Tom Netherton is dead

Lawrence Welk’s six foot five blob of unsalted pasta with the coma inducing voice is dead.

Who is reporting he is dead OP?

How old is the OP - like ninety something? Who the fuck is this?

Very tall, very blond baritone who was especially popular with the ladies who watched the Welk show. Lawrence would sometimes express his bewilderment on the show as to why such a handsome young man still hadn't married.

I bet I could tell you why.

Goodnight, sir. I loved your sister Joey.

OMG...there's so much of him on youtube (!)

Gawd, but my grandmother loooooved him.

Had HE been the one to blunder into singing [italic] One Toke Over the Line [/italic] on Lawrence Welk, his true stardom would have been cinched.

Hollywood is full of such tragic near-misses....

The Lennon Sisters are still kicking and it looks like they play only the top venues.

Thanks, OP. Never heard of him, but I enjoyed his Lyle Waggoner-esque good looks, ala R7. That's quite alot of Aqua-Net. Rest in peace.

R10! Oh my god, they had no idea what they were saying, did they. FANTASTIC.

My grandmother used to call him "a little fruity."

From IMBD.com: On why he has never married, "It is better to have love and lost than be married and bossed!"

I can't wait to the photos of the people who attend his funeral. It'll look like 2 for 1 night at Stonewall.

Hold the phone: A "Legacy" site has many heartfelt tributes to Tom, with people saying how much they loved his voice and praising his faith in the Lord. But then I saw this:

[quote]This is the obit for former Melton Mayor, Tom Netherton. The singer, Tom Netherton, is still alive. My condolences to the family of the deceased.

The local PBS affiliate runs TLWS on Saturdays at 7PM. Love watching this campfest, especially Ms. Netherton. She is one major KAWEEEN!!!

R19 COMEBACK for Tom, then???

R21 We can certainly hope! Although I suspect he's still appearing at Holiday Inns somewhere in the Heartland.

The Legacy obit also says he died in January of 2017.

There's dirty work afoot!

Jesus, really? Some guy from Lawrence Welk? I barely remember Welk because my grandmother and grandaunt used to watch him when I was a little boy. So in other words, even in the late 60s, only old people watched Lawrence Welk.

OP must be a million years old.

And your point is WHAT, R24.

He's gone to meet his audience

There's been a ghastly mistake. Check it.

Bet they'll be confused when. the Lennon Sisters come to sing at his funeral.

How funny. Effusive tributes for the wrong dead guy.

Could "our" Tom Netherton have orchestrated this other guy's demise in order to orchestrate a comeback ? ? ?

He's Joey Netherton's brother.

Like many of you my grandma used to watch this crazy fucking show of a Saturday night. This guy looks a lot like Jm J Bullock in OP’s clip.

I remember watching him on Lawrence Welk when I was a little kid and even way back then I knew he was gay. Liberace gay. Charles Nelson Reilly gay. Rip Taylor gay. Wayland Flowers gay. Richard Simmons gay. Gay.

He sang like a record played on the slower speed.

If he had lived to see Jan 11, his birthday, he would have turned 71. Died kind of young.

He was quite attractive back in the day.

He used to always sweat like a whore in church while he was singing. I always thought he was the unnamed gospel singer who stole Kathy Lee [Johnson] Gifford's gay first husband away.....she never mentioned a name in her book.

R35, the singer is not dead, see R27 - it's a former mayor with same name.

Tom moved to Leicestershire and became mayor of the town of Melton. Then he died. Once in 2017 and again in 2018. Through it all he kept on lovin’ The Lord.

Can someone explain this look to me? Did he just get back form the planet Vulcan?

Poor Tom...this image pretty much sums up his entire career.

All I can say is that if you manage to wear Farrah hair coordinated with a yellow gold, polka dot tie and a plaid, polyester leisure suit with mile wide lapels and STILL look fuckable.....that's when you know you're TRULY handsome.

This is about as much a "GUURRLL" image I could find of him.

I got a little spark but somehow it's still not quite enough to set my drapes on fire.

Forget Tom Netherton; the REAL star of the Lawrence Welk show will always be the dynamic Jo Ann Castle.

You try playing the "Piano Roll Blues" with all that jumpy, left hand work while grinning, winking ,maintaining eye contact with the camera, band and audience, wear a foot long bird nest on your head and STILL make it look effortless and see how well YOU do!

Now,.THAT'S talent!

My granma called him “that pretty boy.”

In the Pentecostal church I grew up in there was this religious magazine with him on the cover; I think it was called "Guideposts". Anyway, when that issue started circulating around the church I remember all the middle aged Christian ladies' pussies getting all in an uproar about how handsome he was and what a man of God he was and what a wonderful example for Christianity he represented.

[quote]I always thought he was the unnamed gospel singer who stole Kathy Lee [Johnson] Gifford's gay first husband away.....she never mentioned a name in her book.

That was an oft-repeated rumor, so I assumed it was true.

R45 With all that movin' and groovin' I'm surprised that hairpiece didn't fly off her head.

Have Bobby & Cissy been reached for comment ???

Re: R8, with that knotted neckerchief thing, it's a shame he didn't do a musical version of MIDNIGHT COWBOY.

He could have been a contender....

I saw a Welk reunion and all of Bobby's dance partners came out for a few steps and a twirl.....Cissy looked like she weighed over 200 pounds.....

When she joined the show, Cissy & her brother had been championship ballroom dancers, so she was always calling Bobby on his sloppy dancing - most of his routines were just re-workings of his old Mouseketeer routines.....

As Judy Garland said about Ray Bolger: "Different music - same goddamn dance!"

R41’s pic makes me think he’s hiding lobotomy scars.

[quote]Forget Tom Netherton; the REAL star of the Lawrence Welk show will always be the dynamic Jo Ann Castle.

Then fucking start a thread about her, R45.

Jo Ann Castle is da bomb! The show had several upright pianos for her to play. Each week it was repainted for her number.

Take a look on YouTube. Blue. Lavendar. Pink. Red. Week after week. She earned it.

When he was young he was in a cult. I was friends with some people who were in the cult with him.

I think him and his partner had a place where he sang in Branson but before Branson I thought he had settled in West Virginia.

I’d like to know the audience for the Lawrence Welk reruns on PBS is.

My mother is 76, and she HATED the Lawrence Welk show because it was for “old people.”

There can’t be that many 90 y.o.s still left watching TV.

OP you linked to a "m" version. If you continue to abuse Datalounge etiquette we here at the DL will be force to issue a warning.

I like waching reruns of the Lawrence Welk show for the kitsch factor.

[quote]When he was young he was in a cult. I was friends with some people who were in the cult with him.

Maybe that explains the hair at R41...it looks very Unarias.

R63, me, too. I think the show is a hoot from beginning to end. So kitschy! But I think the real secret of its campiness is that all the performances were totally without irony. They're out there every week busting their asses for one reason only, to entertain the audience and make them happy. For me that sincerity is kind of touching, really, and makes up for all the corn.

Welk's musicians were first-rate, too. Many of them played with the big bands during the swing era. I love that music, and even though I hate some of the cheesy arrangements (and hilariously gaudy costuming), that's why I watch the PBS reruns. I'm going to be 70 this year.

He's such a HUGE star it isn't even on Google. My mother who died in 1975 is on there and she was a homeless ho

^^ As previously noted, this guestbook is for a different Tom Netherton.

[quote]This is the obit for former Melton Mayor, Tom Netherton. The singer, Tom Netherton, is still alive. My condolences to the family of the deceased.

Jo Ann was pregnant @R55. Welk believed that being visibly pregnant was unseemly, so they did all kinds of wacky shit to disguise it.

Fuck ALL Y'all homos!

I was the real star of the Lawrence fuckin' Welk Show, and I have the good sense to actually be DEAD.

Between you, me and the lamppost, Tom Netherton wanted to be the Champagne Lady real bad. Caught him looking through my gowns more than once.

Fuck you Norma. I was the FIRST Champagne Lady you screechy whore. Did they ever put you on a tray doing the polka with the Boss Man? Did they?!

Girls, GIRLS! You're BOTH thirsty thots!

Wasn't this thread supposed to be about me?

I hated that show. Our senior babysitter watched it. Ugh!

As a gayling, thought old fart Myron Floren was kinda hot.

Google "Jo Ann Castle perjury" and be prepared to have your view of her forever altered. It's a sleazy rabbit hole.

Why'd they call Norma the champagne lady? Was she a drunk?

Absolutely r77! I knew my days were numbered when they started making me do duets with that silly Janet Lennon brat. And there was Norma....watching and waiting in the wings....while she was blowing Long Dong Floren!

I vaguely remember an episode of The Lawrence Welk Show where Tom Netherton made one of his first appearances. He was supposed to sing "Young at Heart," but he kept forgetting the lyrics, replacing them with, "La-da deeee, la-da daaaa, la-da dee, da-da daaaa... If you're young at heart..."

OMG! The “Jo Ann Castle perjury” Google entries make “Valley of the Dolls” unfold like “Mary Poppins”! Thanks, r76!

R76 What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end!

Who will be cast as Jo Ann?

Suck my left titty, Alice.

I'm the only Champagne Lady who anyone ever gave a damn about, ya filthy bunghole

I'm sure Lawrence was fucking Norma.

r78 Alice, honey -- no one is buying you as Janet's "sister." Grandmother, maybe.

[quote]R82 Who will be cast as Jo Ann?

It should have been Florence Henderson...but then she died.

Emma Stone for everything, is my default vote FOR NOW.

I love this thread and some of the posts have had me in stitches... this is classic DL! Man that Jo-Ann Castle - how fucked up could one woman be?

I see Cathy Moriarity playing the elderly Castle in the Lifetime movie... who will play her children and ex-husbands?

My favorite detail is that, after all her drunken and drug fueled antics, what got her fired from the Branson review was her false accusations against Jack Imel.

I'm so disappointed this thread is not about Tom Netherton, the mayor (not singer) of Melton, Lincolnshire (not Iowa). He was quite the mensch.

Myron was into squeezeboxes r75........

Don't forget who the major sponsor of Lawrence's show was!

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, I just turned 71 today, Jan 11th.

Tom was one of the nicest pansies I ever knew and even though he is condemned to a life in Hell for being a homosexual, I am still going to pray for his soul and hope you will too.

And dear Jo Ann Castle is still battling her demons and all that fat, so she needs our thoughts and prayers as well.

Amazing to me that Betty White was advertising products for "old people" and looked not so youthful herself nearly 70 years ago.

Myron Floren really was hot. And if he could do this to an accordion, imagine what he could do to your genitals. Oh, yes!

I can see it now: Melissa McCarthy IS JoAnn Castle !

A rather hairy situation.........

Despite the confusion between the Melton mayor and the Welk singer, it appears that both Tom Nethertons are not only merely dead, but really and sincerely dead. Tom's brother Brad posted on Facebook today that Tom caught the flu, which turned into pneumonia. He died on Sunday. There still hasn't been any official announcement, though.

R98, The LWS Tom Netherton's Wikipedia page has been updated and shows that the tall baritone died on January 8, 2018. There may not be any "official announcement", but Wiki makes it official in 2018, doesn't it? If there's a service for Tom, how many LWS alums will show up? Will they sing together? What of Jo Ann Castle... will she motor-scooter her way to see Netherton off the the Lord?

Tom sang like a singer imitating a lounge singer. No mention of a wife or kids in wiki.

I am really on the net finding the dark side of the Lawrence Welk show now. Bob Ralston -- seriously WTF?

This is a great thread. Love it!

I’m sure there were a lot more homos on the Welk Show.

[quote]What of Jo Ann Castle... will she motor-scooter her way to see Netherton off the the Lord?

That drunken bitch could carry that coffin singlehandedly.

This seems like a good place to share this. This clip is a touchstone for a good college friend. It reminds her of her late mother and how she'd laugh hysterically when she saw it.

And you don't wanna know what happened to the first Champaign Lady!

Sadly she slowly turned to stone r108.

He just never found the right woman Rose....

Whatever became of the Maharelle Sisters?

Was Arthur (The Token) Duncan a team player?

I don't know about Arthur - there have been rumors - but Tom Netherton seemed to be pretty obviously in the closet. He was devoutly Christian, and it's likely that his sincere belief that homosexuality was a sin may have had something to do with his unwillingness to acknowledge his sexuality. He may have been in denial about it even to himself. Also, if he wanted to maintain his image a Welk star and keep working, he needed to keep his image squeaky-clean for the conservative Christian church ladies who were his biggest fans. I felt rather sorry for him because of this. He could never be himself, at least not if he wanted to work again.

Jo-Ann could have written a hell of a book before descending into confabulation.

So the obituary for the other Tom Netherton at R29 was posted on January 8, 2017 and this Tom Netherton died on January 8, 2018.

Early January is not a good time for Tom Nethertons. We must warn the others!

Are Joe Heathertons safe?

If only house tenor Joe Feeney were still alive to have sung a stirring rendition of "Ave Maria" at Tom's service. Alas. Joe sang his last high note in 2008.

R113, Will Ferrell played Tom Netherton (“Ted Netters”) in a later sketch featuring the Maharelle Sisters!

Myron Floren and I shared a birthday date (not year!).

It's TRUE!

Well bless your heart, R123

R117 That really is a strange coincidence.

In the 1970s, I worked a summer theatre in Massachusetts. The "Stars of the Lawrence Welk Show" appeared there. They were great. Myron Floren, Guy & Ralna (kept to themselves), Cissy King and Bobby Burgess and Tom Netherton. I got friendly with Cissy, Bobby and Tom. Bobby was very friendly, wholesome, dedicated to his dancing. Cissy was a hoot, great dancer and a fun night out. She changed clothes in my car when we went out after the show. I did my damnedest to seduce Tom. He was very friendly and a good guy. I got the sense that he was gay, but he wasn't taking my bait. My attempts at seduction were not successful. But I still think he was gay. They were all very talented.

Lawrence Welk was a cheapie control freak who fired people when they asked for a raise.

I took a piss with Myron Floren in the bathroom back stage. He had a very strong stream. True story.

Last night I stayed up all night talking to God and he revealed to me that yes, it's true! I am #GodsBride and I always have been! Now everything makes so much sense to me as to why things have been a certain way with me my entire life and with the guys I meet etc.... but anyway, wow.... I am JESUS' actual bride! So gnarly! Lol Yes, there have been earthly men who were there to provide children, but it is Jesus who is my provider and everything else! It has been revealed to me long ago but I didn't wanna believe it until now! Long story lol..... you'll all see soon enough! 😀😁

Yes, r118, as are the Lola Heathertons of the world. I love you great big Datalounge!! I want to bear your children!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA

Tom Netherton sings like Artie Kendall.

R122, I don't get the reference to the town of Massapequa (I know the town, why did you include it?)

R134, Tom's freeper cunt fuck fundie Trump worshipping brother says he is.

Tom's brother says Tom is dead. Wikipedia says Tom is dead.

R140 seems to be a third Tom Netherton (d. 2016), after the mayor (d. 2017) and the singer (d. 2018).

The universe is making a clean sweep of Tom Nethertons, year by year.

Thoughts and prayers (for OUR Tom)

The rest can burn in a pit of fire for all I care...

The singer Tom Netherton's idol was that nasty prick Pat Boone (not to mention cultural rip off artist).

For that alone, Netherton deserves no respect.

r144 You're right. Thank you for saying so. All the Tom Nethertons would want us all to be strong, and get along.

Follow this website on Facebook and you can win free tickets to one of Tom's concerts.

You're welcome!

Tom Netherton. Still single.

Ya know, I've held my tongue long enough around here. You are all pathetic, trying to "turn" every man you see into one of your own! Well I'll have you know Brother Netherton was deeply devoted to his longtime manager, Ida Collins, who I happen to know traveled with him on all his tours. So what do you make of that?? DREAM ON, FROOT LOOPS! They were a couple!

The Lawrence Welk Show was such a white Christian middle-American hellscape. Tom got sucked in and never escaped.

It's official. Our Tom is DEAD.

IMDb finally updated Tom's page (Died January 7, 2018).

Wikipedia says Tom is dead.

Tom's brother says Tom is dead.

R151 No.... [italic] NO ! ! ! [/italic]

For all we know, ANYONE could have edited those sites!! How do we even KNOW that facebook guy is OUR Tom's REAL brother???

[italic] I REFUSE TO BELIEVE ! ! ! [/italic]

I believe IMDb, they are usually right about these things.

R151 understands not at all the power of video.

Tom lives blandly on. Forever.

There cannot be a god, if He would take our angel from us!!

But what about the offer for free tickets to one of Tom's concerts? Is the offer still good?

Lawrence Welk was the Fox News of yesteryear.

Unintended surrealism...

Why do many female evangelicals on TV look like they wandered in from [italic] RuPaul's Drag Race [/italic] (??)

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