Dan Welch Biography
Dan has been a professional musician and vocalist for 45 years. He currently performs with such groups as The Weekenders Orchestra, The Toledo Symphony Jazz Quartet, Swingmania, The Watermelon Men, Karen and Company and the Johnny Knorr Orchestra. As a vocalist, Dan prides himself as being a stylist of the late Frank Sinatra. However, Dan’s versatility as both a musician and singer has also allowed him to perform with many community organizations, local bands and musicians throughout his professional career including the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, The Toledo Symphony Chorale, nationally recognized and Grammy nominee Polka band Bob Zielinski and the Kingsman, famed trumpeter Hershey Cohen and Company, the Jerry DePrisco Orchestra, and the Tony Celeste Orchestra to name a few. Some of the more nationally famous names Dan has performed with include world legend Jazz vocalist Jon Hendricks, the late trumpeter Bobby Hackett and singer/actor Gordon MacRae.
On Tuesday evenings you will find Dan performing and singing at the former Rusty’s Jazz Café now called John’s Korner on Tedrow Avenue in South Toledo.
On the theater stage Dan has performed leading roles with many local community and semi-professional groups including Curly in “Oklahoma,” Sky Masterson in “Guys and Dolls,” and Emile de Becque in “South Pacific.” Dan is also a former Musical Director of the Toledo Repertoire Theater.
Dan has composed several songs, two of which are included in his recently released “Christmas with Dan” CD. They are entitled “Sleep, Sweet Jesus, Sleep” and “On Christmas Eve.”
Dan was born into a musical family. His father, the late Ray Welch, was a member of the viola section of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and his uncle, Eddie Welch, was an accomplished pianist and accordion player who accompanied the late Fanny Brice on Broadway in New York City.
When not performing, Dan serves as an instrumental music educator within the Toledo Public School system. Dan holds a Master of Music in Music Education degree from the University of Toledo, Ohio.
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