Joe Fedorchak

Youngstown, Ohio accordion, bandleader Joe Fedorchak has led one of Cleveland Style Polka's most popular and successful orchestras since their heyday of the late 1940s and early 1950s, crowning a career of over fifty years in the business. The Joe Fedorchak Orchestra's original sound and style has become a trademark of Cleveland-Style orchestras in the Penn-Ohio area. Joe began studying accordion at the age of nine and was performing professionally with the Polka Serenaders and Musical Aces orchestras by the late 1940s. Joe joined the Johnny Butchko Orchestra in 1952 with whom he made a series of recordings on the Tune label performed regularly on radio and television - Melody Showcase on WBBW radio (1952-1954); Sunday Afternoon Polka Party with Johnny Butchko on WKBN radio and TV (1952-1956); and the Johnny Butchko Polka Party on television (1960-1961) - and traveled the Penn-Ohio polka circuit over a period of ten years. Accomplished on the piano, semi-chromatic, and diatonic button box accordions, Joe formed the Joe Fedorchak Orchestra in 1963 and produced the first of four albums, "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" in 1974. Leveraging on their popularity, Joe became one of the leading ambassadors of Cleveland-Style polkas, performing and leading polka tours across the nation, in Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Caribbean. In Cleveland-Style and other polka venues everywhere, the Joe Fedorchak Orchestra has been a major drawing card. The Joe Fedorchak Orchestra contributed two songs to Walter Ostanek's 1995 Grammy-winning album, Music and Friends, and participated in the Penn-Ohio Polka Pals' (POPP) releases. Joe’s compositions include Little Slugger's Polka, Helvak's Waltz, Jodie’s Waltz, Grandpa John’s Polka, and one of his biggest hits, Blue Lady, written for his late wife, Blue. A relentless promoter of Cleveland-Style music, Joe has co-hosted the Gene Fedorchak Polka Show since 1984. The show is broadcast to portions of six states and Canada from WKBN in Youngstown. He has also advanced the cause of Cleveland-Style music in a many ways including helping young musicians get started in the business and as a charter member of the POPP. Joe's many honors include being elected the Polka Rama Ohio State champion in 1976, POPP's Man-of-the Year in 1987, Co-Fest Master of' Slovene Fest at the SNPJ campsite in Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, in 1990, the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame's Band of the Year in 1991, and for Recording of the Year in 1994. Joe was inducted into the International Polka Association's Polka Hall of Fame in August of 1997.