Steve Smith is an American singer best known from television's The Lawrence Welk Show

The Lawrence Welk Show

The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...

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Biography

Born and raised in San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

; he graduated from San Lorenzo High School

San Lorenzo High School

San Lorenzo High School, also known as "SLZ", is a public high school located in San Lorenzo, California and is part of the San Lorenzo Unified School District. Its crosstown rival is Arroyo High School...

 and attended Westmont College

Westmont College

Westmont offers 26 majors, including: alternative major, art, biology, chemistry, communication studies, computer science, economics and business, education program, engineering physics, English, history, European studies, kinesiology, liberal studies, mathematics, modern languages , music,...

 where he met fellow Westmont students Bob Duncan, Greg Dixon and Johnny Johnson. The foursome sang all over campus as a quartet, which in 1965, drew the attention of bandleader Lawrence Welk

Lawrence Welk

Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...

. They were at the Hollywood Palladium

Hollywood Palladium

The Hollywood Palladium is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an 11,200 square foot dance floor with room for up to 4,000 people.-History:...

 watching Welk's music makers perform when they got the chance to audition for Welk.

The Blenders, with Smith singing lead tenor, joined the show later that year and were a popular fixture of the Musical Family until they broke up in 1967.

Smith stayed on as a featured vocalist, and in addition to solo numbers, sang a both part of a barber shop quartet, and as lead vocals in the Curt Ramsey Quintet.

He left the show in 1969 to pursue a solo career of his own, which included stints on The Carol Burnett Show

The Carol Burnett Show

The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...

and as part of the 1950s group The Diamonds

The Diamonds

The Diamonds are a Canadian vocal quartet who rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s with sixteen Billboard hit records. The original members were Dave Somerville , Ted Kowalski , Phil Levitt , and Bill Reed .-1950s:...

.

Today, Smith and his wife Hope live in the Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...

valley, where they operate a ski resort, while he still pursues singing.