Ukulele Performance: Derick Sebastian at TEDxSantaCruz

Derick Sebastian speaks about how his late father figure and mentor, Sam Ellis III helped ACTIVATE Derick's purpose through the Ukulele. He performs one song dedicated to Mr. Ellis, and another medley of familiar tunes.

This TEDxSantaCruz talk is one of 22 surrounding our theme of "Activate" at the third full-day TEDxSantaCruz event held March 8, 2014 at the Hotel Paradox in Santa Cruz, CA.

Through faith and hard work, Maui born local Derick Sebastian continues to live his dream as an accomplished international 'ukulele virtuoso. Derick's critically-acclaimed instrumental album, From His Heart, earned a Na Hoku Hanohano 2010 nomination, has shared the stage with fellow ukulele ace Jake Shimabukuro and opened for R&B sensation Brian McKnight, with notable performances at PIXAR Animation, Grey's Anatomy, and professional sports industry's MLB, PGA, ESPN and EA SPORTS. Derick recently broke into the film industry composing movie theme songs to Germany's Behind The Rainbow and Hollywood's Life's An Itch. While garnering these many accomplishments, Derick is humbled and stays true to himself, and continues his dedication to inspire lives through his music and impact the world through the pure sounds he evokes through the ukulele.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)