- Hovis, an icon and heartthrob, was a mainstay on The Lawrence Welk Show. He later became the state director for U.S. Senator Trent Lott.
Before I was born, The Lawrence Welk Show was!
The Lawrence Welk Show began as a local program on KTLA, the flagship station of the Paramount Television Network, in Los Angeles on May 11, 1951. The big band leader had his musical variety show on this station for four years. Then, the program went national on ABC for the next 16 years, from 1955 to 1971. The program was syndicated from 1971 to 1982.
Everything stopped in my home when The Lawrence Welk Show aired on Saturday nights. My father’s favorite person on the program was not Lawrence Welk, but Jo Ann Castle. She was known as a honky-tonk pianist. When she performed, Dad would tell me to observe her hands. I didn’t know why, except maybe he wanted me to play the piano like her one day. Didn’t happen. Mom also had her favorites, The Lennon Sisters, Norma Zimmer, Jim Roberts, and the dance team of Cissy King and Bobby Burgess. However, when Guy Hovis became a part of the show’s line-up, he became her “very favorite,” maybe even her heartthrob.
I realize if you are younger than 50, you may not be familiar with The Lawrence Welk Show. It is known for its range of music, from polkas to classics; it has reached an audience of 40 million. It was a “wunnerful show” and brought fame for Guy Lee Hovis, Jr. that he could have never imagined.
How did he become a part of this well-loved program?
Beginnings in Tupelo
The city of Tupelo is known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley. But it is also the birthplace of Guy Hovis — two icons. Elvis was born on January 8, 1935, and Guy was born on September 24, 1941.
Guy’s father, Guy Lee Hovis, Sr., became an original member of the Mississippi Highway Patrol (created in 1938). His mother, Frances Filgo Hovis, had the reputation of being the “best cook in the world” and worked for thirty years as a secretary. The family were members of Harrisburg Baptist Church.
Guy Lee Hovis, Jr. developed a strong interest and love for music at home and through Harrisburg Baptist Church. Beginning at age five and throughout his formative years, he sang at church, in a gospel quartet, at weddings, at civic clubs, and other events. He is also a guitarist.
As a student at the University of Mississippi, he continued his musical interests while pursuing a degree in accounting, graduating in 1963. It was while at Ole Miss that he formed the musical group known as the Chancellors. The members were Allen Pepper, Trent Lott, and Gaylen Roberts. In 2010, the Ole Miss quartet reunited at the wedding of Guy’s daughter, Julie.
While at Ole Miss, Guy was in R.O.T.C. Six months after graduation, he enlisted in the military, and spent the next two years serving as an officer with the U.S. Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He became an instructor in the Artillery Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill and went to paratrooper school at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Towards the end of his military service, he entered a talent show and won. Hovis went on a six-week tour with the Fourth Army. On the tour, not only did he perform, but he served as the officer in charge. The show business bug had bitten.
Instead of pursuing show business further, he returned to college to obtain his master’s degree and prepare for the CPA exam. But, after the first semester, he decided to leave college and pursue performing.
“Ah-One, Ah-Two” for an Aspiring Performer
In 1974, Guy Hovis hosted The Lawrence Welk Show – Tribute to Famous Entertainers from 1974.
On the show, he referenced how he and Elvis Presley grew up in the same hometown. Guy told the story of how he got a close-up look at Elvis because his father was assigned to his security detail.
Guy recollects, “Now, let me tell you, he needed security. I’ve never seen anything like the way the girls reacted to Elvis. It was amazing: screaming, crying, trying to touch him. All the guys were really jealous. I hate to admit this, but I’m sure that experience had a little something to do with my eventual pursuit of show business.”
A friend, actor Tom Lester (“Eb” from Green Acres), advised Guy to go to Santa Monica and try to perform at a nightclub called The Horn, owned by Enrico (Ric) Ricardo. If you were an aspiring performer, The Horn was the place to showcase your talent. Jim Nabors, Jack Jones, and Steven Martin were some of the people who started there.
Eventually, he met David (King) Blaylock, and they became singing partners. Then, the producer of the CBS program, the Art Linkletter House Party Show, heard Guy sing and put him on the show. He appeared on about a dozen shows during 1967. When that ended, he and David formed “Guy & David.” They spent two years appearing on television shows and nightclubs across the country, and they recorded an album with ABC Records.
Also, while at The Horn, he met Ralna English and married in 1969. She became a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show. Then, on a Christmas program in 1970, Guy and Ralna sang a duet. The response from viewers was so positive that Mr. Welk invited Guy to join the Welk musical family. Guy and Ralna remained a duo on the show until their marriage ended in 1984 in a divorce.
In the following years, Guy and Ralna continued to perform at events throughout the United States, including The Welk Resort Theatre in Branson, Missouri, until 2020. In 1973, their show at the Mississippi State Fair at the Jackson Fairgrounds brought the largest crowd the fair had ever had. Senator Trent Lott, in the audience, was invited by Ralna to join her on stage to do some high kicks with her while she sang, “New York, New York.”
Patriot and Entertainer
In 1990, Guy moved back to Mississippi. It wasn’t long before he took on a full-time job as the director of the six state offices for Senator Trent Lott—a different world and experience from being a performer.
At the Monmouth Plantation in Natchez, on February 16, 2002, Guy Lee Hovis, Jr. married Sarah (Sis) Lundy Moorehead. In an interview from “Welknotes,” Guy shared, “Sis is taking a crash course in ‘Lawrence Welk’ because she didn’t watch the television show until she started dating me.”
The couple resides in Jackson.
Guy sang “Let the Eagle Soar” at the Presidential Inauguration Ceremony in Washington, D.C., for the second term of President George Bush in 2005. I highly recommend you click on the link and listen. Another more precise-sounding source is an onstage performance from MusicMaker 1979. He recorded the song on the One Nation Under God CD.
Later that year, Hovis performed with Mississippi Rising – The Concert in Support of the Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts (October 2005). Additionally, he has volunteered with veterans’ organizations, the March of Dimes, and the American Cancer Society. Jackson voted him “Volunteer of the Year.”
As an entertainer, Guy has recorded fifteen albums, Christmas Songs I Love: Hymns and Gospel Favorites, and Inspirational, to name a couple. He was inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame in 2021.
Hovis has been a celebrity on game shows, performed for national charity telethons, and appeared in commercials. Other shows include The Dinah Shore Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and The Mike Douglas Show. Locally, audiences may have seen Hovis at the Mississippi State Fair – during the Senior American America Day, churches and retirement homes, and private and corporate events.
Wunnerful, Wunnerful!
Take some time to listen to “A Conversation with Guy Hovis,” an interview with Jim Ritchie, posted on YouTube on July 18, 2022. The interview ends with Guy playing the guitar and singing “Mississippi This is Your Song.”
The official website for Guy Hovis is www.guyhovismusic.com.
As I write this, I can’t help but wonder how often Guy Hovis sang his signature song, “Adios, Au Revoir, Aufwiedersehn?”
Laura Lee Leathers
