The Life of a Musician

There are singers, then there are idols.

The four-time Emmy Award-winning musical competition series "The Voice" returns with the strongest vocalists from across the country invited to compete in the show's newest season.

Great Performances brings the best in the performing arts from across America and around the world to a US television audience. It presents a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

Jimmy Kimmel hosts ABC's Emmy nominated late-night talk show, known for viral videos such as Mean Tweets and more.

"America’s Got Talent," NBC’s No. 1 summer show, returns in May with fresh new faces and familiar favorites, along with the excitement, thrills and feel-good performances that viewers have come to love each season.  

Renowned bandleader Lawrence Welk began his own variety series in 1955... and it has never stopped running. Each program was straightforward musical numbers from Welk's band (many of which had featured solos at one point or another), as well as vocal selections and dance numbers from the show's cast. Most of the introductions to the performances, read stiffy by Welk, were kept short. Many of the shows revolved around a certain theme (e.g., "The Music Man" or the Fourth of July), with appropriate songs and dance numbers. The most famous of the featured singers were the Lennon Sisters (Dianne, Janet, Kathy and Peggy), who were featured most every week for 13 years. At the end of each show, Welk would invite women from the audience on stage to dance with him as the theme, "Bubbles in the Wine" (and later, "Champagne Fanfare") played. The show enjoyed a 16-year network run on ABC, and later a successful 11-year syndicated run. Just months after the original series ended, older shows (from c. 1965-1982) were repackaged with new footage and entered a long run in both syndication and on PBS.