Nicknamed "Buddy", at age eight he got his first guitar and soon began performing live with his father's band, The Fremont River Rangers.

[citation needed] Buddy Merrill joined The Lawrence Welk Show in 1955, the same year it first went national on ABC.

On the Welk Show, he performed his guitar version of "Blue Suede Shoes," a massive hit for Carl Perkins in 1956.

On his return to the Music Makers he was joined in the band's rhythm section with fellow guitarist Neil Levang.

He penned a symphonic work, "Living Sea", as well as original compositions for tape programmers and television commercials.