Everything about Don Ho totally explained
Don Ho, born
Donald Tai Loy Ho (in
Chinese characters, 何大來, Hé Dàlái), (
August 13 1930 –
April 14 2007) was a
Hawaiian
musician and entertainer.
Life and career
Ho, of mixed
Chinese,
Hawaiian,
Portuguese,
Dutch, and
German descent, was born in the small
Honolulu neighborhood of
Kakaako, but he grew up in
Kāneohe on the
windward side of the island of
Oahu. He was a graduate of the
Kamehameha Schools in 1949 and he attended
Springfield College in 1950, but returned home to earn a
bachelor's degree in
sociology at
University of Hawai'i in 1953. In 1954 Ho entered the
United States Air Force and spent time flying fighter jets in both
Texas and Hawaii.
Ho left the
United States Air Force in 1959 due to his mother's illness and began singing at his mother's club, Honey's. In
1963, he moved from Kāneohe to
Waikīkī in Honolulu and played at a night club called
Duke's owned by
Duke Kahanamoku, where he caught the attention of record company officials.
Ho was originally signed to
Reprise Records. Ho released his debut album,
Don Ho Show, in
1965 and began to play high profile locations in
Las Vegas,
Lake Tahoe, and
New York City. In
1966 he released his second album, a live compilation called
Don Ho — Again!, which charted in the early part of that year. In the fall of 1966, Ho released his most famous song,
Tiny Bubbles, which charted on both the
pop (#8 Billboard) and
easy listening charts and caused the subsequent
Tiny Bubbles LP to remain in the album Top 20 for almost a year. Another song familiar to Don was "
Pearly Shells". Guest appearances on television shows such as
I Dream of Jeannie,
The Brady Bunch,
Sanford and Son,
Charlie's Angels, and
Fantasy Island soon followed. Although his album sales peaked in the late 1960s, he was able to land a television spot on
ABC from October
1976 to March
1977 with the
Don Ho Show variety program which aired on weekday mornings (which by coincidence, replaced
Hot Seat and got replaced by
Second Chance, both game shows were hosted by
Jim Peck).
Later life
Ho had ten children. His daughter,
Hōkū, performed with her father in his Waikīkī show and in 2000 went on to become a nationally known recording artist in her own right. In 2005 he sang a song that was used as the opening theme to the direct-to-video and DVD movie
Aloha, Scooby-Doo!.
Ho was diagnosed with
cardiomyopathy in 2005 and had a pacemaker installed. He contacted
Theravitae
, a
biotechnology company specializing in treating heart conditions with adult
stem cells working in conjunction with Dr.
Amit Patel, a
cardiac surgeon and pioneer of the use of adult stem cells for
heart disease. On
December 6 2005, Ho had his own blood-derived stem cells injected into his heart by Patel with his surgeons in
Thailand. The treatment went without incident. Later in the month, Ho said, "I'm feeling much better and I'm so happy I came up here to do it."
In September 2006, Ho married Haumea Hebenstreit, who produced his show at the Waikīkī Beachcomber. Although he'd a new pacemaker installed on
September 16,
2006, Ho died in Waikīkī from
heart failure on
April 14,
2007.
Legacy
A
cover version of "Tiny Bubbles" became the signature tune of the
Scottish soft
country and western singer
Sydney Devine.
California
punk rock band
NOFX released a 12" single entitled "
HOFX". The cover had a picture of the band with Don Ho in Hawaii.
A Missouri chapter of
Alpha Kappa Lambda, in the past, held a bi-annual music festival commemorating the Hawaiian singer. The members affectionately refer to the festival as “Don Ho” in April and “Don Ho in the Snow” in December.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Don Ho'.
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