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Original Post By:
coconino
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Date: 6/20/2009 4:55:07 PM |
Can you folks help me? I'm working on a little project and need the names of famous uke players. Classic faves like Cliff Edwards (I've got this one more-or-less covered but I may have forgotten some good ones), classic Hawaiian players (need more help here) and unusual players (otherwise famous people who also played the uke or people who played under unusual circumstances). I'd like at least ten names in each category - mostly older, no longer with us folks, although I'll accept any you'd like to name.
What say you? |
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Posted By:
Grandpa Jim
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Date: 6/20/2009 9:09:25 PM |
Arthur Godfrey
Eddie Kamae
George Harrison
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Posted By:
BeachBumTom
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Date: 6/20/2009 9:34:30 PM |
Hi. This website sells a great (very great) book called "The Ukulele: A Visual History" by none other than Jim Beloff. Actually at this very moment it is featured in the margin of this BB. It has bios of many GREAT historic uke performers. It's a great resource book.
You make it sound like you have names already and are looking for those you DON'T have. Perhaps it would be good if you listed the names you have and the BB could "fill in the blanks." Aloha, Tom
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Posted By:
Grandpa Jim
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Date: 6/20/2009 11:39:33 PM |
Good suggestions, Tom. My contributions were just stabs in the dark at each of the three categories. Not terribly useful.
Jim
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Posted By:
Jim T.
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Date: 6/21/2009 1:12:49 AM |
Classic Hawaiian players would include David Kalakaua, Ernest Kaai, George Kia, Joseph Nawahi, Alvin Keech, Jesse Kalima, Eddie Kamae, Herb Ohta, Troy Fernandez, Kelly Boy DeLima, Jake Shimabukuro.
Classic mainlanders include Cliff Edwards, Roy Smeck, Johnny Marvin, Frank Crumit (who may have been the first solo performer to play the ukulele on Broadway), May Singhi Breen, Jennie Durkee, George Formby, Arthur Godfrey, Lyle Ritz, Tiny Tim.
Unusual players could include Edward Windsor, Prince of Wales; Oliver Hardy (in "Sons of the Desert", 1933; Kamaka was proud to have him as a customer); Buster Keaton (in Steamboat Bill, Jr., 1928, but also in real life); Neil Young (his first instrument was a classic 50's plastic model); country music great Jimmie Rodgers; and Bertie Wooster in P.G. Wodehouse's "Thank You, Jeeves" ("How dare you play that thing in a respectable block of flats? Infernal din!").
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Posted By:
hoaryhead
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Date: 6/21/2009 2:12:02 AM
(Updated: 6/21/2009 2:12:26 AM)
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I hear this guy John Rockwell plays just like Cliff Edwards.
Kidding.
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Posted By:
Paul Cundari
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Date: 6/21/2009 5:52:43 AM |
Wendell Hall. Popular in the '20s & '30s. He did it all, performed, wrote songs, designed ukes.
Recently, I heard his name called out in a Doctor's office. I asked the elderly gentleman if he was related. He said, "No, I was given the name because my mother liked the original Wendell Hall."
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Posted By:
WildChild
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Date: 6/21/2009 5:55:42 AM |
| Our ukulele club has a nice "Hall of Fame". Here is the link: http://www.kcuke.com/fame.html
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Posted By:
coconino
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Date: 6/21/2009 8:23:41 AM |
Some great suggestions already! And I do have Mr. Beloff's book but sadly,it is packed away with most of my other possessions, in a friend's basement.
Keep 'em comin'!
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Posted By:
PHMike
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Date: 6/21/2009 11:03:01 AM |
Peter Sellers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sellers
He not only played but - "...Sellers claimed his father had taught George Formby to play ukulele..."
I have been meaning to research that but just never got around to it.
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Posted By:
Jim Vyhnak
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Date: 6/25/2009 8:45:21 AM |
| Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, John Lennon, Edgar and Johnny Winter, Bill Gates, Tony Danza and Bette Midler.
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Posted By:
ToeBone
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Date: 6/25/2009 10:21:24 AM |
| Ok, I'll get in on this since I mentioned him as my second most favorite uke player to have dinner with: Warren Buffett
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Posted By:
Ernie
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Date: 6/25/2009 10:39:41 AM |
Eddie Vedder
Elvis Presley
Elvis Costello
Todd Rundgren
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
Greg Hawkes
Van Morrison
Bruce Springsteen
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Posted By:
Hilo Greg
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Date: 6/25/2009 11:21:33 AM |
| Abe Lincoln
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Posted By:
Boswell
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Date: 6/25/2009 11:42:07 AM |
| me, you, too.
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Posted By:
PHMike
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Date: 6/25/2009 11:43:58 AM
(Updated: 6/25/2009 11:44:10 AM)
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Colonel Sanders, George Washington, Walt Disney -
http://www.hawaiianmusichistory.com/ukulele/musicians.htm
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Posted By:
grouch
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Date: 6/25/2009 12:24:23 PM |
| George Washington?????
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Posted By:
KalihiboyinTN
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Date: 6/25/2009 1:08:11 PM |
Shoi Ikemi- Was half of the "Ukulele Rascals" in the 1940s. Other half Eddie Kamae.
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Posted By:
Tom A.
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Date: 6/25/2009 9:01:58 PM |
Jack Lemmon
Check out uTube where he plays uke and sings with Doris Day. It's cute and wolesome. Now, let's not be cynical..........
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Posted By:
Hikingstevo
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Date: 6/26/2009 11:03:48 PM |
| I like the "Abe Lincoln" entry. LOL!
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Posted By:
~~ KENT in Surf City ~~
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Date: 6/27/2009 12:10:08 AM
(Updated: 6/27/2009 12:10:43 AM)
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| ~~~~~~~~ " BILL TAPIA " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Posted By:
coconino
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Date: 6/27/2009 9:19:10 AM |
That Hawaiian History page that PHMike linked has some great names, but how trustworthy is it? George Washington and Abraham Lincoln? Their deaths pre-date the developement of the uke!
Can anyone confirm Colonel Sanders? I like that one!
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Posted By:
Dasher
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Date: 6/27/2009 11:40:52 AM |
| Do you have my name on the list? Oh wait, I thought you said INFAMOUS!
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Posted By:
PHMike
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Date: 6/27/2009 3:57:44 PM |
re: "Hawaiian History page..."
Hey - it's on the intarweb thingy so it must be true ;-)
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Posted By:
oldukeman
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Date: 6/29/2009 1:02:00 AM |
| gracie allen
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Posted By:
Patsy
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Date: 6/29/2009 8:58:42 AM
(Updated: 6/29/2009 9:54:29 AM)
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Saw the flick "Born Yesterday" on the tube. Judy Holliday (really) plays a uke and sings the song "Dolores" during a picnic scene, just before her son drowns in the lake. "Dolores," indeed.
EDIT: Not "Born Yesterday." It was "The Marrying Kind," with Judy & Aldo Ray.
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