His early career in jazz as a ukulele player made him a key part of the Hawaii music scene in the 1950s.
Responsible for the small goods department, he demonstrated instruments including the ukulele, which was being popularized by Arthur Godfrey at the time.
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 "A Taste of Honey", The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", and the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations".
[1] Other notable recording artists he backed up include Sonny & Cher, the Monkees, Herb Ohta, Dean Martin, and Linda Ronstadt.
In 1999, Jim Beloff, founder of Flea Market Music, put together the annual UKEtopia concert in California.
Among the notable events were Bill Tapia and Ritz trading jazz licks in an impromptu cutting contest.