Polka great Eddie Blazonczyk dies at 70

CHICAGO -- Grammy Award-winning polka great Eddie Blazonczyk, who began playing the lively music in the 1950s and went on to earn the nickname "Polka King" after starting his own band and label, has died. He was 70.

His record label, Bel-Aire Recordings, and his son, Eddie Blazonczyk Jr., said yesterday that Blazonczyk died of natural causes Monday at a hospital in the Chicago suburb of Palos Heights.

Blazonczyk retired in 2001 after suffering a stroke, and his son took over his band, Eddie Blazonczyk and the Versatones. The band formed in 1962, after Blazonczyk's brief venture into pop music that landed him on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand," and toured the U.S., Canada and parts of Europe.

"He attracted so many people to the polka audience, whereas previously they were scared away by the word polka," Eddie Blazonczyk Jr. said. "After hearing his style of the music they weren't afraid of polka anymore. They knew it wasn't 'She's Too Fat For Me' or 'Roll Out the Barrel.' They knew it was an evolution of the music."

The Versatones, which picked up a Grammy in 1987, played their last show on Dec. 31, 2011.

Blazonczyk was born to Polish immigrant parents on July 12, 1941, in Chicago. His parents operated music clubs in the city and he started playing in the 1950s with "Happy Eddie and his Polka Jesters," performing at Polish festivities.

For a time, Blazonczyk performed pop music with Mercury Records as "Eddie Bell and the Bel-Aires," when he appeared on "American Bandstand." But he returned to polka in 1962, forming the Versatones and going on tour.