Accordionist Leonard “Skeets” Langley was one of six honorees who were inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame (MMHOF) on November 2, 2012 t the 24th Annual Induction Ceremony and Banquet at Turner Hall.

The other inductees were the folk and blues trio Koerner, Ray, and Glover; LeRoy Glazier, the late country western guitarist; Jerry Minar, concertina and accordion virtuoso; country rock band Canoise; The Chord-Ayers.

Langley, a retired music educator after 34 years in the Robbinsdale School District, is a graduate of Augsburg College, Minneapolis, and received a Master’s Degree in music education from MacPhail College of Music.

He started playing the accordion at the age of six, studying with Larry Malmberg and entered his first accordion contest three years later. Langley won the American Accordionists Association national championship for his age group in 1962, earning the chance to represent the association and the United States in world competition in Prague, Czech Republic, where he placed second.

The next year, 1963, Langley qualified for the international event again, this time in Baden-Baden, Germany, where he entered the Confederation Internationale des Accodeonistes (CIA) winning the coveted first place trophy against more than twenty countries.

Langley has performed in concert with the world renowned opera singer, the late Luciano Pavarotti. He lives in Champlin with his wife Rosemary. They have two married sons and four grandchildren.

The Minnesota Music Hall of Fame is located at First North Street and Broadway in New Ulm, Minnesota, USA, in the former public library. It has memorabilia of individual musicians and musical groups as well as photographs of all who have been inducted. The museum is open during the summer months and by special request during the winter.

Exhibits honor Minnesota music legends like Bob Dylan, Judy Garland, Prince, Eddie Cochran, Bobby Vee, Ervin Wolfe, Whoopee John Wilfahrt, Harold Loeffelmacher, Earl Schmidt and The Andrews Sisters. It also documents local ethnic music like the popularity of polka music in rural Minnesota. Each year new inductees are added at a dinner ceremony in October.