Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

Rodick, Eddie

Eddie Rodick has been wowing audiences with his exciting accordion-playing for 40 years.  Eddie was born in Mannheim, Germany, to his parents Edward Rodick, Sr., who was serving in the U.S. armed forces, and Dorothy Menzel Rodick.
         
Eddie’s father nurtured young Eddie’s interest in polka music by buying him an accordion and taking him to polka dances.  The youngster was inspired by the polka stars of that time, such as Johnny Vadnal, Eddie Habat, and Ray Champa.
         
Eddie’s first band in 1960, was called the Champagnes.  He put his music career on hold when he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966.  In Vietnam, Eddie received a wound in the throat from shrapnel that exploded from enemy mortars.  The result is Eddie’s distinctive speaking voice.  On his return in 1969, Eddie teamed up with Bob Oblocki. He also married Brenda, with whom he had three children.
         
In the early 1970s, Eddie started “Eddie Rodick and the Goodtime Boys.” The group took the polka world by storm, recording an album, and appearing regularly on TV’s Polka Varieties Show, and was together for eight years.
         
Eddie formed a new band in the early 1980s. In the mid-1990s, Eddie developed a new band. Drummer Kim Skovenski and Eddie Rodick III joined the band. Eddie recorded three more albums, including “Polka Sweethearts,” winner of the 2007 Recording of the Year. His band was named Band of the Year in 1990, 2002, and 2007, and Recording of the Year in 1990. Eddie has played throughout the U.S., in Spain, Holland, Canada, and Mexico, with his unique style of accordion playing.