The ukulele has been at the absolute centre of my life since I began playing as a child.
In 1990 (and aged 16) I joined the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Back then none of us could have guessed that we were about to embark on a thirty year world tour playing sell-out concerts everywhere we went. Highlights were performing twice at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, London’s Royal Albert Hall and the North Pole (as well as at a private concert for Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle).
I love playing the ukulele, particularly strumming it very fast, and have what I am told is an eccentric singing style which has variously been described as “Worth travelling a thousand miles to hear” by the The Independent, “Mind-bendingly brilliant” by BBC Radio 2 and “Suitably insane-sounding” by The New York Times, which is nice.
I love performing, I love making music with great musicians, and I’m very serious about making sure we don’t take ourselves too seriously. For me, a performance should be joyful, leaving an audience feeling uplifted and part of a gang.
I stopped touring with the Ukulele Orchestra in the early 2020s so I could properly focus on making ukuleles but I’m really looking forward to strumming and crooning on a stage again very soon.
The ukulele has been at the absolute centre of my life since I began playing as a child.
In 1990 (and aged 16) I joined the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Back then none of us could have guessed that we were about to embark on a thirty year world tour playing sell-out concerts everywhere we went. Highlights were performing twice at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, London’s Royal Albert Hall and the North Pole (as well as at a private concert for Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle).
I love playing the ukulele, particularly strumming it very fast, and have what I am told is an eccentric singing style which has variously been described as “Worth travelling a thousand miles to hear” by the The Independent, “Mind-bendingly brilliant” by BBC Radio 2 and “Suitably insane-sounding” by The New York Times, which is nice.
I love performing, I love making music with great musicians, and I’m very serious about making sure we don’t take ourselves too seriously. For me, a performance should be joyful, leaving an audience feeling uplifted and part of a gang.
I stopped touring with the Ukulele Orchestra in the early 2020s so I could properly focus on making ukuleles but I’m really looking forward to strumming and crooning on a stage again very soon.
I write music on my ukulele and occasionally perform concerts as Will Grove-White & The Others. I’ve recorded two solo albums which you can listen to HERE. As well as my ukulele skills, these albums feature other enthusiasms of mine, including the mouth trumpet and nose flute. With my old friend Ali I perform in the imaginatively titled ukulele duo ‘Will & Ali’ – you can watch our videos HERE. Our version of The Prodigy’s Outer Space has become unexpectedly popular in Russia.
I had never planned to be a songwriter but over the years I’ve composed and produced nearly twenty production music albums for Universal and Warner/Chappell which have been featured in shows like Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, Netflix’s Money Heist, Paramount’s Star Trek: Picard and Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. These tunes all feature, and were written on, ukuleles.
I enjoy balancing things on my chin, including ukuleles, as you can see.
I’ve also written a book about the history of the ukulele and how to play it, titled Ukulele For Beginners. So far it’s sold over 30,000 copies. It was great fun to write and I discovered all sorts of crazy things about the ukulele that I’d never known, plus I got to chat to Pete Townshend, Robert Crumb and Joe Brown. Click the button below to find out more about it.
In case you hadn’t noticed, my life has been somewhat dominated by this funny little instrument. Indeed, the four-stringed bonsai guitar has held me in its grip since I first laid eyes on it as a boy. I can only be grateful to my family for putting up with my obsession. As one witty comment said under a YouTube clip of me performing the James Bond Theme on a noseflute and mini ukulele, “The most amazing thing about this video is the wedding ring.”
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