American musician and arranger, he played piano and harpsicord. For many years he was a member of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra and of the cast of the popular TV show.
With early musical talent, he began playing piano at age eight. At age 12 he began arranging songs and leading an orchestra of friends. After a year at the North Dakota Agricultural College, he decided that music was his passion and vocation; he landed a job as music director at a Fargo radio station where he worked from 1944 to 1956. There he composed music for community groups and arranged over 2500 pieces for his employer.
He came to the attention of Lawrence Welk in 1956 and was invited to join the prestigious orchestra and television show. He moved his family to California and appeared on the show until 1969, working as pianist, harpsicordist, arranger, and sometimes behind-the-scenes programmer/scheduler. He released some albums of his own as well. In 1969 he left the show and returned to his home town where he formed an orchestra and taught music. He moved back to California in the 1970s and stayed there, leading his orchestra, until his death in October 1995. He was married twice, first to Janette Daniels, in 1940 and they had four children. She died in 1979 and he remarried in 1993, this time to Audrey Roseland whom he had met when working at WDAY, Fargo’s radio station back in the 1940s.