| Jimmy Sturr | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | James William Sturr, Jr. |
| Born | September 25, 1941 Warwick, New York, United States |
| Genres | Polka, rock, country |
| Website | www.jimmysturr.com |
James W. "Jimmy" Sturr, Jr. is a polka musician, trumpeter/clarinetist/saxophonist and leader of Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra. His recordings have won 18 out of the 24 Grammy Awards given for Best Polka Album. Sturr's orchestra is on the Top Ten List of the All-Time Grammy Awards, and has acquired more Grammy nominations than anyone in the history of musical polka awards.[1] His band is arguably the most popular polka band in America, and have their own TV show on the RFD-TV network, a network devoted to rural America.
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When touring, the band rides in Jimmy’s forty-five foot customized tour bus, previously owned by Billy Ray Cyrus.[1] On their travels, they have been to the most prestigious venues in the world, including seven sold out concerts at Carnegie Hall and four sold out concerts at Lincoln Center in New York City and a sold out concert at the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, Poland. The band has also played at many famous casinos.
The band usually attracts crowds of loyal fans wherever their travels take them.
Although Sturr is the Irish American son of a local bank president, his fans don't seem to mind the "I'm Polish" persona that he radiates. Sturr's first radio job was hosting an hour of polkas on Saturdays on WALL in Middletown, NY. The station sold Sturr an hour of time, which he re-sold to area businesses at a profit. He played polka tunes and promoted his Polka record label and sold albums via mail. Sturr was an excellent radio host and salesman and the show was packed full of ads from businesses large and small, thus setting the stage for his future business success and providing Sturr with an intimate knowledge of local radio. He and his engineer AC broadcasted live from a local restaurant "The Jolly Onion Inn" in Pine Island on Saturday nights in the late 1960s, always to a packed house.
He now hosts a syndicated radio show that airs on stations around the country, including WTBQ [2] in his hometown of Florida, NY, the station he once owned.
Today, Jimmy Sturr lives in the house he grew up in, in the village of Florida, NY, about an hour north of New York City. He is not married nor does he have any children.
The Jimmy Sturr Show airs weekly on Friday nights at 7:00pm ET, 6:00pm CT, 5:00pm MT, and 4:00pm PT on the RFDTV Network. In March 2010, PBS aired Jimmy Sturr's performance at the Polkapalooza Festival.