And today is her birthday too!!! Happy Birthday May!!!!
This, from my FB:
Born February 24, 1895, May Singhi Breen is known as The Ukulele Lady, but she is rightfully the First Lady of Ukulele. In 1922 (she would have been 27) she was given an ‘ukulele for Christmas. The store would not take it back as a return so she decided to take lessons. From that humble beginning she went on to be the one credited for getting Tin-Pan Alley publishers to include ukulele arrangements on their sheet music- and her name is on many. She got the American Federation of Musicians (musician union) to include the ukulele as a real musical instrument, and she authored several ukulele song books. She preferred playing Martin ukuleles and had a couple custom built ones. She passed away December 19, 1970.
Here you can hear probably the first recorded ukulele lesson. The voice is that of singer Vaughn De Leath, but the uke is played by May Singhi Breen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfVQ2uXiiSI