BIOGRAPHY for TOM MROCZKA & THE MUSIC BOX

BAND BIOGRAPHY

TOM MROCZKA & THE MUSIC BOX Band
has been entertaining audiences since 1968.
Playing many of the Greater Cleveland polka hotspots for years,
the band has also been a popular choice for many area weddings. Now they
are performing for many clubs, churches and veteran's groups providing
great polka music and a complete variety of non-polka tunes.

As with all bands, it's the musicians behind the instruments
that make a difference and behind THE MUSIC BOX are:
Accordion-Ted Bunevich, Drums-Ray Gonet,
Keyboard Bass-Kathie Slys (Leader Tom Mroczka's sister),
Clarinet-Sax-Trumpet-Jim Hitsman and
Leader-Trumpet-Keyboard-Tom Mroczka.

Original members included:
Accordion-Tony Zubek, Bass-Larry Gonet,
Clarinet-Sax-Jim Hitsman, Drums-Frank Zubek,
(Frank does the violin work on the Fiddler's Polka from the "At Last" CD.)

Other band members over the years included:
Clarinet-Sax-Jim Pekar & Pete Weber, Drums-Bob Hatters,
Dick Mischak & Frank Molski, Accordion-Dennis Kaminski
and Bells-Bev Mroczka.

In 1971 the band won the Henri Brozi award as Cleveland's
most popular Polish Polka Band as voted by the listeners of WXEN.

TOM MROCZKA BIOGRAPHY

Born: Cleveland, Ohio
Tom Mroczka, is a graduate of James Ford Rhodes High School
in the "Old Brooklyn" area and The Ohio State University,
and was a member of both the concert and marching bands.
While at The Ohio State University was inducted into
Kappa Kappa Psi Honory Band Fraternity
and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Honorary Fraternity.
A music teacher and band director in the public school system
for 30 years, 28 of which were in Bedford, Ohio,
a southeast suburb of Cleveland,
Tom had the opportunity to teach instrumental music
to Halle Berry at Carylwood Elementary School.
He taught songflute to Halle in the fourth grade
and instrumental music exploration to her in the fifth grade,
(a class for students to learn about and try all common instruments
so they could best choose the instrument to start class lessons).
Halle chose the French horn
and took lessons on a school instrument through the semester.
That year there were more beginners on horn than horns available
so he had to give Halle an Alto horn and unfortunately for the band,
she chose to stop playing it at the end of the semester.

In addition to playing clarinet, sax and trumpet,
Jim writes a lot of music in his spare time
that the band tries to play including two that we recorded.....
"Save Your Pierogi Polka" and "Tommy Edwards Records Polka"
and Jim does a lot of singing with the band.
His versatility helps give the band its unique sound.

Kathie Slys Biography

Kathie Slys, the keyboard bass player is Tom's much younger sister.
She was born in Cleveland, Ohio growing up in the "Old Brooklyn" section.
Her bedroom was next to the bathroom and she got indoctrinated early
(but not always appreciated at 5:30 in the morning)
to polkas when Tom would have them on listening to
A. W. Zebrowski's Polish International Program
as he prepared to go to his teaching job in Bedford, Ohio.
Kathie, also known as "Dolly," because of her small birth weight as a baby,
took piano lessons from her dad, Alex.
Since she hated to practice, she became very proficient at sight reading.
This talent would especially come in handy
as an accompanist in high school and college.
She could pick up any piece of music
and play it the first time as though she had been practicing it for weeks.
She attended Benjamin Franklin School in Kindergarten,
Corpus Christi Catholic School until grade 6,
Mooney Jr. High through grade 9.
In order to participate in band she took up flute and played
that and piccolo holding first chair every year until
she graduated from James Ford Rhodes High School.
She then attended Cuyahoga Community College West (Tri-C West)
for two years getting an associate degree
and also heavily involved in music.
From there she attended Akron University for two years
studying music education majoring in piano with a minor in voice.
She was a member of the elite "Madrigal Singers."
After leaving Akron she had an unusual hobby, especially for a woman....
car racing and road rallys - SCCA, Mid-OHio, Nelson's Ledges
and various racetracks throughout the mid-west and east coast.
The highlight was coming in 3rd fastest time of day
in a beater VW 1976 Rabbit out of 150 cars.
The only cars to beat her were 2 Formula Vee's.
She almost had a sponsorship from Penthouse
but they pulled out of racing sponsorship.
She says you might have seen her as a Penthouse
centerfold if that had come to be.
After that she met her husband, Mark, getting married in 1986.
They now have two children...Mark Jr. and Abby.
They moved to Granger Township (Medina County) to their "dream home"
with a small lake in the front and are loving every minute.
Kathie joined the band Christmas in the late 1970's
when the original bass player, Larry Gonet, retired from playing.
She said "Get me a keyboard and I'll play!".
A few weeks later Tom showed up at her house with a synthesizer
and the rest is history!
She's enjoyed every minute of playing.
Music makes her happy and it makes everyone else listening to it happy too!
Enjoy!