Norma Zimmer was on The Lawrence Welk Show for twenty-two years and was known as “The Champagne Lady” on the show. She was born Norma Larsen on a dairy farm in Shoshone County, Idaho, in 1923, though she grew up in Seattle, Washington. Norma’s dad moved the family to Seattle when Norma was two years old.
Norma’s dad was a violin teacher. Norma truly wished to learn how to play the violin as a child, but her dad told her that her hands were too small to competently play the instrument. Instead, young Norma studied voice. In this area, she proved to be extremely talented. She was also an excellent student in regular academics. In fact, Norma was offered a scholarship to Seattle University, but it was clear where her true passion lay. Instead of accepting the huge honor of the scholarship, she chose to continue studying voice.
A Christian who went to church on a regular basis, Norma was singing in a church choir when, one Sunday, the church had a guest artist present to sing with the choir. This guest artist was impressed with Norma’s singing and suggested she go to Los Angeles, California, to audition for musical groups. As soon as she turned eighteen, this is exactly what Norma did.
Young Norma was, in fact, a highly talented vocalist, and she soon found the work she was seeking. She sang with various vocal groups in Los Angeles, including the Norman Luboff Choir and the Ken Darby Singers.
While the young Norma was a beginning, promising professional singer, she married Randy Zimmer, who was a builder and property developer. They married in 1944 and made their home together in Los Angeles. Their marriage was a wonderful success, with them being together for sixty-four years until 2008, when Randy crossed to the other side. They had two sons together, named Ron and Mark.
A few years after her marriage, Norma made her solo debut on the radio. This was in 1947 on a radio show called Sparkle Time. When she made her solo radio debut, Norma was also performing weekly on the same show as a member of a vocal group called The Singers. A bit later, Norma became a solo singer on a radio show called Standard School.
In the 1950s, Norma appeared on the decade's most popular TV variety show. She also had a small singing part in Bing Crosby's Mr. Music, which came out in 1950, and she was the singing voice of the White Rose in the Walt Disney Company's Alice in Wonderland, which came out in 1951. In 1956, Norma performed as a studio singer on Lawrence Welk’s Thanksgiving album.
The Lawrence Welk Show had a female soloist named Alice Lon, who was quite popular. In 1959, she left the show following monetary and scheduling conflicts with the show. The audience loved Alice, and there were protests at her leaving the program. Lawrence tried to get her back on the show, but she wouldn’t do it. So, he tried out several female singers over the next year, including Norma.
Norma officially joined the show as the new female soloist, also known as the show’s Champagne Lady, on New Year’s Eve in 1960. During the next three years, Norma appeared on each show episode and traveled with Lawrence and his band when they made personal appearances.
Since her two sons were young during this time, and she didn’t want to miss them growing up, Norma decided to give up show business and stay home to raise them. Lawrence didn’t want to lose his treasure in Norma as his Champagne Lady, so he brought on a new girl each week to try out for Norma’s part while asking Norma to come back the next week for just one more show. Lawrence kept doing this with Norma for the next twenty years.
As the show’s Champagne Lady, Norma sang one solo song per show, minimum, and often sang a duet (typically with Jimmy Roberts). She also danced often with Lawrence himself, usually at the end of the show.
In addition to her work on The Lawrence Welk Show, Norma made some solo albums for World Records. She had a gorgeous soprano voice, almost perfect, which wasn’t a typical voice and was highly sought after by bands, radio shows, and TV shows of the time. Norma sang lead soprano in her career with the Norman Luboff Choir, the Voices of Walter Schumann Group, the Pete King Chorale, and the Ken Darby Singers. She also performed as the lead soprano with the girl quartet group, The Girlfriends. The Girlfriends sang backup vocals for the likes of such illustrious performers as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, and other singers of the time. The Girlfriends also sang backup on Bing Crosby’s famous cover of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.”
A devout Christian, Norma also dipped a toe a few times into the world of Christian music. In 1972, she traveled around the world singing at religious concerts. She also sang with the Reverend Billy Graham on his TV show, Hour of Power. In addition, Norma was once a soloist at the White House when Richard Nixon was president. She also recorded a number of traditional Christian music albums.
Besides singing, Norma loved to paint and did it as a hobby. In her life, she made more than a hundred paintings, most of them portraits. Also she owned a ski lodge with her husband at a place called Kratka Ridge, and additionally, she owned (also with her husband) a mobile home park with more than a hundred spaces for mobile homes.
Norma crossed to the other side at her home in Brea, California, in 2011 at the age of 87. She left a beautiful legacy of delightful, wholesome music for the entire family. She also left her sons and three grandchildren to carry on the light she brought to the planet.
