Thomas Harold Netherton Jr., was an American singer. He was known for his tenure on The Lawrence Welk Show.
Early life
Netherton was born on January 11, 1947 in Munich, Germany while his father, a United States Army officer, was stationed there. The eldest of four children, Netherton and his family relocated frequently due to his father's Army career. The Nethertons permanently settled in Bloomington, Minnesota in 1961. After enlisting in the Army during the Vietnam War, Netherton was stationed in Panama, serving as a 2nd Lieutenant. He had also decided to pursue a singing career and sang with Army and Air Force music ensembles. Netherton became a born again Christian following a sermon he heard at a Baptistchurch in Panama, spending a year at the Bethany Fellowship Missionary Training Center in Bloomington after his discharge from the Army. Faced with making a choice between missionary service and a career in entertainment, Netherton chose to follow the same path taken by his idol, Pat Boone, and became a Christian singer.
Career
Netherton joined the Lawrence Welk show cast in 1973. His inclusion with Welk's group of entertainers came as a result of a recommendation to Welk by Harold and Sheila Schafer, owners of a North Dakota theater where Netherton had been performing. Netherton appeared regularly on the Lawrence Welk show from 1973 to 1982. In 1975 he appeared on "The Dating Game", choosing from three bachelorettes. In 1979, he wrote an autobiography titled "In The Morning of My Life". Apart from his long-time attachment to the Welk program, Netherton recorded both Christian and secular music albums while still on the program and after. His career post-Lawrence Welk included touring and performing around the United States as well as acting in stage musical productions of Oklahoma! and Carousel. During the 1970s and 1980s he appeared on television commercials for Rose Milk skin care lotion and Nabisco's Triscuits crackers. Netherton was a guest on television shows such as Pat Robertson's The 700 Club, Robert Schuller's The Hour of Power and would appear at Billy Graham religious crusades.
Personal life
As of late 2007, Netherton had been living in Goshen, Indiana where he performed for holiday programs and entertaining local senior citizens at Greencroft Senior Center. Netherton never married and was asexual. On January 11, 2018, Netherton's younger brother, Brad Netherton, announced on his Facebook page that the singer had died from pneumonia and the flu on January 7, 2018 at age 70. An obituary appeared on the Nashville Funeral and Cremation web site.
