Hawaiian Music Artists (was "Any Hawaiian Music Artists can make it on
MadChinaman
How would one rate this artists? Listed below are my thoughts based on
my very limited knowledge. Are there any articles on the mainland
success of Hawaiian artists. Does anyone have any additional info on
the below-listed artists?
R A N K I N G
1. Bette Midler - had several chart records over the years to make the
Billboard Hot 100 charts including the remakes of "Boogie Woogie Bugle
Boy of Company B," "Do You Wanna Dance" (her first hit), and "When a Man
Loves A Woman". Her two biggest chart hits include "The Rose" which went
to #3 on the Hot 100 and "Wind Beneath My Wings" which I think went to
#1.
2. Don Ho - probably Hawaii's most well known singer he did chart the
lower ends of the Hot 100 with "Tiny Bubbles" on Reprise records.
3. Seawind - great jazz group
4. Michael Paulo - jazz saxophone player
5. Glenn Medeiros - had a couple of hits on the Billboard Hot 100
including his first record "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love" which was
released on Amherst records and made it to #12 I believe. In 1989 he had
a Billboard #1 pop hit with Bobby Brown (a duet)... the title escapes me
right now....
6. Society of Seven - Was once signed to Uni Records and had a few
singles released there including "We Can Make It Girl," "Howzit Brah,"
and "Frisco Bay" all from late 1970 early 1971. They also made an
appearance on the Ed Sullivan show in the mid 1960s.
7. Hoku Ho - still don't know, though her next c.d. is due out soon.
"Another Dumb Blonde" was a top 40 hit last year (2000).
8. Arthur Lyman went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Yellow Bird"
in 1961
9. Shnazz - was signed in 1980 on Shadow Records.
10. Hat Makes The Man - popular 1980's band
11. Poi Dog Pondering - folk-alternative rock on Columbia records.
12. Liz Damon & the Orient Express went to #38 with "1900 Yesterday" in
1970.
13. Na Leo's version of "Poetry Man" made Billboard's Adult Contemporary
charts in 1999.
14. Martin Denny
15. Augie Colon
16. Na Leo Pilimehana
17. Apaka
18. Israel Kanakawiwo'ole - in the 1970s, he recorded with Ry Cooder
19. Keola Beamer (http://kbeamer.com)
20. Keali'i Reichel (http://kealiireichel.com)
21. Gabby Pahinui
22. John Rowles "Cheryl Moana Marie" was a huge island favorite in 1970,
but I don't think it made a dent on the charts. He recorded for Kapp
Records which was part of MCA for several years.
23. Herb Ohta's moderate hit with "Song For Anna" on A&M records in the
mid 1970s.
24. Diamond Head - had a hit named "If That's The Way That You Want It"?
They were on ABC records for that one single, circa 1973.
25. Sweet Marie - rock band had moderate hits with the likes of
"Remember Mary", "Stuck in Paradise" and "Stella's Candy Store" from
1970 to 1972. They recorded on Yardbird Records.
Question: Does anyone have any info on the "Jawaiian Reggae" phenomenon
in Hawaii - any other groups like Ho 'Aikana have achieved any success
beyond the islands
Marty
Hi jql:
To try and compare any of the artists listed below is comparing apples to aircraft carriers. One can
only measure musical popularity in two ways: record sales and concert attendance. If an artist has
good mainland distribution and a good publicist to go with their record release tour, they will
achieve success.
I can tell you that there have been plenty of articles about the success of Hawaiian music, not
only on the mainland, but worldwide as well. Billboard, for example, has featured Hawaiian music in
several of their cover stories throughout the past couple of years.
Performing Arts presenters nationwide have been adding Hawaiian music performances to their annual
music series. There is, for example, a slack key festival tour (different artists each year), that
does about 20-30 dates each late Winter, mostly in theatres. And while the core audience for most of
the mainland success is still predominantly island transplants, the number of newcomers is
increasing quite rapidly.
Speaking regionally, the West Coast is still quite a strong market for Hawaiian music, though there
are other markets, such as Boston, Chicago, New York, the greater Washington, DC area, etc. that are
also quite strong.
There are some great things happening for many of the artists listed below, and also great things
happening for artists left off of your list. You might ask the same question at alt.music.hawaiian
or surf to some of the more popular web pages that have calendar listings (such as www.mele.com) to
see what is currently happening.
---M
mel
j...@earthlink.net had quoted some pieces of posts to this subject
regarding artists like Sweet Marie, Don Ho, Liz Damon, etc.... however
after listing several artists and their chart success on Billboard and
reading about a few others, I realized that I forgot Yvonne Elliman, who
used to once live in Hawaii but I think now lives in California. She broke
into the national music scene with her hit of "I Don't Know How To Love
Him" which was part of the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack to the stage
show. This was in 1971. She was later back-up singer for guitar legend
Eric Clapton and eventually recorded several hits on her own for Robert
Stigwood's RSO records: "Love Me," and "Hello Stranger" comes to mind,
both top 20 hits, and of course her unforgettable #1 hit penned by the Bee
Gees and featured on the hugely successful Saturday Night Fever soundtrack
album, "If I Can't Have You." She followed up this with a few more hits
for RSO.
TikiRoom18
>>22. John Rowles "Cheryl Moana Marie" was a huge island favorite in 1970,
>>but I don't think it made a dent on the charts. He recorded for Kapp
Was he from Hawaii? I always thought he was from New Zealand.... I seem to
recall he had a followup hit to "Cheryl..." named "Maria Chiquita" (or
something similar....)
TikiRoom18
I see some jazz artists on "the list".. did Gabe Balthazar have success on the
mainland or was he more a local jazz scene person?
Genesis
Question re: #1 Bette Midler. Just curious, why would you consider
her a Hawaiian artist? True, she did live here for awhile and
attended Radford H.S. but that seems a weak criteria.
Re #7 Hoku Ho. Read somewhere (maybe Wayne Harada's column) one of
her songs to be featured in the movie Legally Blonde. Will be aired
on MTV soon.
Re #18 Bruddah Iz. His rendition of Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful
World made it big with an AOL tv commercial as well as in the movie
Finding Forrester.
On 1 Jul 2001 10:05:01 GMT, MadChinaman <j...@earthlink.net> wrote:
Art
Genesis wrote:
> Re #18 Bruddah Iz. His rendition of Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful
> World made it big with an AOL tv commercial as well as in the movie
> Finding Forrester.
Not to mention...
- the USA movie "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes,"
- the movie "Meet Joe Black,"
- the E-Toys TV commercials,
- and the TV series "Party of Five."
mel
In article <994120...@mochi.lava.net>, Genesis <NoR...@All.com> wrote:
> Question re: #1 Bette Midler. Just curious, why would you consider
> her a Hawaiian artist? True, she did live here for awhile and
> attended Radford H.S. but that seems a weak criteria.
She was often referred to (and still is) as being a former Hawaii
residents. Was mentioned a lot whenever one of her records would be
played on radio.
> Re #7 Hoku Ho. Read somewhere (maybe Wayne Harada's column) one of
> her songs to be featured in the movie Legally Blonde. Will be aired
> on MTV soon.
Yes, she has a new single coming out. Read that it is a hot add to several
mainland radio stations.
> Re #18 Bruddah Iz. His rendition of Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful
> World made it big with an AOL tv commercial as well as in the movie
> Finding Forrester.
Song was also used for the EToys website commercial (firm has since gone
bankrupt I believe)....
mel
In article <994091...@mochi.lava.net>, tikir...@aol.comhygtdfrd
(TikiRoom18) wrote:
> >>22. John Rowles "Cheryl Moana Marie" was a huge island favorite
> Was he from Hawaii? I always thought he was from New Zealand.... I seem to
> recall he had a followup hit to "Cheryl..." named "Maria Chiquita" (or
> something similar....)
Yes, he was originally from New Zealand and I think he resides there
today. In the early 1970s he spent a lot of time in Hawaii. After he
recorded a few records for Kapp, he had a couple of hits on the local
label "Trim" I believe. The two most memorable are "Juanita Chiquita" and
I think "She's All I Got".
TikiRoom18
> The two most memorable are "Juanita Chiquita"
Yeah thats it, I dont know where I got "Maria Chiquita" from... maybe 30 years
affects the memory a little.... I dont think I have heard this song at all
since it's original run...
Heres a few songs that were local hits back then. Lets see how badly my memory
can butcher them:
Liz Damon & The Orient Express - "Me Japanese Boy (I Love You)". Anyone recall
that one? Did she have any popularity on the mainland? Is Liz still on the
music scene?
HoneyBerry Jam - "The Kona Gold Song" - Kind of a mellow hippie-type group
tune. Was this even popular anywhere else except on the Big Island? Lot of Kona
references in the song, Napo'opo'o and all that...
There was another song, played a lot by a local group that had a verse for each
culture in Hawaii.... the lyrics were in English and went something like " You
come my house, you eat bagoong, dats de filipino style....." and on and on with
each group, each being sung in the accent of each group. Anyone remember this
one? I seem to recall some of the lyrics being risque, maybe we just made up
risque lyrics....Maybe it was called "You Come My House"..it seemed to be a
recurring theme in the lyrics....
"Thank You........very much" - Lex Brodie,
Tiki-dem
Razzbar
One song that kinda stands out in my mind is Joni Mitchell's song
"big yellow taxi". ("they paved paradise and put in a parking lot).
I moved from Seattle to Lahaina in April 1970, and had not heard
the song in Seattle. In Hawaii, it was already a hit, and I thought
it was a local song.
I also remember Nicky Campos and his group playing the same set,
over and over, night after night, at the Whale's Tale. I can
still hear his FLAT voice singing "you are my candy girl"!
And then there's the drummer for the Space Patrol, warming up
for tonight's set, playing that same riff over and over for
hours with no accompanyment...
"DA dat da-DAH, dat da-DAH, dat da-da-dat, dat da-da-dat...."
The album "Guava Jam" by the Sunday Manoa is probably the best
piece of music to come out of that period. A classic.
Sharon T G Westfall
TikiRoom18 <tikir...@aol.comhygtdfrd> wrote:
: Liz Damon & The Orient Express - "Me Japanese Boy (I Love You)". Anyone recall
: that one?
Long time ago in a land far away
Lived a boy and a girl, who were so in love
Standing 'neath a cherry tree
He said
Me Japanese boy I love you, I do, love you
You Japanese girl you love me, please say you do...
He carved their names in an old Cherry tree
Like they did in Japan since time began
Standing 'neath the moon above
He said
Me Japanese boy I love you, I do, love you
You Japanese girl you love me, please say you do...
In a red and white kimono
She became his blushing bride
>From that day until, now and forever
She's still standing by his side
Now they are old but from what I've been told
They are still as in love, as they first were
Standing 'neath the starry skies
He says
Me Japanese boy I love you, I do, love you
You Japanese girl you love me, _la_la_la_la_ <g>
That is the way that it should be, when love is true.
Butcher job indeed... <g>
TikiRoom18
>Butcher job indeed... <g>
Sounds quite accurate... some memory! I remember the song being VERY popular
for awhile and then dropping off the face off the earth... I also seem to
recall the song MAY have been popular in Japan about that same time, but sung
in Japanese.... kind of like how "Sukiyaki" was brought over and
"translated"... thanks for sharing the lyrics Sharon, guess what I will have
going through my head this weekend?
Okay.. for the 100 point prize... anyone recall any lyrics from "The Kona Gold
Song" I referred to also? Or is it a thing again of, if you remember, you
weren't really there?