Polkaobit: Eddie Blazonczyk

Eddie Blazonczyk, who turned from rock to polka, has died.

Blazonczyk had been a slightly-noveltyesque rock act, Eddie Bell, in the 1960s:

His love of Polish culture won out, though - perhaps wisely - and although he kept a rock tinge to his work under his given name, it was as a polka bandleader he found success.

He won a Grammy in 1986, in the now-defunct Polka category.

Eddie Blazonczyk was 70; he died in Illinois from multiple organ failure.