Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Discography  





2 References  





3 External links  














Bill Tapia






العربية
Čeština
Dansk
Italiano
مصرى
Nederlands
Polski
Simple English
Suomi
 

Edit links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 




In other projects  



Wikimedia Commons
 
















Appearance
   

 






From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


Bill "Tappy" Tapia
Uncle Bill "Tappy" Tapia in 2007
Uncle Bill "Tappy" Tapia in 2007
Background information
Birth nameWilliam Tapia
Born(1908-01-01)January 1, 1908
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
DiedDecember 2, 2011(2011-12-02) (aged 103)
Los Angeles, California
GenresJazz, Hawaiians
Occupation(s)Singer, musician
Years active1918–2011
WebsiteBillTapia.com

William Tapia (January 1, 1908 – December 2, 2011), known as "Uncle Bill" and "Tappy", was an American musician, born to Portuguese parents. At age 8, Tapia was already a professional musician, playing "Stars and Stripes Forever" for World War I troops in Hawaii.

In his long career beginning in vaudeville and quickly expanding as a jazz guitarist and ukulele player he performed with names such as Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley and Hawaiian musicians such as King Bennie Nawahi, Sol Hoʻopiʻi, and Andy Iona.

The Chiang & Coates documentary "To You, Sweetheart, Aloha" was created to celebrate 94 year old Tapia's life.[1][2]

Tapia was an associate of Sonny Cunha and played with the Johnny Noble Band at the opening of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1927. He taught Shirley Temple and Clark Gable to strum the ukulele. He was also the ukulele player on Bing Crosy's hit "Blue Hawaii."[3] Despite his long life, Tapia did not record any music until 2004 when he put out his first CD at the age of 96. On March 23, 2004, he provided a detailed interview for the NAMM Oral History Program collection about his impressive career and life in music. He recalled designing several instruments for many of his luthier friends as well as improvement and adjustments to the uke he had over the years.

He continued to perform and record at an advanced age, all the while remaining in vigorous health and driving a car until his 100th birthday when he began suffering eyesight problems.

Tapia was a featured performer in Mighty Uke: The Amazing Comeback of a Musical Underdog, a 2010 documentary on the ukulele. In 2011, he was awarded The Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award.[4]

Tapia died in his sleep on December 2, 2011, a month short of turning 104.[5]

Discography

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ TO YOU SWEETHEART, ALOHA (©2006 Walking Iris Films)
  • ^ Chiang & Coats. "To You Sweetheart, Aloha". To You Sweetheart, Aloha. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  • ^ Whitcomb, Ian (2012). Ukulele Heroes: The Golden Age. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Books. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-4584-1654-4.
  • ^ Kanahele, George S. (2012). Hawaiian Music & Musicians. Mutual Publisher. p. 854. ISBN 978-1-5664-7967-7.
  • ^ "Ukulele legend Bill Tapia dies at 103 - Entertainment - Music". MSNBC. November 28, 2011. Archived from the original on December 4, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
  • [edit]


  • t
  • e

  • Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Tapia&oldid=1231797459"

    Categories: 
    1908 births
    2011 deaths
    American men centenarians
    Musicians from Honolulu
    American people of Portuguese descent
    Ukulele players from Hawaii
    Mountain Apple Company artists
    American jazz musician stubs
    Hidden categories: 
    Use mdy dates from January 2020
    Articles with short description
    Short description is different from Wikidata
    Articles with hCards
    Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts
    Commons category link is on Wikidata
    Articles with FAST identifiers
    Articles with ISNI identifiers
    Articles with VIAF identifiers
    Articles with LCCN identifiers
    Articles with MusicBrainz identifiers
    All stub articles
     



    This page was last edited on 30 June 2024, at 09:27 (UTC).

    Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki