About Patsy

Patsy Monteleone began his career in music at age 3 when he stood up on the bar at a tavern in New York's Little Italy and sang Neapolitan love songs for his paisans. Patrons would throw him nickels and dimes. Once, a miserly elder tossed Patsy a quarter (a lot of money for the old cheapskate), which prompted gasps of amazement among the bar crowd.

Patsy's first instrument after his voice was a toy xylophone, and he would figure out melodies and harmonies while playing along with tunes on the radio. At home, Patsy's dad played classical and opera recordings, his mom listened to the likes of Sinatra and Tony Bennett, and his older sister often played show tune soundtracks and 1950s and 1960s rock/pop. His older cousins were amazing streetwise doo-wop singers in Brooklyn, and Patsy honed his harmonies jamming with these talented relatives. He began playing guitar as a teenager, figuring out chords and songs on a big old plywood dreadnought. He sought out smaller and smaller instruments until he discovered the ukulele and began strumming this littlest guitar relative instead. Patsy has been faithful to the uke ever since.

Patsy plays and sings hundreds of his own arrangements of songs from great 20th Century writers such as Hoagy Carmichael, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, and Duke Ellington. But that's not all: any of Patsy's musical sets is likely to include a mix of cowboy songs, novelties, blues, Tin Pan Alley favorites, '50s pop ballads, show tunes, old-timey, folk, Hawaiian numbers, originals, and early rock & roll. You'll never know what combination of songs Patsy is liable to play next. He particularly goes for obscure tunes that he believes got overlooked in their own time.

Patsy has contributed his vocal and ukulele talents to concerts, festivals, cabarets, nightclubs, saloons, coffee houses, school houses, meeting houses, old-people houses, front porches, charity benefits, company functions, campfires, beach bingos, tiki bars, holiday bashes, boat rides, subway platforms, radio shows, television shows, Internet shows, and public and private affairs of all kinds. His voice is a mixture of Dean Martin, Al Bowlly, and Burl Ives, with a little Nat Cole thrown in for added smoothness. Patsy has been called "The Perfesser" and "The Walking Jukebox," mainly because he knows so many songs. Even he has no idea how many! This makes him great to have at parties (hint, hint). Someone once labeled Patsy the "George Van Eps" of the ukulele, because of his easy-sounding, fluent playing manner. In actuality, Patsy is a self-taught musician who doesn't read music much but who has a natural stage attitude, superb singing voice, and unique ukulele style that delights audiences of all kinds.

As you explore this Web site, you might just find that Patsy's musical talents would be perfect for your next event or musical project. Visit Patsy's Booking page for more info.