Don Ho

Don Ho harnessed his skills as a middle-of-the-road pop vocalist and Hawaii’s musical emissary to build a stateside trajectory that encompassed six charting albums, frequent television spots, and bookings at major rooms beginning in the mid-1960s. Born in Honolulu’s Kakaako district on Oahu, he spent his childhood in Kaneohe on the same island. Following Air Force service, he assumed management of the Kaneohe lounge Honey’s, named for his mother, and formed the band eventually known as the Aliis, serving as its singer and organist. In 1962 he relocated to Waikiki and performed at Duke’s, where mainland industry figures first took notice. Reprise Records signed him, issuing the debut album Don Ho Show in 1965. The following year he opened at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles and soon played the Sands in Las Vegas, Harrah’s at Lake Tahoe, the Palmer House in Chicago, and the Royal Box at the Americana Hotel in New York while also guesting on network talk programs. His second album, the live set Don Ho -- Again!, entered the charts in March 1966, yet “Tiny Bubbles,” released that autumn, proved decisive: the single registered on both the pop and easy-listening lists, driving the Tiny Bubbles LP into the Top 20, where it remained nearly twelve months.

He sustained television momentum with self-portrayals on Batman and I Dream of Jeannie. The subsequent live album East Coast/West Coast charted modestly, and later releases fared less well until the live disc Suck ’em Up—its title drawn from his onstage call for enthusiastic drinking—became his fourth charting LP in spring 1969. That summer he co-hosted Kraft Music Hall with Sandler & Young, boosting visibility for Don Ho -- Greatest Hits! and The Don Ho TV Show on the charts.

Although sales tapered after the late 1960s, Ho maintained a busy performance schedule and appeared on The Brady Bunch, Charlie’s Angels, and The Fall Guy. From October 1976 through March 1977 he hosted the half-hour ABC daytime variety program The Don Ho Show. In the 1990s he founded Honey Records to issue his own work and recordings by other island artists. Occasional television work continued, including a brief role in the 1996 film Joe’s Apartment, while he maintained a standing engagement at his own Hawaiian venue. The seventh of his ten children, Hoku, debuted on the charts in 2000 with “Another Dumb Blonde,” featured in the movie Snow Day; the single reached the Top 40, followed by her debut album, Hoku.