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A Timeline of Bill Tapia's Life
A timeline featuring significant events in the life of
Bill Tapia from the day he was born on January 1, 1908 through
his 101st birthday on January 1, 2009.
1908-1919
Bill Tapia was born on New Year's Day, January 1, 1908
in a house on Sereno Street near today's Queen's Medical Center.
At that time Honolulu had no paved roads or street lights.
He grew up in Honolulu's Liliha neighborhood and
he first heard the ukulele being played by
his Hawaiian neighbors when he was about 7 years old.
Those neighbors offered to teach him to play,
but he didn't have a ukulele at the time. They
taught him a couple of chords anyway - G and F -
and he played them every time he could get his hands
on a ukulele. He loved the sound and the size of the ukulele
so in about 1915 he convinced neighbor Manuel Nunes
to sell him a used ukulele for 75 cents.
Manual Nunes was a Portuguese carpenter who brought a Portuguese
instrument known as a braguinha to Hawaii in 1872,
That instrument was the forerunner of the Hawaiian ukulele and
Nunes is considered by many to be Hawaii's first ukulele maker.
His instruments are quite valuable today. After Bill had
his ukulele he started singing and strumming at casual neighborhood
music sessions where the players were sitting around on logs and boxes.
At about age 10, Bill figured
out a ukulele arrangement for the popular John Philip Souza
march "Stars and Stripes Forever" and he began playing
it for World War I troupes stationed at Pearl Harbor,
on the streets of Waikiki for tips,
and at local YMCA's and other venues and events.
An audio clip of Bill playing his arrangement of that
song in 1936 can be heard on the
Tropical Swing CD page at Mele.com.
At the young age of about 11 or 12, he was arrested for playing music
in a speakeasy during prohibition. When he was 12 years old
Bill left school and started playing on Honolulu's vaudeville circuit
as a member of the Hawaiian Amusement Company. Because
he was so young, a special driver transported him to
all of his shows. He was a popular performer
because of his unique jazz ukulele playing style.
One of his trademarks in those days was playing the
ukulele behind his head.
One of the reasons he left school was to help support
his family. His father was a barber who left the family
when Bill was young. He enjoyed playing on the vaudeville
circuit, but it was also a difficult life in many ways.
He seldom got to bed before the wee hours of the morning
in those days.
1920-1929
By the age of 15 Bill had stopped playing the ukulele
for the most part and moved on to playing guitar and
banjo for local big-band dance bands. He started
performing regularly at
Waikiki's
Moana Hotel and he also played jazz guitar
on cruise ships crossing the Pacific Ocean between Honolulu
and the mainland.
In 1927, while he was visiting his family in Honolulu,
Bill was invited to join the Johnny Noble Orchestra as a ukulele and
banjo player. At that time his specialty was playing popular songs of the 1920's
such as "Has Anybody Seen My Gal" and "It Had To Be You" and
hapa haole songs such as "Royal Hawaiian Hotel" and
"Little Grass Shack".
In 1933 Bill was hired by the Royal Hawaiian Hotel
to be what they called their "musical driver". His job
was to take guests on tours to scenic locations such as the
Pali Lookout and the
Halona Blowhole and play music for them in
beautiful locations. He would also pick
up Royal Hawaiian Hotel guests on Aloha Boat
days when the cruise ships arrived. in
Honolulu Harbor. He drove a yellow and blue,
seven passenger Packard. On February 1, 1927 Bill Tapia
played Ukulele and Banjo with the Johnny Noble Orchestra
at the Grand Opening of the
Royal Hawaiian Hotel, also
known as the Pink Palace of the Pacific.
1930-1949
In the 1930's and 1940's Bill Tapia was
a well-known fixture in Waikiki's big-band era
music scene. Two of his friends in those days were
Waikiki beach boy, surfer, and Olympic swimming champion
Duke Kahanamoku and his brother Sam Kahanamoku.
Bill was living in Honolulu During World War II Bill
started his own orchestra called "Tappy's Island Swingers"
and they often played at the old Honolulu Civic Auditorium.
They called it the "Blackout Ballroom", and they had
to memorize all their music, because during blackouts
everybody had to play and dance in total darkness.
Gabe Baltazar was one of the young musicians he
played with in the Honolulu Civic Auditorium.
1950-1999
After World War II Bill moved with his family
to Northern California where he lived in San
Francisco and taught guitar and ukulele lessons full time.
He also played jazz guitar at local spots in both
Northern and Southern California. Bill did not
drink much, or get heavily into the drug scene,
but he did have a serious smoking habit until he
quit at age 87 in the late 1980's. Bill retired in
1998 and moved from Northern California to the
town of Westminster in Southern California.
Barbie, his wife of 60+ years, died about 3 years
later and his daughter Cleo died a few months after that.
2000-2004
In July of 2001, while Bill was still mourning the
loss of his wife and daughter, he met 27 year old
Alyssa Archambault host of the KCRW Santa Monica
public radio program "Swing Shift". She encouraged
him to take up the ukulele again because of that
instrument's growing popularity, and because of her
contacts in the radio and music world she was able
to expose Bill and his playing to a whole new generation.
She also worked as his manager and booking agent for
a time. On February 1, 2002 Bill
was a special guest performer at the 75th anniversary
of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. At about that same time he
caught the attention of University of 63 year old
University of Hawaii music professor Byron Yasui.
Bryan nominated Bill for the Ukulele Hall of Fame
and he also played on one of Bill's CD recordings.
In March of 2004 he released his first solo recording entitled
"Tropical Swing". Included on that album is a 1936 recording
of Bill playing his famous arrangement of "Stars and Stripes
Forever". On April 23 2004 Bill was officially
inducted into the
Ukulele Hall of Fame during the 2004 UkeFestWest
concert at the Coconut Grove Ballroom
in Santa Cruz, Northern California
In February of 2005 Bill released his second
solo recording entitled "Duke of Uke".
2005-2009
On January 25-26, 2007 Bill performed at a
99th birthday concert at the rRed Elephant
in Downtown Honolulu.
On January 18, 2008 he performed at a 100st
birthday concert at the Warner Grand Theatre
in San Pedro, Southern California.
On January 26, 2008 he performed a concert
at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, Southern
California.
On February 23, 2008 he performed with Raiatea
Helm and bass player Ernie Provencher at a
100th birthday concert at the Diamond Head Theatre
in Honolulu
I first met Bill on Halloween night, October 31, 2008, during
a break between sets of a "Legends of Hawaiian Jazz"
concert at Don Ho's Island Grill at the Aloha Tower Marketplace
in Honolulu. I heard him perform for the first time that night,
we exchanged cards, and I convinced him to consider taking
me on as a ukulele student (a few photos taken that night,
and photos of Bill teaching me to play the ukulele are coming soon)
On December 27, 2008 Bill performed for two hours
at his 101st Birthday concert and party Newport
Beach, Southern California I took many photos at that party
and concert and you can see all of them here:
Photos of Bill Tapia's 101st Birthday Party.
In March of 2009 he will perform at the grand re-opening
of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki.
I hope that in July of 2009 he will be one of
the world class ukulele players performing
at the 2009 Ukulele Festival of Hawaii in Kapiolani
Park on the Diamond Head end of Waikiki.
Bill Tapia Today
Today Bill Tapia lives in Westminster, Southern California
and he continues to perform and teach ukulele to more
then 20 students a week. He also owns a home on the leeward
coast of Oahu. His signature finale piece at most of
his concerts is his very moving cappella rendition of
the song "Young at Heart".
See also:
Bio and Photo of Ukulele Legend Bill Tapia
Photos of Bill Tapia's 101st Birthday Party
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