Lyle Ritz
| Lyle Ritz | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 10, 1930 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, blues, rock, Hawaiian |
| Instruments | Ukulele, double bass, bass guitar |
| Years active | 1957–present |
| Labels | Verve Records |
| Associated acts | The Wrecking Crew, Herb Alpert, Beach Boys, Herb Ohta |
Lyle Ritz (born January 10, 1930, Cleveland, Ohio) is an American jazz ukulele musician who was a key part of the Hawaii ukulele genre. As part of the Wrecking Crew, Ritz contributed to many American pop hits from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. He was inducted to the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum in 2007 and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007.
Lyle Ritz began his music career as a college student working at the Southern California Music Company in Los Angeles, CA. Responsible for the small goods department, he demonstrated instruments including the ukulele, which was being popularized by Arthur Godfrey at the time. He purchased a Gibson tenor ukulele for his own use. Drafted into the US Army during the Korean War, Ritz played tuba in the United States Army Band. Stationed at Fort Ord, Ritz learned to play the acoustic bass. While on leave, Ritz visited the Music Company and played a few tunes on the ukulele at the urging of his colleagues. Unbeknownst to him, Guitarist Barney Kessel, a talent scout for Verve Records, was standing there.
After hearing Ritz play, Kessel approached him and made the connection that resulted in his first commercial records.
Verve released Ritz's first ukulele record, How About Uke?, in 1957. 50th State Jazz was released in 1959. Both records became very popular in Hawaii and started a wave of new ukulele players. However, the records had only limited popularity on the mainland.
To support himself, Ritz abandoned the ukulele and became a session musician on the bass guitar. He joined the Wrecking Crew, a popular group of studio musicians in the Los Angeles recording industry. Ritz compiled over 5,000 credits including such notable tracks as Herb Alpert's "Taste of Honey", The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", and the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". Other notable recording artists he backed up include Sonny & Cher, The Monkees, Herb Ohta, Dean Martin, and Linda Ronstadt. He also played bass on television soundtracks including The Rockford Files, Name That Tune, and Kojak.
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