Two young people met in 1974 and they have been making beautiful music together ever since.
They are the husband and wife team, Ted Sammis and Lynnda Nelson, who started the swing band, “SteamHeat,” known for playing music spanning the decades from 1920 through 1940. The group has performed for decades before enthusiastic audiences at many local venues, including the Prior Lake VFW, Savage American Legion, the Prior Lake bandshell at Lakefront Park and various retirement communities.
Their next performance will be at the Prior Lake VFW on Sunday, Feb. 15, where the group will play from 1 to 3 p.m.
Nelson has been singing long before her first church solo in third grade. She enjoyed putting on neighborhood shows as a child, and later took vocal lessons in high school and college with a teacher whom she credits for her singing ability.
Both attended Mankato State University, with Nelson graduating with a theater degree. Sammis originally taught himself how to play the piano, and graduated with a music degree. He believed he was able to get into the college’s program because the auditioner wasn’t the usual classical music lover. He now plays saxophone in the band.
The couple began their career as a duo, performing at Glacier National Park and various places where they met other musicians. They married and moved to California, thinking they could make a living there. San Jose, unfortunately, wasn’t the hot spot for music that they had hoped it would be. They could barely get a gig. He worked as a bellman; she was a waitress.
They moved frequently, and every time they did, friends had to help move their upright pianos up and down stairs. To this day, the couple acknowledges they had some great friends who helped them over the years.
The couple eventually returned to the Twin Cities where their love of music continued.
At one point, Sammis played in a St. Paul band as a sub that performed in the caves in St. Paul, along with other venues. Eventually, he was invited to leave because band members thought he wasn’t good enough. That rebuff encouraged him to start his own band, and he began recruiting members for SteamHeat.
He has played with the Prior Lake Players, and led the worship band, “Messenger,” at Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church for 12 years. Sammis also performs with the Northern Winds Community Band in Bloomington, and with the Senior Commodore Band.
Many friendships have grown over the years between band members involved in various music groups. Sammis met SteamHeat’s current trumpeter and Northern Winds founder, Ray Johnson, when he played with that group. Johnson, a self-taught tumpeter, joined SteamHeat more than 20 years ago. The men also play in a Dixieland band that features Nelson as a vocalist. The band’s drummer, Jay Bjoin, played in the South of the River band, along with various Prior Lake Players Community Theater shows.
While music was a passion the couple pursued for decades, both pursued a professional career, as well. Nelson had worked in sales, while Sammis was a computer programmer. Like most of the band members, they are now retired.
Nelson said the band, like other in-person entertainment options, was greatly impacted by the Covid pandemic. Members of SteamHeat are now eager to get back in front of live audiences, and have been busy practicing, adding new members and establishing bookings throughout the Twin Cities for the remainder of 2026.
Her biggest message for fans would include, “Come and hear us and support us!”
