In 1961, while attending Long Beach State University, he and his childhood friend (and dancing partner) Barbara Boylan entered a Calcutta dance contest held by Lawrence Welk and his orchestra based on the hit song of the same name. When the series ended in 1959, Burgess returned to a normal teenager's life, completing high school. In 1955 he was selected as one of the original Mouseketeers by Walt Disney to appear on his new television program The Mickey Mouse Club, giving him his first taste of celebrity.
Growing up in Southern California, Burgess first started performing at age five, which included dancing, singing and playing the accordion. As a child he was an original Mouseketeer and later in life a regular on the The Lawrence Welk Show.
Robert Wilkie "Bobby" Burgess (born in Long Beach, California) is an American dancer and singer. (His record would be broken three years later by Louis Armstrong who, at 62, topped the singles charts with "Hello, Dolly!" in early 1964.)ĭancers Bobby Burgess and Barbara Boylan, cast members on Welk's weekly TV show, worked up a dance routine to go along with "Calcutta", which they would perform to the song numerous times on the Welk show. At the time that "Calcutta" reached number one, Welk, who was then 57, became the oldest artist to have a number one pop single in the U.S. "Calcutta" would stay atop the pop charts for two weeks while the album, with its combination of easy listening tunes and covers of then-popular rock singles, charted at number one for three months. The song, which in fact does have lyrics, was something of a departure for Welk with its combination of his recognizable "trademarks," i.e., the harpsichord lead, but backed with handclaps and a brisk rock rhythm. An instrumental recording of the tune by Lawrence Welk on the 1961 Dot Records album Calcutta! was a chart hit, possibly the largest hit of Welk's career.
"Calcutta" was written in 1960 by Heino Gaze (music) and Hans Bradtke (lyrics). Calcutta / Lawrence Welk show(1961), Bobby & Barbara dancing
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