Bill Tapia Biography

How would you celebrate your 100th birthday? Bill Tapia spent his onstage, at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, California, in front of hundreds of friends. For Tapia, the only way to commemorate the milestone was to do what he’d spent the previous 90 years doing--playing music.

Hawaiian-born Bill Tapia, now 103, is a legendary ukulele player and jazz guitarist. He also happens to be the world’s oldest active musician. Referring to his special day three years ago, he says, “I played music, that’s what I did all my life; I keep busy all the time playing music. And I teach, so what else?”

Now the magic of that performance has been captured for all time with the release of a new CD, Bill Tapia Live at the Warner Grand Theatre – The 100th Birthday Concert. A 14-song postcard that spans the American songbook, from 1924’s “Oh, Lady Be Good!” written by George and Ira Gershwin to “The Nearness of You,” by Hoagy Carmichael and Ned Washington; from “Young at Heart,” first performed by Frank Sinatra, to the country crossover classic “Crazy,” made famous by Patsy Cline. And it’s all vintage Tapia.

That the CD covers 83 years of music, a full decade shorter than the ukulele great’s career, is telling. After all, it is as much the music of Tapia’s career as it is of America.

“I was seven when I started fooling around, didn’t know what I was doing. I actually started playing professionally when I was ten years old, in 1918. I played in World War I, entertaining service personnel,” Tapia recalls. “And then when I was twelve years old, they took me out of school. See, my dad deserted us when I was eight and my folks were hurting a little bit for money. So I was talented, a guy heard me when I was twelve, so they took me out of school and I played in vaudeville when I was twelve and a half. Then, when I was sixteen, a guy heard me from the Moana Hotel, and he hired me.”

“Since then,” he says, “I’ve been playing music, and I’m still playing.”

Like any musician, Tapia has his favorite songs. Ask which songs he most likes to play from that night and the Hawaiian in him proudly comes out: “‘All Of Me’ and some Hawaiian songs because those Hawaiian songs, people love it, like ‘Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii’ and ‘I Want To Learn To Speak Hawaiian.’”

In his answer lies a clue to Tapia’s enduring popularity and success. After 93 years of playing for audiences, he knows how to entertain a crowd, whether telling tales between songs or playing the ukulele behind his head (which he innovated decades before Jimi Hendrix did it with the guitar).

What makes for a great show? For Tapia, it’s the crowd. “I liked playing vaudeville, but not as good as playing with big bands in ballroom dances where you see a lot of people,” he says. “I’ve played professionally 93 years, and I’ve played all walks of life. I know how people live, what they play, what they do. I played bootleg joints plus the tombs, everything, every place where I can make money.”

Tapia knows, perhaps better than anyone, that for all of the technological advances-- from 78s to MP3s--it’s still about getting onstage with your instrument and playing with a band. As he puts it, “It’s almost the same, basically the same. I played in the Warner Grand Theatre with a big band in 1935 and then in 2007.”

In more than nine decades of concerts, he’s had a chance to learn firsthand from some of the biggest names in American music history. “I played with Louis [Armstrong], I played with Charlie Parker, Bing Crosby--they were all big guys,” he says. “I played with Elvis once. I happened to be in Honolulu and I sat in along with Sam Donahue and Vido Musso--he was the greatest.”

Tapia holds vivid impressions of many of the artists he’s known. Of Armstrong he says, “He was great, he was a great man. He had a good style, and that style he played, they still use it today. He was a great guy, nice guy, clean guy to get along with. He was fun.” And of Crosby, whom he played with in 1936, Tapia says, “He was a very particular guy, very particular and smooth. I enjoyed playing with him.” As a diehard musician with a love for jazz, Tapia wasn’t crazy about rock ‘n’ roll, as indicated by his comments on playing with Elvis, “To tell you the truth, I didn’t like that style because it was too easy, that rock music.” However, he quickly adds, “But I enjoy the different styles.”

That he’s been able to play in all of those styles--from the jazz of Armstrong and Parker to the crooning of Crosby, the rock of Elvis, and his native Hawaiian music— speaks volumes of Tapia’s versatility and longevity. Bottom line: If you’re gonna make it in music for 93 years, you’d better be able to adapt.

“A lot of guys, they play and they keep the same style that they learned to play,” he says. “I change every type of style I change into something that’s very hard to do. The styles change, and I go with it. I play the jazz style. I play the style that’s going on now, like Joe Pass, Herb Ellis.”

Tapia has his own theories on the keys to his long life, from quitting smoking at age 87 after 76 years to having never been a drinker or smoking dope, as he calls it. He also credits staying busy, citing a recent trip he took to Japan where he played nine shows in nine days. But what really keeps him going might be the fact that there’s always more to learn. “Music, to me, is just like a language; you never know enough, you just keep learning. Somebody else comes along with something different and then you pick it up. If I hear a new lick and I pick it up, that makes me feel good.

- Steve Baltin, 2011