Lawrence Welk decided on a career in music and persuaded his father to buy a mail-order accordion for $400 (equivalent to $5,003 in 2020) He promised his father that he would work on the farm until he was 21, in repayment for the accordion. Welk left school during fourth grade to work full-time on the family farm. They spent the cold North Dakota winter of their first year inside an upturned wagon covered in sod. The family lived on a homestead that is now a tourist attraction. Welk's paternal grandparents, Moritz and Magdalena Welk, emigrated in 1808 from Germanophone Alsace-Lorraine to Ukraine. Welk was a first cousin, once removed, of former Montana governor Brian Schweitzer (Welk's mother and Schweitzer's paternal grandmother were siblings). He was sixth of the eight children of Ludwig and Christiana (Schwahn) Welk, Roman Catholic ethnic Germans who emigrated in 1892 from Odessa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). Welk was born in the German-speaking community of Strasburg, North Dakota.

Welk had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren One of his sons, Lawrence Welk Jr., married fellow Lawrence Welk Show performer Tanya Falan they later divorced. Lawrence Welk was married for 61 years, until his death in 1992, to Fern Renner (Aug– February 13, 2002), with whom he had three children. His style came to be known to his large number of radio, television, and live-performance fans (and critics) as 'champagne music'.

Lawrence Welk (Ma– May 17, 1992) was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951 to 1982.

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