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Bill Tapia Bio
Facts about Bill Tapia and his life and times.
Basic Facts About Bill Tapia
Birth Date: January 1, 1908 (New Year's Day)
Birth Place: Liliha Neighborhood, Honolulu, Hawaii
Ethnic Heritage: Portuguese
Nicknames: "Tappy" and "The Duke of Uke"
More Interesting Facts About Bill Tapia
One of my favorite fun facts about Bill Tapia is that
he taught Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer of the Our Gang comedy
series to lay the ukulele. I love that!
Some of Bill's other famous ukulele students included Arthur Godfrey,
Jimmy Durante, Clark Gable, Betty Grable, Buster Crabbe, John Gilbert,
Janet Gaylor, and Shirley Temple.
Bill Tapia is most well known today for playing
the ukulele, and he also plays the banjo,
but for most of his career he was primarily a jazz guitarist.
He has performed ukulele, banjo, and jazz guitar with many famous
artists including Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong,
Fats Waller, Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Alfred Apaka, Sol Hoopii,
King Bennie Nawahi, Andy Iona, Charlie Barnett, and many others.
Bill played at the Hawaii Theatre when he was only 13
years old and he played to a packed house at the same
theater in November of 2003 at age 95.
Other theaters he played at when he was young
included the Princess Theater, the Kaimuki Theater,
the Queen Theater, the Kahuku Theater and the Palama Theater.
Those theaters are gone now but Bill Tapia is still
going strong at age 101.
See also:
More About Bill Tapia
Hawaiian Music Artists by Name
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Related Links
Hawaiian Music Artists - Main Menu
Music of Hawaii
Hawaii for Visitors
Elsewhere on the WEb
Wikipedia Bill Tapia Article
May 2008 Royal Hawaiian Videos
Ukulele Hall of Fame Induction Pictures
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