Rocky Rockwell

Bland Sidney Rockwell, known as Rocky Rockwell (March 2, 1923 – December 14, 2013), was a novelty singer and trumpet player on twelve sporadic episodes beginning with the premiere on July 2, 1955, of the American Broadcasting Company variety series, The Lawrence Welk Show.

A native of St. Joseph, Missouri, Rockwell was the son of an electrician who took an interest in the development of Rocky's musical talent. Rockwell and his future wife, Pauline Wood, graduated from Benton High School. He then studied at Maryville State Teachers College, now Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. He began working with local bands and during World War II played with the 765th Air Force Band, stationed in part with the United States Army Air Corps in Europe.

In 1951, Rockwell was working in a polka band in Grand Island, Nebraska, on radio station KMMJ. Lawrence Welk was in the area and urged Rockwell to audition with the Welk band in St. Joseph. Rockwell took the train to St. Joseph for the audition. With his family and friends in the audience, Rockwell, who wore a crew cut, was well received and was hired by Welk. He sang "Sunny Side of the Street." One of his signature songs was "I Love Girls," which he repeated thereafter on the run of The Lawrence Welk Show. Rockwell struck out on his own in 1962. He played in the Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, then back in St. Joseph, at the Wigwam resort in Sun City, Arizona, and with Steve Cooper's band in Chicago. He was featured on the Public Broadcasting Service special Lawrence Welk's TV Treasures.

Rockwell and his wife, who died in 2000, had two children, a daughter Wynoma, and a son, Jeffrey, who is deceased. Rockwell died in Sun City at the age of ninety. He is interred beside his wife and son in St. Joseph, Missouri.