Singers from Iowa

Helen Vanni (née Spaeth; January 30, 1924 – March 5, 2023) was an American opera singer who performed mezzo-soprano and soprano roles.

Dale Warland (born April 14, 1932, Fort Dodge, Iowa) is an American conductor, composer, founder of the Grammy-nominated Dale Warland Singers, scholar, teacher, choral consultant, and renowned champion of contemporary choral composers. Warland is one of only two choral conductors (along with Robert Shaw (conductor)) inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.

Margherita Roberti (1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American operatic soprano who had an active international career that spanned from 1948 to 1988. Although she performed throughout the world, Roberti achieved her greatest success and popularity in Italy. A dramatic soprano, Roberti drew particular acclaim for her portrayals of Verdi heroines. Among her signature roles are Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Elisabetta in Don Carlos, Elena in I vespri siciliani, Odabella in Attila, and the title role in Luisa Miller. In 1970 she was awarded Order of knight by the Italian government president Giuseppe Saragat
(Commendatore della repubblica italiana).

Lewis Burr Anderson (May 7, 1922 – May 14, 2006) was an American actor and musician. He is widely known by TV fans as the third and final actor to portray Clarabell the Clown on Howdy Doody between 1954 and 1960. He famously spoke Clarabell's only line on the show's final episode in 1960, with a tear visible in his right eye, "Goodbye, kids." Anderson is also widely known by jazz music fans as a prolific jazz arranger, big band leader, and alto saxophonist. Anderson also played the clarinet.

Ruth Kobart (April 24, 1924 – December 14, 2002) was an American performer, whose six-decade career encompassed opera, Broadway musical theatre, regional theatre, films, and television.

Swen Swenson (January 23, 1930 - June 23, 1993) was a Broadway dancer and singer. Born in Inwood, Iowa, Swenson was trained by dancer Mira Rostova and at the School of American Ballet.
Openly gay, he had featured and co-starring roles on Broadway in such musicals such as Wildcat with Lucille Ball, Little Me (for which he received a Tony Award nomination, and in which he introduced the standard "I've Got Your Number"), A Joyful Noise, Annie, No, No Nanette, I Remember Mama and the 1981 revival of Can-Can. He appeared in movies and on television variety shows, including Your Show of Shows and The Ed Sullivan Show.
Swenson died in 1993 of AIDS-related illness.

Elmarie Louise Wendel (November 23, 1928 – c. July 21, 2018) was an American actress and singer best known as Mamie Dubcek on the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Richard L. Dale (September 14, 1926 – December 26, 2014) was an American singer and musician, best known as a featured singer and saxophone player on the television variety show The Lawrence Welk Show.
A native of Algona, Iowa, he served in the United States Navy during World War II after graduation from Algona High School. His entertainment career began when he worked for several bands such as Harold Loeffelmacher and his Six Fat Dutchmen polka band. He was hired by Lawrence Welk in 1951.During his tenure on The Lawrence Welk Show, in addition to playing the saxophone, Dale sang not just solos but also in duets, performed in comedy sketches, dances, and also played Santa Claus for many years on the Christmas shows. Even after the show ended when its host went into retirement in 1982, he continued to perform with his fellow Welk alumni. From 1990 to 1996, he co-owned and operated the Rainbow Music Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, with fellow Welk star Ava Barber.He married his wife, Marguerite, in 1949, and they had four children. They lived in Los Angeles during the Lawrence Welk years. After making their home in Sparks, Nevada, for several years, the Dales moved back to his hometown of Algona, Iowa, in 2006. He died there on December 26, 2014.