May Singhi Breen
| May Singhi Breen | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Ukulele Lady |
| Born | February 24, 1891 New York City |
| Died | December 19, 1970 Jersey Shore Medical Center, Neptune, New Jersey |
| Genres | Jazz, blues, rock, Hawaiian |
| Instruments | Ukulele |
| Labels | Victor Records |
| Associated acts | The Syncopators, Sweethearts of the Air |
May Singhi Breen (née May W. Singhi; February 24, 1891, New York City – 19 December 1970, New York City) was an American composer, arranger, and ukulelist, who became known as "The Original Ukulele Lady." Her work in the music publishing business spanned several decades. Breen was the driving force in getting the ukulele accepted as a musical instrument by the American Federation of Musicians. In 2000, she became the first woman inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame.
Breen was given an inexpensive ukulele as a Christmas present. Being unable to exchange it, she took lessons and learned to play it. Before long she and some of her friends formed The Syncopators and played radio stations in the New York area. In 1923 Breen met Peter DeRose and left the Syncopators. Together the two were the "Sweethearts of the Air", a radio show that ran for 16 years from 1923-1939, on NBC affiliate WJZ in New York where Breen played ukulele and DeRose accompanying her on the piano.
Like so many of the performers during the era, Breen was a big fan of the instruments created by the C.F. Martin & Company and used a variety of their products, including a couple of custom inlaid models. Like all of the other performers who had tried, Breen was unsuccessful in obtaining an endorsement deal with Martin. Unlike the others, she didn't go looking for another endorsement deal, she liked her Martin instruments too much.
Breen is credited with convincing publishers to include ukulele chords on their sheet music. The Tin Pan Alley publishers hired her to arrange the chords and her name can be found on hundreds of examples of music from the 1920s on. Her name appears as a music arranger on more pieces than any other individual. Her earliest known credit for a ukulele arrangement was in 1917 but her arrangements began to appear in large numbers in 1923.
Breen issued the first recorded ukulele lesson, a 78 rpm record entitled Ukulele Lesson that came with the Peter Pan Uke Method book, that gave a 6-minute ukulele tutorial on the Victor Label. Building on the popularity of the instrument as promoted by Arthur Godfrey Breen published the New Ukulele Method in 1950.
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