{{short description|American polka musician}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Verne Meisner | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|12|4}} | birth_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|06|10|1938|12|4}} | death_place = Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States | instrument=accordion | genre = playing Cleveland-style polka | spouse = Judith Ann Kutz (divorced)<br/>Shirley Tyson (died) | awards = inducted into five halls of fame }} '''LaVerne Donald "Verne" Meisner''' (December 4, 1938 – June 10, 2005) was an American polka musician born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and raised in Whitewater, Wisconsin.<ref name="AllMusicBiography">{{cite web|url={{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p732778|pure_url=yes}}|title=Verne Meisner Biography|last=Ankeny|first=Jason|website=AllMusic|access-date=2009-06-04}}</ref> He was inducted into five halls of fame, including the International Polka Association Hall of Fame as a "Living Legend" in 1989.<ref name="IPA" /> He is best known for the songs "Memories of Vienna" and "El Rio Drive."<ref name="WashingtonPostObit" />
Meisner was known for playing Cleveland-style polka waltzes.<ref name="IPA">{{cite web|url=http://www.internationalpolka.com/meisnerverne.htm|title=Hall of Fame biography|year=1989|publisher=International Polka Association|access-date=2009-06-04}}</ref> Radio personality George Mlay said, "No one can play a waltz like Meisner."<ref name="IPA" /> He released 30 singles and 20 LPs/CDs,<ref name="WashingtonPostObit" /> wrote over 60 songs, and sold approximately one million records in his career.<ref name="WashingtonPostObit" /> He toured the United States, Canada, Europe, and Hawaii, playing 200 to 250 dates per year for 40 years.<ref name="IPA" /><ref name="WashingtonPostObit">{{cite news|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20050615/polkaobit15/verne-meisner-polka-band-leader-dies|title=Verne Meisner, polka band leader, dies|last=Sullivan|first=Patricia|date=2005-06-15|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2009-06-04}}</ref>
==Career== Meisner began playing polka music in a band as an 11-year-old after receiving his first accordion as an 8-year-old.<ref name="NYTimes20050616" /> He attended dances and learned how to play music by ear after several months of listening to Frankie Yankovic's music on his phonograph.<ref name="IPA" /> Meisner formed his first band, which began performing in 1950 as "Verne Meisner and the Polka Boys".<ref name="IPA" /><ref name="NYTimes20050616" /> He briefly toured with Yankovic in 1955.<ref name="WashingtonPostObit" />
His first recordings were created in 1957 when the band recorded the original tracks "Memories of Vienna Waltz" and "Polka Dancers Polka" on the Paragon Label.<ref name="IPA" /> Meisner and his band began to be noticed around Milwaukee after they appeared on the Fritz the Plumber Radio Show.<ref name="IPA" /> They recorded their second record, "The 400 Polka and Waltzing in Vienna", in 1957 and followed it up with 1959's "Pretty Polly and Till I Return".<ref name="IPA" />
When Meisner's National Guard unit was called up in 1962, the band did not release a record until it came out with the LP album "A Polka and Waltz Holiday," on Cuca Records.<ref name="IPA" />
===Halls of fame=== Meisner was inducted into five halls of fame.<ref name="NYTimes20050616" /> Besides his 1989 induction into the International Polka Association Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the Cleveland Style Polka Hall of Fame and the Minnesota Polka Hall of Fame, and received the Wisconsin Polka Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.polkas.com/vernemeisner/family.htm|title=They're At It Again.... Verne & Steve Meisner|last=Lynn|first=Greene|access-date=2009-06-06}}</ref> Meisner and his son, Steve Meisner, were the first polka artists to receive the Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) award in 1988.<ref name="NCSPHoF">{{cite web|url=http://www.clevelandstyle.com/awards_lifetime_Meisner_Verne.html|title=Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients: Meisner, Verne|publisher=National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame|access-date=2009-06-06}}</ref>
==Personal life== Meisner was married to Judith Ann Kutz and the couple had three children (Steve, Daniel, and Michele Bush) before divorcing.<ref name="NYTimes20050616" /> His second wife, Shirley Tyson, died in the 1980s.<ref name="NYTimes20050616" />
He suffered from alcoholism after spending so much time performing in bars, but he became sober in his 40s and alcohol-free for the final 20 years of his life.<ref name="NYTimes20050616" />
==Death== He died from melanoma complications on June 10, 2005.<ref name="AllMusicBiography" /> He was living in Waukesha, Wisconsin at the time.<ref name="NYTimes20050616">{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E0D9163BF935A25755C0A9639C8B63|title=Verne Meisner, 66, Musician Who Championed the Polka |last=Fox|first=Margalit|date=2005-06-16|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2009-06-06}}</ref> In his death announcement in ''The New York Times'', the newspaper said "Considered one of the titans of polka, Mr. Meisner was a bridge between the classics of the Lawrence Welk era and the pop-infused polkas of contemporary artists. To thousands of fans, he was second only to Frank Yankovic, the acknowledged king of polka."<ref name="NYTimes20050616" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Meisner, Verne}} Category:1938 births Category:2005 deaths Category:Polka musicians Category:Musicians from Milwaukee