Cliff Edwards

Clifton Avon Edwards known as Ukulele Ike was an American singer and voice actor who enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standards and novelty tunes. He had a numberone hit with Singin In The Rain in 1929. He also did voices for animated cartoons later in his career, and is best known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disneys Pinocchio .

Edwards was born in Hannibal, Missouri. He left school at ageand soon moved to St. Louis, Missouri and Saint Charles, Missouri, where he entertained as a singer in saloons. As many places had pianos in bad shape or none at all, Edwards taught himself to play ukulele to serve as his own accompanist . He was nicknamed Ukulele Ike by a club owner who could never remember his name. He got his first break in 1918 at the Arsonia Cafe in Chicago, Illinois, where he performed a song called JaDa, written by the clubs pianist, Bob Carleton. Edwards and Carleton made it a hit on the vaudeville circuit. Vaudeville headliner Joe Frisco hired Edwards as part of his act, which was featured at the Palace in New York City, the most prestigious vaudeville theater, and later in the Ziegfeld Follies.

Source: Wikipedia