Music is important in Hawaii. Many of our monarchs were extremely talented as composers and performers. So, it comes as no surprise that many young people who grew up here made it big as musicians in Hawaii and beyond our shores.
Bette Midler
One of Hawaii’s great musical talents is Bette Midler. She graduated from Radford High School and took off for the Broadway stage.
Midler has since released 14 studio albums and had hit records with “Wind Beneath My Wings,” “The Rose,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “From a Distance.” She’s starred in over a dozen films and won numerous acting awards.
My researcher, Steve Miura, told me about her first concert in the islands at the Blaisdell Concert Hall in September 1973. Her conductor and piano player was Barry Manilow.
“She put on an exciting and energetic performance that earned her a standing ovation and two encores,” Miura said. Tom Moffatt, who was the promoter of the event, said that Bette cut out profanity from her Honolulu shows because one particular person was in attendance: her mother, Ruth.
At the end of the show, Bette told the crowd, “I was really scared backstage. I did not know what you folks would think of me, but you have made me so happy. I am glad that I returned home. Thank you.”
Hawaii calypso folk group
Two members of the Kingston Trio, Dave Guard and Bob Shane, met at Punahou School. “We took the name Kingston Trio because we thought it sounded Ivy League,” Shane said. “None of us had ever been to Kingston, Jamaica.”
In their first year the record industry didn’t know what category they belonged in. “Were we folk, calypso, rhythm and blues or country and western?”
Despite their Punahou roots, no one thought their music was Hawaiian. But what was it?
“When our first album, ‘The Kingston Trio,’ came out, it had some calypso music, a couple of sea shanties, some folk-oriented material, a Broadway show tune and a blues number.
“A couple of disc jockeys in Salt Lake City liked the song ‘Tom Dooley’ and started plugging it real hard. The single sold three million records in two weeks. It was the No. 1 song in the country for several weeks.
“A guy from Capitol Records came to us with a large bonus check and said, ‘Here, you’re folk singers.’ And almost in unison we said, ‘You bet your ass we are.’ It was the biggest check I’d ever seen in my life up to that point,” Shane continued. “So that’s how we became folk singers.”
“Tom Dooley” was the first single to top three charts at the same time: the pop chart, rhythm and blues, and country and western.
The Grammys began in 1959 and wanted to give “Tom Dooley” the award as best folk song. The only problem was, they didn’t have a folk category.
“So, they gave the Kingston Trio the very first Grammy for best country and western performance of the year,” Shane said. “The next year, they added a folk singing category.
“We had a T-shirt made that said, ‘The Hawaiian calypso folk group who saved country music.’”
The Kingston Trio released 14 Top 10 albums. They paved the way for many folk singers who followed them, such as Peter, Paul and Mary; Joan Baez; Judy Collins; and Bob Dylan.
Robin Luke
Another Punahou student who had a hit record was Robin Luke. Originally, the song, “Susie Darlin’,” was called “All Night Long,” and was written at the beach.
“The theme kept running through my mind,” Luke said. “I liked it and decided to try to do something with it. I fiddled around with it and it finally took shape.”
“When we changed the title, I used my sister’s name to keep me out of trouble with any girlfriends,” Luke told Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter Rod Ohira in 1997.
Promoter Kimo Wilder McVay met with Luke in the basement of Punahou’s Dillingham Hall and thought the song had potential. “Susie Darlin’” was recorded in the bedroom of a downtown apartment with the bathroom serving as an echo chamber.
In a 1992 interview, Luke said many takes were necessary “because the tape recorder we used was an Ampex two-track machine. When we overdubbed, we could not go back to the original track.
“Any possible mistake required us to start all over again. Several times, after we put a few tracks down on top of each other, an ambulance with its sirens wailing would go by and ruin it.”
Tom Moffatt and Ron Jacobs at KPOI radio helped make “Susie Darlin’” a hit in Hawaii by playing it two to three times an hour. By chance, a distributor for Dot Records, a mainland record company, was honeymooning in Hawaii and heard the song on the radio.
Dot Records signed the high school senior, and in a few weeks “Susie Darlin’” was No. 5 on the Billboard 100 pop chart.
Luke appeared on Dick Clark’s Saturday night television show, “American Bandstand,” and met fellow musician Buddy Holly.
“Buddy and I were backstage for hours,” Luke said. “It’s hard to explain, but when you’re with someone who has been such an influence in your life and all of a sudden, you’re sitting in a room alone with him and he’s showing you the chord structure to ‘Peggy Sue’ and how he came to play it, it becomes a real special moment.”
Luke went to college and earned a doctorate in business administration. “I didn’t have to find a part-time job to fund my education,” he said. He got a royalty check from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers every three months, “so there’s something to be said about being a songwriter, rather than a mere singer. If you write a song that hits, there are royalties for years to come.”
Luke became a college professor and retired recently. He occasionally performs with other musicians from the 1950s and 1960s.
Luke said the tunes of the “fabulous ’50s” still charm a contemporary audience as well as a new generation of fans.
“You’re talking about a strong beat, a catchy rhythm and simple and sincere lyrics that go to the heart instead of the head. The songs are easy to remember, and if you’re a budding musician, they’re easy to play. What a combination to succeed.”
Larry Ramos
Earlier this year KITV newsman Rick Quan and I were talking about Kauai-born Larry Ramos, who was in the popular singing groups the New Christy Minstrels and the Association.
Ramos (1942-2014) was Filipino, Chinese and Spanish. He grew up on Kauai and was playing ukulele at age 2. In 1950 he entered a territorywide competition at Kapiolani Park to find the best ukulele player in Hawaii. Over 45 people entered the contest led by Arthur Godfrey, who had a TV show based in New York.
Ramos was 8 years old at the time. “This kid has the most tremendous appeal of any child I’ve ever seen,” Godfrey said. “I picked him the moment I saw him.”
A few months later he and two other winners, Mikilani Fo and William Kahau, were on several Godfrey shows. They were also guests at a luncheon at the Hawaiian Room at the Lexington Hotel in New York along with Duke Kahanamoku, Chick Daniels and “Splash” Lyons.
“In 1963 the album ‘Presenting the New Christy Minstrels’ won a Grammy for best performance by a chorus,” said Quan, “making Ramos the first Asian American to win a Grammy award.”
Other noteworthy members of the New Christy Minstrels included Gene Clark, who was later with the Byrds, Kenny Rogers (“The Gambler” and “Islands in the Stream”), Kim Carnes (“Betty Davis Eyes”) and Barry McGuire (“Eve of Destruction”).
Ramos joined the Association in 1965 and sang on several of their hits, including “Never My Love,” “Cherish,” “Along Comes Mary” and “Windy.”
“Ramos was subjected to racial barbs,” his biographer, Guy Aoki, said, “when his groups toured the South. He helped this country get used to someone who wasn’t white nor Black, but Asian with a brown face.
“He paved the way for future stars like Don Ho, Yvonne Elliman and Bruno Mars.”
Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.
