Mattie Madura
Deceased Category – Inducted 1973
Mattie Madura’s musical career began with an old
broken violin given to Mattie’s father by an old friend. With time and
bits of wire and glue, it was pieced together. When it was finished he
gave it to his younger son, Mattie. From then on Mattie was "that boy
with the violin." At the age of nine, while attending St. Helen’s
School, he learned to sing while playing the violin. His second love,
the trumpet, he learned the hard way. At the age of 13 he lost his
mother and prior to that his dad was a victim of a hit and run driver,
leaving the family with numerous hardships. Mattie would walk to school
and sell his lunches just to get enough money to pay for his trumpet
lessons. After high school, Mattie, together with his violin and ten
other musicians from Crane and Lane High Schools, organized his first
band. They played proms and ballroom dances.
After World War II Mattie formed his famous
five-piece band that delighted so many people at over 2.000 weddings and
anniversary receptions that they played in his life-time. Mattie Madura
always impressed his audience with his fluent Polish and English
vocabulary. Whether singing at the mike or speaking to an audience he
mastered the fine art of authority and complete control over the people
he was addressing. He provided a sentimental ceremony at weddings that
would make women cry. He was so well liked in many instances he was
called on to play on the couple’s twenty-fifth anniversary whose wedding
he originally played.
Mattie’s most popular wedding songs were recorded
in a Chicago Polka album “The Polish Wedding Sing-Along”. Recorded some
15 years ago, the album is still a popular seller in polka record stores
today.
Mattie passed on in September, 1967, but he was
remembered long after. Being in the polka entertainment field most of
his life, he had given his time unselfishly to anyone interested in the
field, disc jockeys, fellow-musicians or just a polka fan. His joys and
successes are shared today by his widow Alvina, and three daughters:
Bernadette, Honore, and Mary Ellen. |
