“He was seeking a replacement for the Lennon Sisters,” Griffiths says. After landing the job, they tried out for the Lawrence Welk Show at the only open audition Welk ever held. When they returned, Griffiths and Flynn sang in Las Vegas and auditioned as backup singers for Jack Jones. They sang at hospital bedsides, in jungles, and on aircraft carriers. Later Griffiths and Flynn were invited to entertain military troops in Vietnam with the 3 Ds, a BYU alumni group. Besides meeting my future husband, Brent, it was my favorite BYU moment.” The duo performed a Disney medley in the Smith Fieldhouse to what Griffiths calls “the warmest ovation of our BYU experience. Through Janie Thompson’s (BA ’43) Program Bureau at BYU, Griffiths performed for General Authorities, entertained during a Defense Department tour of Asia, recorded for Capitol Records, and sang at Disneyland for a summer with Flynn. The outgoing youngster once sang on Art Linkletter’s show House Party. “My uncles all sang, and my dad, who’s 89, sings his way through Costco in an electric cart.
“I think I sang before I spoke,” says the vocalist who performed with BYU’s Program Bureau in the 1960s before a 13-year run with the Lawrence Welk Show.
Griffiths says the singing gene is embedded in her DNA.
Welk stared at me strangely and asked, ‘Sandi, when was this a hit?’ He couldn’t believe he had somehow missed a popular song.” I invited the audience to sing the last verse, and, upon finishing, the crowd erupted in an ovation. I prepared a medley of Primary songs that included ‘I Am a Child of God.’ “I asked Lawrence Welk if I could sing a solo in Salt Lake City. “It was the early ’70s, and we were planning a Salt Palace show,” she explains. But it was a solo experience in Salt Lake City that Griffiths counts among her happiest memories from the show. Sandi Jensen Griffiths (BA ’99) first became nationally known on the Lawrence Welk Show for her duets with her BYU singing partner, Sally Flynn (later Hart) (’68). After Flynn left, Griffiths continued with the show for several years before moving on to spend her full time caring for her family of eight children. Sandi Griffiths and her BYU singing partner, Sally Flynn (below) performed together at Disneyland, in Vietnam, and as regulars on the Lawrence Welk Show.
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