Natalie
Nevins
was a popular singer and versatile flutist with the
Lawrence Welk Show from 1965 to 1970.
Nevins
graduated from Little Flower High School in Hunting
Park, earned a bachelor's degree in music from
Chestnut Hill College in 1947, and took graduate
courses in music and drama at the University of
Pennsylvania. She studied opera in New York and
later in Hollywood. She also learned to play the
flute and the piano. In 1950, she was the star of
a weekly program on WCAU-TV, Notes From Natalie,
singing popular tunes to opera arias. In 1952, she
met Ed Sullivan at a benefit in Philadelphia, and he
asked her to appear on his show.
After
moving to the West Coast, Miss Nevins appeared on
The Joey Bishop Show and other variety shows, and
sang in nightclubs in Reno, Nev., and Las Vegas.
In 1965 she recorded an album, Natalie Nevins
Sings 'I Believe' and Other Great Inspirational
Songs. She told a reporter that Welk hired her after
she sang to him over the phone at the suggestion of
her doctor, whom she saw for a cold. Welk was also a
patient of the doctor's.
Sadly,
Nevins was fired by Welk, a consummate task
master, in 1970 for missing a concert appearance
in Spokane, WA. Nevins tried to make up for it
by baking blueberry muffins for Lawrence Welk
and the cast, but could not get past security
guards. Rumor has it that Welk preferred German
Chocolate Cake.
Nevins passed away in August 2010 at age 85 from
complications due to hip surgery.