During his teenage years James honed his skills as a key member of the renowned Langley Ukulele Ensemble and as a student at the Langley Community Music School. He continued his study of music at the University of British Columbia where he earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in 2003. In a full-circle plot twist, James – also a passionate teacher – went on to co-author the Ukulele in the Classroom method book series with J. Chalmers Doane, the trail-blazing teacher who pioneered the use of ukuleles in Canadian schools. In 2010, James and his father Barry, a retired school teacher, launched the JHUI Teacher Certification Program, the first of its kind in the world. His most ambitious educational offering to date is The Ukulele Way, a ground-breaking learning method that combines print, video, audio and its own social media platform.

James Hill has come a long way from that fateful day in fouth-grade music class. A seasoned performer with a fan base in North America, Asia and Europe, he has garnered wide acclaim for his ground-breaking approach to a chronically-underestimated instrument. Over the course of his first three genre-defying albums – Playing it like it isn’t... (2002), On the Other Hand (2003) and A Flying Leap (2006) – he re-wrote every rule that had previously kept the ukulele in the realm of novelty and obscurity. Then came the Canadian-Folk-Music-Award-winning True Love Don’t Weep (2009), his collaboration with cellist/singer Anne Janelle Davison, an album that pushed the budding singer/songwriter into new territory, topped folk radio charts in North America and opened doors to festival stages across the continent.

<div class="blockquote"> "Honestly, this is the freshest most exciting playing that I've heard since Troy Fernandez." - Derek Shimizu, GString Ukulele Co </div>

<div class="blockquote"> "I remember the first time I heard Jimi Hendrix… He did things with an electric guitar that I hadn't imagined, hadn't thought possible. James Hill does that with the ukulele." - ** David Kidney**, The Green Man Review </div>

James Hill Ukulele Initiative (JHUI)

<img class="float-left" style="width: 120px; heigth: 43px;" src="/images/logos/J/logo-JamesHillUkuleleInitiative.png" alt="" />The purpose of the James Hill Ukulele Initiative (JHUI) is to promote and celebrate the ukulele. The JHUI facilitates the teaching and enjoyment of music through educational outreach activities and continuing education programs. The JHUI advocates the use of the ukulele as a platform for music literacy and supports the growth and creation of new ukulele repertoire and approaches to performance.