Maxine Gray,
Champagne Lady (1934-1936) Lawrence Welk's First Champagne Lady
Maxine
Gray was Lawrence Welk's first Champagne
Lady. Gray was 18 years old when she headlined her
own radio show for WFAA. After hearing her sing,
Lawrence Welk invited Gray to join his Hotsy Totsy
Boys Orchestra, which she did in 1934. Gray became
the unofficial Champagne Lady as the term had not
been coined yet by the press. In 1936, Gray left
the show and joined the Ted Weems Orchestra. Gray
was replaced on the Welk Show by Lois Best. In 1938,
she broke her back and suffered other major injuries
in a train wreck. She had joined the Hal Kemp
Orchestra by then and the band was on their way to a
performance in Illinois. Gray took over a year to
fully recuperate.
Gray
later co-starred in the Alvino Rey-Maxine Gray radio
program in 1939 and starred in her own program,
Maxine Gray Entertains, from 1939 to 1940. During
the 40's, Gray performed on KTSL and frequently
appeared with pianist Art Tatum and Skitch Henderson
on the "California Melodies" TV Show. Gray also sang
with Webley Edwards on "Hawaii Calls," and with
Chick Floyd, Alfred Apaka, Ed Kenney and the Del
Courtney Orchestra. She moved to Kailua Hawaii in
1958 where she raised her son and daughter and
remained there until her death in 2006 at the age of
92.