Buddy Merrill

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Buddy Merrill (born July 16, 1936 as Leslie Merrill Behunin, Jr.) is an American guitar player and musician who was best known as a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show. His style of guitar playing is known as multi-tracking.

Guitarist Buddy Merrill

1 Early Beginnings
2 On the Lawrence Welk Show
3 Accomplishments after Welk
4 Discography
5 External links

[edit] Early Beginnings

The oldest of four children, he was born in Torrey, Utah whose father was also a musician. At age eight, he got his first guitar and soon enough, began performing live with his father's band, The Fremont River Rangers. When he was eleven, he even appeared with his dad live on local television station KYDL in Salt Lake City.

When the family moved out to Los Angeles, California in the early 1950s, Buddy continued to perfect his musical skills, playing both the acoustic guitar and the steel guitar. He also began to do home recordings of himself playing rhythm guitar to a song, which was how the legendary Les Paul did in the recording studios. He also continued to perform live throughout high school in dances, social functions and at clubs.

[edit] On the Lawrence Welk Show

He joined the Lawrence Welk Show in 1955, the same year it first went national on ABC. At nineteen, his youth and energy made him very popular with the ladies and his artistry with the guitar made him a highly-sought after live performer, studio musician and garnered him respect within the music industry. He briefly left the show from 1959 to 1962 when he was drafted by the Army, but upon his return to the Music Makers, he was joined in the band's rhythm section with fellow guitarist Neil Levang. For the next twelve years, the two would be television's most dynamic guitar duo, attracting a whole legion of fans and admirers.

In 1964 he signed with Accent Records owned by Scott Seely, it was a partnership based on both a personal and professional level that lasts to this day, taking his unique sound on the guitar to whole new levels. He left the Welk band in 1974 to devote more time to write music and record for the Accent label.

[edit] Accomplishments after Welk

Buddy continued to perform live, either as a solo artist or with a band, until 1988 when he retired from the road. He also continued to perform as a studio musician and record a bevy of albums. He even penned a symphonic work, "Living Sea" as well as orginial compositions for tape programmers and television commercials. Today he lives in Lake Elsinore, California with his wife Connie, who he married in 1983.

Buddy is left handed