During his 40-year musical career, Guy Hovis has appeared on stage and television with major stars such as Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Glen Campbell, Dinah Shore and Jim Nabors. He is best known and recognized as one of the featured performers of the long-running Lawrence Welk Show. He shares the same hometown as Elvis Presley and often describes himself as “that other singer from Tupelo.”

Today, Guy and his wife Sis live in Ridgeland. Guy has kept an active concert schedule, even during the 17 years he served on the staff of U.S. Sen. Trent Lott. Guy and Sis enjoy a busy schedule of traveling for musical engagements and working for various charitable causes. In person Guy is reserved, charming and kind. He was inducted into the Mississippi Musicians’ Hall of Fame in 2001 and continues to tape Lawrence Welk specials for PBS.

Guy’s mother was a secretary and homemaker, and his father was one of the original members of the Mississippi State Highway Patrol. At the age of five, Guy began singing in church, and he grew up singing at weddings and civic clubs. He was always in school musical productions, and his high school gospel quartet won a talent contest at the Mid-South Fair.

While studying accounting at Ole Miss, Guy appeared in musicals and sang in the university chorus. He joined the Sigma Nu fraternity in his freshman year, and one night he and three other freshmen were hanging around the fraternity house piano and discovered they all liked to sing. They formed a quartet and called themselves The Chancellors. Guy sang tenor, Trent Lott was the lead, Gaylen Roberts sang baritone and Allen Pepper sang bass. They sang together every chance they got - at parties, alumni meetings, and the national Sigma Nu convention in Pittsburgh - and they formed lifelong friendships.

“Even as a college student Guy Hovis was a gifted singer and entertainer,” says former Ole Miss Chancellor Dr. Robert Khayat. “Handsome, happy, and blessed with a marvelous voice, he charmed college audiences and church congregations before moving into professional music.” Dr. Khayat shares that throughout Guy’s career, he has been generous in his support of Ole Miss and in his willingness to share the gift of his beautiful voice.

After graduating from Ole Miss, Guy worked for a top national accounting firm, then entered the Army to fulfill a two-year ROTC commitment. Near the end of his tour, he auditioned for an Army talent show and was chosen to serve as a performer and officer in charge for a six-week tour. This gave him a full taste of show business - and he liked it!

When Guy’s Army tour ended, he moved back to Mississippi. He enrolled in a master’s degree program and planned to study for the CPA exam. After only one semester, Guy decided he truly wanted a career in music, and it was the right time for him to make that happen.

Guy describes himself as shy and reserved, but the joy of music and the opportunity to perform motivated him to

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move to California, to break into the music business in Hollywood. An Ole Miss fraternity brother, Tom Lester of Green Acres fame, told Guy about The Horn, a Santa Monica nightclub where performers could showcase their talent. The Horn, and the people he met there would change Guy’s life forever.

The owner of the club was a former head vocal coach for 20th Century Fox, and he helped Guy with free voice training. Guy met singer David Blaylock at The Horn as well, and they became friends and singing partners. They signed a record contract with ABC records, recorded their first album, and did a concert tour with Sergio Mendez and Brasil ‘66. Guy and David appeared on many television shows and in nightclubs throughout the country. In addition, Guy worked in summer stock and appeared on Art Linkletter’s House Party on CBS.

Guy would also meet Texas-born singer Ralna English at The Horn nightclub, and they soon married. Ralna became a regular performer on the Lawrence Welk Show, and after Guy and David stopped performing together, Ralna asked Lawrence Welk if Guy could sing with her on the annual Christmas show. They were such a hit that Guy was invited to join the Welk musical family, and the husband-and-wife singing team of Guy and Ralna became one of the most popular acts ever to appear on the Welk television show.

“Mr. Welk was unique,” explains Guy. “There was no one else like him. He played all the dance halls and hotels in the heartland for 30 years. He knew what people liked, and at age 52 became an overnight sensation when he went on nationwide TV. He hired only the best musicians, and he had the final say on everything in the show.”

Lawrence Welk’s “champagne music” and “wholesome entertainment” consisted mostly of popular music standards beautifully delivered in a smooth, calming style. The Welk show was a family program, and the performers were like a real family for each other. “We were all in it together,” explains Guy. “There were no ‘stars’ - we were all paid the same salary.”

During the years on the Welk show, Guy and Ralna recorded 10 albums, eight of which Guy produced. He was nominated by the Gospel Music Association for a Dove Award as an artist and producer. Guy also wrote and produced commercial jingles for radio and television, and he created and starred in two critically acclaimed musical reviews.

When the Welk show was cancelled by ABC television in 1971, Lawrence Welk completed a deal which resulted in the show being on even more television stations, until it ceased production in 1982. Since then, there have been a number of special television shows featuring the Welk musical family, and in 1987 PBS began airing the vintage Welk shows. Many of the Welk performers have hosted shows and shared stories and memories. Lawrence Welk died in 1992, but the Welk shows still air weekly on almost 300 public television stations, with over 3 million viewers. Last year Guy and Ralna performed 22 dates around the country at theatres, casinos, state fairs and senior expos.

Although they continued to perform together, Guy and Ralna had divorced in 1984. Guy moved back to Mississippi in 1990 and his longtime friend Trent Lott asked Guy to join his Senate staff as director of state offices. Guy had never considered a career in politics, but found that he enjoyed the work. He especially liked that it got him back in touch with the people of Mississippi, and what’s important to them. He traveled between the Senate offices throughout the state, and he liked helping people.

Guy’s life would change again when he attended the 40th birthday party of John Lundy, who had just left Sen. Lott’s office as chief of staff. John’s sister, Sis, was at the party, and John’s wife Hayley thought Sis and Guy would be just great together. After the party, Guy and Sis began dating, and Sis’ then seven-year-old grandson Blair excitedly told his friends his grandmama was dating “a real singing star on TV and everything!” When they married a year later, in 2002, Blair asked his teacher: “Did you know grandmamas could get married?”

“My friends all love Guy, but everybody loves Guy,” shares Sis. “I have a very close-knit group of girlfriends and you have to answer to every one of us for anything involving each of us. They had to check him out, of course, but now they all just treat him like family.”

“Anybody that has ever been around us says that we are perfectly matched and bring out the best in each other,” Sis continues. “We hear this all the time - from my old friends, his old friends and the new friends we have met together.”

Sis was born and raised in Leland and had a 40-year nursing career. Her background is primarily in surgical services. She worked with Stryker, a global leader in medical technology, where she was involved in developing the first fully integrated operating room, by combining high-definition video capture and display, voice integration and infrared devices. She also was involved in establishing the St. Francis Surgical Institute, where surgeons and nursing staff from 38 states and six foreign countries are trained in minimally invasive procedures. For the past several years, she was responsible for cancer patient education and support at the Hederman Cancer Center.

Sis has served on the boards of the March of Dimes, the Red Cross, and the local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. In the fall, Sis will begin a term as president of the Jackson Cancer League, a volunteer fund-raising group in Jackson that has raised more than $4.5 million for the American Cancer Society.

Guy has earned awards through his charitable work with the American Cancer Society, the March of Dimes and Childhelp USA. He has also received acclaim for his work with military veterans and their families during operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom.

Together, Guy and Sis have three children and three grandchildren. Guy’s daughter Julie, 30, is a first-grade teacher in Arizona. Sis’ daughter Dawn, 38, lives in Monroe, La., with her husband Ken, and three children; Blair, 15, Mary Margaret, 7, and Tori, 4. Sis’ son Hunter, 32, lives in Arlington, Va.

Guy and Sis especially enjoy traveling together, for visits with their children and grandchildren, as well as for Guy’s singing engagements. The Welk musical family members attend weddings, funerals and other events for each other whenever possible, and Sis shares that Ralna, the Welk musical family, and their fans have been very gracious to her.

Members of The Chancellors, the Ole Miss singing quartet, are still close friends. They try to get together once a year to reminisce, and they still sing together every chance they get. Several years ago they sang for the dedication of the Gertrude Ford Performing Arts Center at Ole Miss.

Guy performed at the 2005 Presidential Inauguration Ceremony in Washington, D.C., and was one of the stars in Mississippi Rising, the nationwide television special that raised millions of dollars for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in Mississippi.

Sam Haskell, former worldwide head of television for the William Morris Agency, describes Guy as one of Mississippi’s favorite sons. “No one else has ever sung Jim Weatherly’s Mississippi, This is Your Song like Guy sings it,” says Sam. “I have worked with Guy on many of my philanthropic causes, Stars Over Mississippi, a Celebration of Leadership at the Kennedy Center in Washington, and Mississippi Rising,” Sam continues. “I’ve had Guy sing that song at each event, and it always receives a standing ovation. My wife Mary has sung duets with Guy at many events, and as Mary puts it.... ‘Singing with Guy is like singing with an angel....there’s no voice like Guy’s.’”

Guy laughs when he says he is now the same age that most of the Welk fans were when he joined the show in 1970. He loves to watch the faces in the crowd when he sings, especially the crowd at the retirement home in Tupelo where his mother lives.

His first official Web site, www.guyhovismusic.com, includes a scrapbook of celebrity photos and a calendar of upcoming performances. Guy feels he has been richly blessed to have the opportunity to use the talent God gave him to sing and entertain for all these years. He looks forward to more singing and traveling with Sis. He keeps his voice in shape and plans to sing “as long as the good Lord keeps me on this earth.”