Hawaiian musical legend, Don Ho, was born on this day in 1930. He is best known for his signature song, Tiny Bubbles, written by Leon Pober in 1966. The song was originally written for Lawrence Welk who turned it down. Ho recorded it and it spent a bit of time on the 1967 pop charts: #54 on the Billboard Pop roster and #14 on the Easy Listening charts. After it became a hit, other artists covered it—and even Lawrence Welk performed it on his television show several times.
Don Ho was born in Honolulu (as I was), though his family moved to Kaneohe—on the Windward side of the island of Oahu (as my family did). After a period of service in the US Air Force, Ho returned to Hawaii to help run his elderly mother's bar and music venue called Honey's. As I boy, I remember frequently passing this old-time hometown landmark.
It was in California in the Fifties, while stationed at Travis Air Force Base, that Don Ho purchased an electronic keyboard and taught himself to sing and play. After Tiny Bubbles became a hit—and his signature tune—Don Ho performed frequently in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and New York City. Even when performing at home in Hawaii—either at Honey's or in Waikiki—Don Ho always honored military veterans and servicemen at his show, asking them to stand for a round of applause. His patter was laced with "war stories," often involving the tense situations he faced as a dark-skinned Hawaiian man stationed for flight training in Mississippi.
The 1980's saw a renaissance of more culturally-traditional Hawaiian music—which could have been the death knell for Don Ho's style of light, kitschy "commercial" style Hawaiian pop music. But his celebrity on the Mainland—and the booming tourist industry in Hawaii—ensured that Don Ho was able to fill his shows with appreciative visiting audiences.
Don Ho died in 2007, at the age of 76, of cardiac arrest in his Waikiki apartment. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.
The set of eight crystal cocktail (or champagne) glasses, shown above, would add the final flourish to your next bubbly cocktail party. Of course, Tiny Bubbles would be playing in the background. Click on the photo above to learn more about them.
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