Bill Gale

American violinist, band leader, and composer of Ukrainian ancestry, also known as the "Polka King" (born April 11, 1911 in New York City – died January 31, 1972 in Broward, Florida) Having grown up in New York City's Lower East Side, Gale began to play professionally as a teenager. On his earliest recordings, from 1930, he plays violin with the Trembita Orchestra. Starting in the late 1930s, he had great success with his Bee Gee Tavern Band. Later he led well-known polka ensembles like Bill Gale And His Globe Trotters and Bill Gale And His Orchestra. From the late 1940s to 1950s, he also was the musical director and orchestra conductor of a radio show called "County Fair." Gale recorded under dozens of aliases that he adapted to his target audiences, recording, for example, as Wasyl Gula for Ukrainians, V. Gailiaus for Lithuanians, Wiejska Balowa for Slovaks, and Brunek Grabowski for Poles. Gale himself claims to have used a total of 53 aliases. He wrote about 1,300 songs, mostly polka and folk music, but also many advertising jingles.