Joe Feeney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

Born to an Irish American family in Grand Island, Nebraska; he first started singing as a boy soprano in his hometown's church choir and after high school, he landed a guest appearance on the show Youth Opportunity Hour. While he attended to his studies at the University of Nebraska, he entered several singing contests which included a spot on the Arlene Francis program, Talent Patrol. In 1956 while he was working at radio station WOW in Omaha, the station manager sent recordings of Feeney's voice to the Welk offices in Santa Monica, California where Lawrence Welk offered him a job on his show.

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

He also has the distinction of singing for five US Presidents and has sung at Carnegie Hall three times, plus in 1975 sang for Pope Paul VI at the canonization of Mother Seton, the only American saint to date.

Feeney is the father of ten children from his previous marriage to Georgia LeGryva; one of his sons, Chris, is an accomplished opera singer in his own right and often sings with his father in concerts.