He was born in
Vava'u. As a teenager he was a member of a band whose lead guitarist was the nephew of Charlie Sanft a well known Tongan steel guitar player and teacher. At that time he was playing ukulele and rhythm guitar. He started playing the steel guitar at 19 years old. At age 23, Wolfgramm immigrated to New Zealand. His first recording was Fijian Holiday and released as
Mavis Rivers with Bill Wolfgramm and His Rhythm on the Tanza label. A big draw card on the live music scene, he was also a major recording star in New Zealand during the 1950s. During the 1950s when the transition from 78 rpm records to 33 rpm records was taking place, Bill Wolfgramm & His Islanders recorded
South Sea Rhythm at Auckland's Astor Recording Studios. This album took four months to record and it featured
Daphne Walker. It has the distinction of being one of the first long-playing 33 rpm records to be pressed in New Zealand. There is a belief by some that this album may have been the first. He carried on recording up to the 1970s, and active up until the early 1990s. He died twelve days before his 78th birthday. ==Viking records==