Done Ho

[whomper]

'Tiny Bubbles' Crooner Don Ho Dies

By JAYMES SONG

AP

HONOLULU (April 14) -- Legendary crooner Don Ho, who entertained tourists for decades wearing raspberry-tinted sunglasses and singing the catchy signature tune "Tiny Bubbles," has died. He was 76.

 

 

 

 

Ho had suffered with heart problems for the past several years, and had a pacemaker installed last fall. In 2005, he underwent an experimental stem cell procedure on his ailing heart in Thailand.

 

Ho entertained Hollywood's biggest stars and thousands of tourists for four decades. For many, no trip to Hawaii was complete without seeing his Waikiki show -- a mix of songs, jokes, double entendres, Hawaii history and audience participation.

 

Shows usually started and ended with the same song, "Tiny Bubbles." Ho mostly hummed the song's swaying melody as the audience enthusiastically took over the familiar lyrics: "Tiny bubbles/in the wine/make me happy/make me feel fine."

 

"I hate that song," he often joked to the crowd. He said he performed it twice because "people my age can't remember if we did it or not."

 

The son of bar owners, Ho broke into the Waikiki entertainment scene in the early 1960s and, except for short periods, never left. Few artists are more associated with one place.

 

"Hawaii is my partner," Ho told The Associated Press in 2004.

 

Donald Tai Loy Ho, who was Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and German, was born Aug. 13, 1930, in Honolulu and grew up in the then-rural countryside of Kaneohe.

 

In high school, he was a star football player and worked for a brief time in a pineapple cannery. After graduating in 1949, he attended Springfield College in Massachusetts on an athletic scholarship. He grew homesick, returned to the islands and ended up graduating from the University of Hawaii in 1953 with a degree in sociology.

 

Inspired by the U.S. military planes flying in and out of Hawaii during World War II, Ho joined the Air Force. As the Korean War wound down, he piloted transport planes between Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu and Tokyo.

 

When he returned home and took over his parents' struggling neighborhood bar, Honey's, he put together a band and started performing at his father's request.

 

"I had no intention of being an entertainer," Ho said. "I just played songs I liked from the radio, and pretty soon that place was jammed. Every weekend there would be lines down the street."

 

Honey's became a happening place on Oahu, with other Hawaiian musicians stopping in for jam sessions. Ho began to play at various spots at Hawaii, and soon, he was packing places such as the Coconut Grove in Hollywood and the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.

 

Stars such as Lucille Ball, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra were known to be in the audience for Ho's shows.

 

Ho also became a television star, and hosted the "The Don Ho Show" on ABC from 1976-77. One of Ho's most memorable TV appearances was a 1972 cameo on an episode of "The Brady Bunch."

 

"I've had too much fun all these years," he said in the 2004 interview. "I feel real guilty about it."

 

Besides "Tiny Bubbles," his other well-known songs include "I'll Remember You," "With All My Love," and the "Hawaiian Wedding Song."

 

In the final years of his life, Ho's heart problems couldn't keep him away from the stage. He was back performing at the Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel on a limited schedule less than two months after his heart procedure in Thailand. His final performance was Thursday, Jung said.

[spain]

Was he a nappy headed ho?

[Chavez]

Was he a nappy headed ho?

 

Not at all, he was quite well-coiffed.

[Chargerz]

I was surprised he was only 76 years old. I saw him perform about 15 years ago, and he seemed really old then. He was definitely a Waikiki icon.

 

R.I.P. Don Ho.

[Puddy]

 

 

 

I thought I saw him at a Burger King in Kalamazoo.

[satelliteoflovegm]

Ever since Greg wore that damn tabu idol I have been worried for Don Ho. Now my worst fears are realized.

[darin3]

I was surprised he was only 76 years old. I saw him perform about 15 years ago, and he seemed really old then. He was definitely a Waikiki icon.

 

R.I.P. Don Ho.

 

Thought about him when we were in Maui.

[nuke'em ttg]

the folks Don Ho albumn was always on top of the stack of albumns on the stereo....... Great tune

[frenzal rhomb]

One of my fave bands withthe late great one

 

http://home.online.no/~espenas/nofx/images/hofx.jpg

[Chief Dick]

I nominate the thread title as "Most Clever Thread Title Ever."

[gilthorp]

Guess what type of shirt I'll be wearing today in his memory?

[whomper]

Guess what type of shirt I'll be wearing today in his memory?

 

 

 

[Chavez]

Guess what type of shirt I'll be wearing today in his memory?

 

I wasn't aware your wardrobe had anything BUT Hawaiian shirts.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I was surprised he was only 76 years old. I saw him perform about 15 years ago, and he seemed really old then. He was definitely a Waikiki icon.

 

R.I.P. Don Ho.

 

 

I used to go to Honolulu once a year for business and stayed at the Waikiki Beachcomber where he performed a couple of night a week. It would always be sold out. I brought one of my employees with me one year and she insisted on going to the show-about 15 years ago. Ended up Don Ho got sick and his nephew performed. His nephew was quite funny-don't remember his name.

 

The Waikiki Beachcomber is a great place to stay. Big rooms and right across the street from the beach, next door to the International Market, and across from the mall, and right in the middle of the strip, so easy walking to everything. I couldn't find better rates unless I went 4-5 blocks off the beach with much smaller rooms. They seem to cater to the Japanese. I would pretty much be the only caucasian in the place unless their was an airline crew staying there.

[darin3]

I wasn't aware your wardrobe had anything BUT Hawaiian shirts.

 

Aloha shirts.