Ukelilli was born in a small town in rural Maryland (birthname Lillian Parker). As she had nothing to entertain her growing up (her two older sisters were ten years older and were already married off by the time she was 6), she nurtured the notion that she could be a star.
She played every instrument you can think of, from the harmonica to the kazoo, and on her life's savings, at the age of 22, moved to New York City to try to make it big.
She was sad to find that other people had already thought of this.
She tried playing on street corners, but found that her concept -- "great pop hits on the pitchpipe" -- was not nearly as profitable as she expected. One day, while roaming the streets of Greenwich village, she saw in the window of an old music shop that which appeared to her to be a "mini-guitar." When she went in and tried to play it, she found that it was not as easy as the pitchpipe, but allowed her to sing while she played!
And thus begun a whole new chapter in the life of Ukelilli (for example, changing her name to Ukelilli). She moved her shows to the subways and started making the big bucks playing for fans who found her adorable.
One fan even successfully solicited her music for use as the soundtrack to the "Intern Journal" extra on THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU dvd.
Now she lives in LA and writes a lot of songs, because it is such a den of evil.
She played every instrument you can think of, from the harmonica to the kazoo, and on her life's savings, at the age of 22, moved to New York City to try to make it big.
She was sad to find that other people had already thought of this.
She tried playing on street corners, but found that her concept -- "great pop hits on the pitchpipe" -- was not nearly as profitable as she expected. One day, while roaming the streets of Greenwich village, she saw in the window of an old music shop that which appeared to her to be a "mini-guitar." When she went in and tried to play it, she found that it was not as easy as the pitchpipe, but allowed her to sing while she played!
And thus begun a whole new chapter in the life of Ukelilli (for example, changing her name to Ukelilli). She moved her shows to the subways and started making the big bucks playing for fans who found her adorable.
One fan even successfully solicited her music for use as the soundtrack to the "Intern Journal" extra on THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU dvd.
Now she lives in LA and writes a lot of songs, because it is such a den of evil.