[Vision2020] Hawaiian Icon Don Ho, 76, Dies

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (April 15, 2007) Spokesman Review -

"Tiny Bubbles" by Don Ho
http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/Tiny_Bubbles.mp3

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Hawaiian icon Don Ho, 76, dies 
Charismatic crooner best known for 1966 hit 'Tiny Bubbles'

Dennis Mclellan 
Los Angeles Times
April 15, 2007

Don Ho, the iconic Hawaiian entertainer whose signature song, "Tiny
Bubbles," and laid-back, aloha style made him as much an island tourist
attraction as Diamond Head and hula dancers for more than four decades, died
Saturday. He was 76. Ho, who had suffered from heart problems for several
years and had a pacemaker implanted in 2005, died of heart failure.

During the peak of his career in the late 1960s and '70s, the casual but
charismatic Ho showed up regularly on television talk and variety shows. He
also hosted his own short-lived daily comedy-variety show on ABC from
Honolulu in the mid '70s and made cameo appearances on "Batman," "The Brady
Bunch" and other TV series.

Originally signed to Reprise Records, Ho scored his biggest recording
success in 1966 with "Tiny Bubbles." His act, which traditionally opened and
closed with that song, also included audience favorites such as "Pearly
Shells," "Ain't No Big Thing," "I'll Remember You," "With All My Love" and
"Hawaiian Wedding Song."

But while his fame burned most brightly for a decade or so, Ho never went
away.

The "undisputed king of Waikiki entertainers," as the Honolulu Advertiser
has called him, continued to tour when he wasn't performing at his longtime
home base, the showroom of the Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel.
 
"Singing is what keeps me young," Ho, then 70, told the Los Angeles Times in
2001, not long after the trendy magazine Maxim recognized him as one of the
"50 Coolest Guys Ever."

A Hawaiian entertainment fixture since the early 1960s, Ho launched his
career singing and playing an electric Hammond chord organ at his parents'
cocktail lounge in Kaneohe, a small town on the island of Oahu.

But it wasn't until he was invited to headline at Duke Kahanamoku's 700-seat
Waikiki nightclub in 1962 that Ho began his rise to international fame.

It was at Duke's that he perfected his laid-back performing style, often
entertaining bare-chested with a lei around his neck, bare-footed and
wearing tight jeans.

Backed by his five-piece combo, the Aliis, Ho would sit at his Hammond organ
and sing in a mellow and seductive baritone. His show was lighthearted and
fun, periodically punctuated by Ho holding up a glass of scotch and
encouraging the mai-tai-swilling crowd of tourists to "Suck 'em up!"

The audience was always part of his act. Ho would take requests from
honeymooners, joking that they would be given priority because he knew they
wanted to leave early and return to their hotel rooms. He'd ask birthday and
anniversary celebrants to stand up and be acknowledged. And he'd invite
sometimes-reluctant audience members on stage so he could joke with them.

With Ho packing them in for three shows a night - no cover and no minimum
for the midnight show - Duke's became the hottest nightspot in Waikiki.

Born in Honolulu on Aug. 13, 1930, Ho was one of nine children with a mixed
ethnic heritage that included Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and
German.

A high school football star, he attended Springfield College in
Massachusetts but was homesick for Hawaii and returned home after a year. He
earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Hawaii in
1954, then joined the Air Force and graduated from flight school as a
fighter pilot. A crash landing at one point had an unexpected impact.

"I was a shy kid, quiet, well-behaved," he once told the Honolulu
Star-Bulletin. "The crash made me realize that life was to be enjoyed."

After leaving the Air Force in 1959, Ho returned to Hawaii to run his
parents' cocktail lounge, Honey's. A popular hangout for sailors during
World War II, Honey's had seen better days. To help boost business, Ho later
recalled, his father suggested to him, "Son, why don't you go make music."

Ho, who had begun playing the Hammond organ for fun while in the Air Force,
formed a small band and installed his organ under the bar. It did the trick.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.

- Author Unknown
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