Eddie “Skeets” Washinowski was born March 14, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He began playing an accordion with the Walter Parorski Band in 1936. Skeets played in and around Pennsylvania and New Jersey until he entered the Navy in 1942. After the war he moved to Minnesota and married Adline Pres from Round Lake. In 1947 they moved to Worthington where he began an Accordion Show every morning on KWOA radio. At this time he started a band called “The Swiss Boys” with the help of Tiny Little Sr. during these years he played 350 days a year.

In 1963, Skeets moved to Sioux City, Iowa where the band began playing ballroom type music. The Eddie Skeets Band was booked as either an old-tyme band or a modern band playing the majority of his engagements in Minnesota. Today Skeets, with his son Jeff, still performs with a nine or ten piece band.

Source: Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, http://www.mnmusichalloffame.org/uploads/1994_Eddie_Skeets.pdf