Born in
Marshalltown,
Iowa; he spent most of his youth in
South Dakota; first in
Aberdeen, where he took up the pipe organ and taught piano. After playing with several other local bands, he joined Lawrence Welk's band in 1934 when the band consisted of only six people and was headquartered in
Yankton. Jerry's career with the band spanned more than thirty years, from the one-nighters throughout the
Midwest, at radio station
WNAX, later in
Chicago at the
Aragon Ballroom and in
Southern California on television, first locally and later nationwide on the
Lawrence Welk Show on the
ABC network, from 1934 to 1965, where he played
Hammond organ,
accordion,
celeste and piano. His talents with the
keyboard instruments, such as the
Novachord were a perfect fit to Welk's champagne music. He also recorded several solo albums of his work as well. In his later years, Jerry was absent from the show for nearly a year (1963–1964) due to ill health and would die in 1965 from
cancer. Burke's replacement,
Bob Ralston, would remain with the show for the remainder of its run. ==References==