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Bob Ralston Bob Ralston is probably best known for his 46 years as pianist/organist/arranger with the Lawrence Welk Orchestra. Reruns of that beloved TV show are still shown every week in most major U.S. cities. The Welk TV Shows feature not only Bob Ralston’s fine piano and organ solos, but they frequently include his performances as a singer, dancer, and comedian. Musically, Bob “wears many hats”! In addition to his concerts for the American Theatre Organ Society (ATOS), he continues to work as a pianist, show producer, arranger, conductor, composer, teacher, and recording artist. A former conductor of the Hayward Symphony Orchestra (1976–1977), Bob has guest-conducted several other symphonies as well. From 1996 to 2000, Bob demonstrated his talent for hosting when he produced and anchored the “Gee Dad! It’s a WurliTzer!” radio show on KPCC, 89.3 FM. Bob Ralston has recorded over 300 albums, many of them with Freddy Martin, Billy Vaughn, Ray Conniff, Lawrence Welk, and other famous bandleaders. He has recorded 33 solo albums, many on theater pipe organs, including those at the Senate Theater in Detroit, the Granada Theater in Kansas City, the Paramount Theater in Oakland, the Pella Opera House in Iowa, and the Dickinson High School Auditorium in Wilmington, Delaware. Bob’s best-selling CD is the critically acclaimed It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas, his 23rd solo album. Although Bob Ralston is a nationally renowned theater pipe organist, he’s having the time of his life these days producing variety shows. “Adding piano, synthesizers, multimedia, and great vocalists to my theater pipe organ programs makes for a thrilling experience for the audience,” says Bob. When Bob Ralston and Bob Hope appeared together at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, Hope was amazed at how Ralston made the “little” Yamaha synthesizer sound like a full orchestra. Bob is now doing all of his musical arrangements, compositions, and orchestrations on the latest Macintosh computers. In February 2005, Bob was featured on the huge 109-rank tracker pipe organ at the newly constructed Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles. In 1989, Bob was featured as solo organist at the prestigious Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service (which is telecast worldwide each year). That performance resulted in Bob’s appointment as Musical Director for this internationally acclaimed Christian celebration—a position he held for 16 years. Each Easter he had the pleasure of working with talented celebrities, such as actress/singer Shirley Jones, who starred in the2002 production. Every Sunday morning (except when he is on the road), Bob can be heard playing the 4-manual, 31-rank WurliTzer pipe organ at Founder’s Church in Los Angeles, where he has been staff organist for the past 20 years. You are invited to attend; the Sunday morning service is at 10:00 A.M., and Bob’s prelude music begins 15 minutes prior to the service. The instrument you will hear is the largest WurliTzer theater pipe organ installed in any church in the world. An ASCAP composer, Bob has written songs for Norma Zimmer, who has sung them both on the Welk TV Show and on the Billy Graham Crusades. Bob’s sacred cantata, “The Rising of the Sun,” for which he wrote both words and music, was premiered at Founder’s Church in 1989. This beautiful pageant received rave reviews and was presented each Easter for ten years. On Sunday, April 8, 2007, the complete cantata (with all 10 original songs) was presented in concert style (with 50-voice choir and chamber orchestra) at both Easter services at Founder’s Church Bob Ralston’s mother, Marjorie Norton, was the original voice of Minnie Mouse; when she began work with Walt Disney in 1927, she was his 13th employee! A native of California, Bob received a full scholarship to study music at Wheaton College in Illinois. He later returned home to attend the University of Southern California, where he majored in composition and accompanying and then received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1964. While still in college, Bob played six nights a week at the Coconut Grove with the Freddy Martin Orchestra (1959–62). His career really began to boom, however, when he joined Lawrence Welk’s Champagne Music Makers in 1963. |
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