Joe Feeney

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For the football (soccer) player, see Joe Feeney (footballer). For the Irish Olympic wrestler, see Joe Feeney (wrestler).

Joe Feeney (August 15, 1931 – April 16, 2008) was an American tenor singer who was a member of The Lawrence Welk Show television program.

Early years

Born to an

Irish-American family in Grand Island, Nebraska, Feeney had two brothers.[1] He started singing as a boy soprano in St. Mary Cathedral,[2] his parish church choir and after graduating from St. Mary's Cathedral High School,[3]
he landed a guest appearance on the show Youth Opportunity Hour. His mother Mary supported him in all of his activities.

Feeney studied at St. Benedict College in Atchison, Kansas, and at the

Santa Monica, California where Lawrence Welk
offered him a job on his show.

After their second child was born, Feeney had to drop out of the university for financial reasons. He sold children's encyclopedias until the position on the Welk show became available.[5]

The Lawrence Welk Show

From 1957 to 1982, when the Welk show ended production, Feeney was the program's featured Irish tenor.[6] Among his selection of musical numbers that were popular with the Welk audience were Danny Boy, Galway Bay, Sweet Leilani and the Mario Lanza classic Be My Love.

Other professional activities

He also has the distinction of singing for five

Mother Seton, the first native-born American saint.[7]

Personal life

Feeney was the father of ten children with his first wife Georgia Lee Gryva, whom he met and married while they were at the University of Nebraska.[2] One of his sons, Chris, is an accomplished opera singer in his own right and often sang with his father in concerts.

Death

Feeney, a non-smoker, died of

second-hand smoke in clubs and casinos.[8] He was survived by sons Joe Jr., George Patrick, Chris, Sean, Timothy, and Matt; daughters Kathy Feeney and Georgia Feeney, and nine grandchildren.[9]

References

  1. ^ Dau, Kathy (April 20, 2008). "Remembering Joe Feeney". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  2. ^
    Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ Welk Show Family - Biographies
  5. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ a b Potempa, Philip. "Lawrence Welk's Irish tenor made a career crooning 'Danny Boy'", The Times of Northwest Indiana, May 1, 2008. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  7. ^ Joe Feeney Tenor Starred on 'Lawrence Welk'; All About Jazz, April 23, 2008
  8. ^ Joe Feeney, ‘Lawrence Welk Show’ Singer, Dies at 76; The New York Times, April 24, 2008
  9. ^ "Lawrence Welk tenor Joe Feeney dies at 76". April 23, 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2015.

External links

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