LS: Dianne, Dee Dee, went to school with Larry Welk Jr. LS: There’s 11 of us, six girls and five boys.īTC: What part did Larry Welk play in getting you the opportunity to appear on the Lawrence Welk Show? People in the audience liked it and said they would pay us to come and sing for their organizations, and that’s what we did.īTC: How many brothers and sisters did you have? Daddy wanted to add a dormitory onto the house for the girls. The whole family lived in a two bedroom-one bath house and mom and dad slept on a pull-out sofa in the living room. LS: To help put an addition on our house. It was great!īTC: What was the original reason the Lennon Sisters started singing professionally in 1954? It was an amazing, wonderful, and loving childhood. LS: Our whole family, my dad, his brother, over 30 cousins all lived in Venice. LS: We were born and reared in the beach town of Venice, CA.īTC: How would you describe your childhood? Our grandmothers were dancers, one of our grandfathers was a honky-tonk piano man, the other an Irish Tenor, and our father was a wonderful singer who sang with his brothers in a group called the “Lennon Brothers.” None of us read music, but we learned their harmonies by ear and sang around the house when we were little. LS: We come from a family with a musical background. The interview was conducted in a “Question and Answer” format for the Branson Tourism Center (BTC) by Gary Groman, a 29 year resident of the Branson area, local columnist and freelance entertainment writer:īTC: How did you discover your remarkable singing talents as a group? Recently, between rehearsals for the Andy William Christmas Show at the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre in Branson, the Lennon Sisters (LS) Janet, Kathy, and Mimi, took time from their hectic schedules for an interview about their fabulous 60 year journey.
America fell in love with them and now, 60 years later, ‘America’s Sweethearts’ are still entertaining, thrilling, and inspiring audiences with their one-of-a-kind vocal sound and personality.
In what might well have been one of the greatest Christmas entertainment gifts ever, Lawrence Welk introduced the four lovely and talented Lennon Sisters to America during his national TV show on Christmas Eve of 1955. The Lennon Sisters, circa the early years, Kathy, left, Dee Dee, back, Peggy, and Janet, front.