Charlotte Harris

Charlotte Harris Deveny (born April 29, 1931) is an American musician who plays the cello^[1] and was the only female member of the Lawrence Welk orchestra.

Life

Born in Oak Park, Illinois, USA, Harris first took up the cello at age five, she first played as part of a jazz combo throughout her childhood and teenage years. She has also played with numerous symphony orchestras across the country including both the Chicago and the San Antonio Symphony. According to her interview on an episode of The Lawrence Welk Show, she states that one of the reasons she played in the Lawrence Welk orchestra was because, at the time, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra did not allow women to play.

In 1956, she appeared in the film Around the World in Eighty Days as a musician. By this time, she had moved out to Los Angeles working as a session musician and with various bands. It was in early 1961 that she was hired by Lawrence Welk as the orchestra's new cellist where she performed both on his television show, and in their live concerts, whenever they went out on tour and at the Hollywood Palladium on Saturday evenings.

Throughout her tenure on the show, she was featured many times with pianist Bob Ralston for instrumental numbers and has also performed with the Welk singers in many choral numbers.

Harris left the show in 1978 and was replaced by Ernie Ehrhardt. Today she lives in Palos Verdes, California where she teaches cello and has two daughters, Charlotte and Catherine. She also teaches beginning and intermediate piano in her studio, which features two Steinway grand pianos.

Harris came from a family of six and was the second oldest. All of her siblings enjoyed music.

She was married to Edwin Deveny for 19 years.

References