This is a list of ukulele players. These musicians and bands are well known for playing the ukulele as their primary instrument and have an associated linked Wikipedia article. It is not intended for everyone that can play the instrument.
The ukulele, also called a uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
Philip Kunia Pahinui, known as Gabby Pahinui, was a slack-key guitarist and singer of Hawaiian music.
The banjo ukulele, also known as the banjolele or banjo uke, is a four-stringed musical instrument with a small banjo-type body and a fretted ukulele neck. The earliest known banjoleles were built by John A. Bolander and by Alvin D. Keech, both in 1917.
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as a performer and composer, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 2004, and was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2007.
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (UOGB) is a British musical ensemble founded in 1985 by George Hinchliffe and Kitty Lux. The orchestra features ukuleles of various sizes and registers from soprano to bass. The UOGB is best known for performing musically faithful but often tongue-in-cheek covers of popular songs and musical pieces from a wide variety of music genres taken "from the rich pageant of western music". The songs are often performed with a reinterpretation, sometimes with a complete genre twist, or well known songs from multiple genres are seamlessly woven together. Songs are introduced with light hearted deadpan humour, and juxtaposition is a feature of their act, the members of the orchestra wear semi-formal evening dress and sit behind music stands, in a parody of a classical ensemble.
The World We Knew, also known as Frank Sinatra, is a 1967 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra.
Leroy Smeck was an American musician. His skill on the banjo, guitar, and ukulele earned him the nickname "The Wizard of the Strings".
The Langley Ukulele Ensemble is a ukulele ensemble from Langley, British Columbia in Canada. The ensemble is internationally renowned and considered to be one of the top ukulele performing ensembles in the world. They were prominently featured in the 2008 award-winning document film, Mighty Uke. The group is composed of 20 musicians, aged twelve to eighteen years, who perform 50-80 concerts a year. The group was originated in 1981 by Peter Loungo using the J. Chalmers Doane's musical program in the 1970s that reached over 50,000 students across Canada and the United States. They have performed in Canada, Florida, Texas, California, Nevada, the Pacific Northwest, Japan and Hawaii. The ensemble was named Langley's Entertainer of the Year for 2005, and Musical Director Peter Luongo was named Langley's Leader of the Year for that same year.
The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (AJHF) is an organization and museum in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1978, and opened as museum on September 18, 1993, with a mission "to foster, encourage, educate, and cultivate a general appreciation of the medium of jazz music as a legitimate, original and distinctive art form indigenous to America. Its mission is also to preserve a continued and sustained program of illuminating the contribution of the State of Alabama through its citizens, environment, demographics and lore, and perpetuating the heritage of jazz music."
The Metronome All-Stars were a collection of jazz musicians assembled for studio recordings by Metronome Magazine, based on its readers' polls. The studio sessions were held in the years 1939–42, 1946–53, and 1956, and typically consisted of two tracks which allowed each participant a chance to solo for one chorus. Earlier recordings feature more swing style, while the later sessions tend more toward bebop.
Jesse Kaleihia Andre Kalima (1920–1980) was an ukulele player.
James Hill is a Canadian classically trained musician who has focused on the ukulele, both as his primary instrument and as a method of music instruction for school children. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of British Columbia.
Lyle Joseph Ritz was an American musician, known for his work on ukulele and bass. His early career in jazz as a ukulele player made him a key part of the Hawaii music scene in the 1950s. By the 1960s, he had begun working as a session musician, more often on double bass or electric bass guitar. His prominence in the Los Angeles session scene made him a part of the Wrecking Crew, an informal group of well-used Los Angeles–based musicians. Ritz contributed to many American pop hits from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. Starting in the mid-1980s, a rediscovery of his earlier ukulele work led to him becoming a fixture in live festivals, and a revival of his interest in playing the ukulele. He was inducted into both the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007.
Jim Beloff is an American musician. He is a leading proponent of the ukulele. After working in the music industry in Los Angeles, he discovered the ukulele and became an advocate of the instrument. He established Flea Market Music, publisher of the Jumpin' Jim's ukulele songbook series. Beloff's songbooks and instructional books, DVDs and promotion and marketing of his family's Fluke and Flea ukuleles have contributed to the popularity of the instrument. He is also a singer-songwriter and has recorded several solo CDs as well as two with his wife, Liz.
Roy Sakuma is a ukulele teacher, credited for sparking new generations of ukulele players and virtuosos like Jake Shimabukuro who got his start as a young student at Roy Sakuma Studios. Sakuma launched what is considered to be the first major ukulele festival in 1971, an annual event in Honolulu that continued for 52 years.
Mighty Uke: The Amazing Comeback of a Musical Underdog is a documentary film about the ukulele. It combines graphics, photographs, interviews and performance footage to tell the story of the ukulele and its recent resurgence in popularity.
James Patrick Baron, also known as Tiki King, is an artist, musician, and luthier. He was an artist in the tiki revival scene of the early 1990s. As a luthier he created the pineapple cutaway double octave ukulele and has designed ukuleles for celebrities such as Greg Hawkes and Bette Midler. He released three solo ukulele CDs as well as one with his lounge band Tiki King and the Idol Pleasures. He currently plays bass drum and ukulele in Tribal Celtic band the Wicked Tinkers who have released a total of nine albums.
