Fred Kuhar

National Cleveland Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum

605 East 222nd Street
Euclid, OH 44123

USA

E-mail: Polkashop@aol.com

Phone: 216-261-3263

Toll Free: 1-800-66POLKA

Fax: 216-261-4134

Fred Kuhar was inspired by the music of Johnny Pecon to organize his own successful Cleveland-style orchestra which he led for 38 years. He preserved the Pecon legacy through his own playing and by restoring and releasing recordings of Johnny with Lou Trebar. Fred also was the founding President of the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum.

Fred taught himself the accordion by replaying Johnny Pecon records as a youngster in Wickliffe, Ohio. His style picked up the sophistication and subtlety and of Pecon’s classic sound. The Fred Kuhar Orchestra, featuring brother Pete on the clarinet and sax, performed from 1967 to 2005. The group’s 28 bus tours brought Slovenian-American music to places like Ironworld in Minnesota, Seven Springs, Nashville and Hilton Head. The band recorded five albums and, in 1992, was the first Cleveland-based polka band to issue a compact recording. For his Classic Records label, Fred produced seven CDs of live performances by Pecon and Trebar.

Fred led the Polka Hall of Fame through its formative years from 1990 to 1999. He initiated the program to transfer the archive’s recordings to digital formats for preservation. Fred’s background as an attorney and CPA serves him in the community for duties such as president of the Slovene Home for the Aged, Law School Advisory Council at Notre Dame, and as a trustee of Mater Dei Academy.

Inducted in 2011