girlfriends along with Betty Allan and others. They sang backup for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, and others. Their group sang backup for the famous Bing Crosby version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas".

In 1959, the previous Champagne Lady Alice Lon was fired, Welk's reasoning being that she exposed too much knee on camera. Because of protests, Welk then tried (and failed) to get Lon back. After a year of the show's trying out several different singers, Zimmer officially joined the Welk show as his Champagne Lady on New Year's Eve, 1960.^[3] Zimmer stayed on the show and traveled with Welk and the band on personal appearances for three years.

As her two sons were growing up, she decided to give it up to raise her children. Welk told her it was all right for her to quit the road tours, but he asked her to stay on the television show until he could find another singer. Each week, a new girl came on as a possible replacement, but Welk kept asking Zimmer to come back the following week. That went on for 20 years. As the show's Champagne Lady, Zimmer sang one solo and often a duet (usually with Jimmy Roberts); she frequently danced with Welk at the end of the show.^[4]

She also appeared in a number of the Billy Graham evangelical crusades and wrote a book about her life, Norma (1976), published by Tyndale House.^[5]

Last years

Zimmer stopped performing publicly since she was suffering from a neurological disorder. She died peacefully on May 10, 2011, at her Brea, California home, age 87, and was survived by her two sons, Ron and Mark, as well as three grandchildren.

References

1. ^ IMDb profile
2. ^ "'Lawrence Welk Show' star Norma Zimmer dead at 87". blog.bcdb.com, May 11, 2011
3. ^ Her many appearances included her 1962 rendition of "A Perfect Day" by Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862-1946): Zimmer, Norma (1962). "End of a Perfect Day". Lawrence Welk Show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckzwwK-ydow&feature=related. Retrieved 2011-04-03. 
4. ^ "Vocalist Norma Zimmer dies". Variety.com. May 11, 2011. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118036856?refCatId=25. Retrieved May 23, 2011. 
5. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}

Persondata
Name	Zimmer, Norma
Alternative names	Larsen, Norma
Short description	Singer, vocalist
Date of birth	1923-07-13
Place of birth	Shoshone County, Idaho, United States
Date of death	10, 2011-05-10
Place of death	Brea, California, United States