Norma Zimmer

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Norma Zimmer (born July 13, 1923 as Norma Larsen) was Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady" for more than two decades on The Lawrence Welk Show.

The soprano, born on a dairy farm in Larson, Idaho, grew up in Seattle after her father moved the family west. She was singing in a church choir when a guest artist suggested she travel to Los Angeles and audition for a musical group. When she turned 18, she did just that. In 1945 she married Randy Zimmer.

She sang with a succession of top vocal groups — the Norman LuBoff Choir, the Pete King Chorale, the Ken Darby Singers, among them — and she appeared on most of the popular television variety shows during the 1950s as well as landing a small singing part in Bing Crosby's 1950 film, Mr. Music (uncredited).^[1] She also worked as a studio singer and performed on Welk's 1956 Thanksgiving album. Zimmer officially joined the Welk show as his Champagne Lady on New Year's Eve, 1960.

Zimmer stayed on the show and traveled with Welk and the band on personal appearances for three years. But her two sons were growing up and she decided to give it up to raise her children.

Welk told her it was all right for her to quit the road tours, but he asked her to stay on the television show until he could find another singer. Each week, a new girl came on as a possible replacement, but Welk kept asking Zimmer to come back the following week. That went on for 20 years.

As the show's Champagne Lady, Zimmer sang one solo and often a duet (usually with Jimmy Roberts); she also frequently danced with Welk at the end of the show. Zimmer no longer performs publicly since she is suffering from a neurological disorder, though she does frequently join her fellow former castmates for many of the Welk reunion shows, broadcast on PBS.

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