In His Own Words: Biography of Legendary Hawaiian Entertainer Don Ho
Don Ho: My Music, My Life by Don Ho with Jerry Hopkins
In 2006 and early 2007, legendary Hawaiian entertainer Don Ho shared a lifetime of memories with veteran music writer Jerry Hopkins and others, a project completed just two days before his death from heart failure in April 2007. The result of this timely collaboration is Don Ho: My Music, My Life, a unique mix of his own recollections and the stories of friends and family—what Don called “a modern Hawaiian quilt” of memories.
Born in a hardscrabble Honolulu neighborhood in 1930, Donald Tai Loy Ho combined his musical gift, beachboy demeanor and love of the Islands to become Hawai‘i’s most beloved entertainer—and one of the biggest draws in show business. For nearly half a century, Don Ho was synonymous with the Hawaiian Islands—from his “wild, unpredictable” early shows at Duke Kahanamoku’s to a tour and television career that carried the spirit of aloha to audiences around the world. His laid-back, hang-loose Island charm endeared him to millions. As television and radio personality Jim Lange observed, “A Don Ho fan is his friend. That’s the way Don works.” Sympathy wishes collected online overwhelmingly shared the same characteristic: his fans felt they had a personal relationship with Don, their own stories to tell about the legendary icon.
Collected in this hardcover coffee-table book are revealing anecdotes and hundreds of memorable photographs from Don Ho’s personal collection and many other sources—not just the behind-the-scenes showbiz stories, but tales of the youthful football star, the U.S. Air Force pilot, the community leader and the loving father of ten talented children. Here is the story of a barefoot island boy who grew up to work and play with the biggest names in show business and society, from Jackie Kennedy to Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope to Elvis Presley—yet an entertainment icon who summed it up with the title of one of his biggest hits: “Ain’t no big thing!”
Don Ho: My Music, My Life promotional postcard. Images from the Don Ho Collection.
Co-writer Jerry Hopkins has written more than 30 books and 1,000 music articles. He was a correspondent and editor at Rolling Stone for 20 years and has written best-selling biographies of Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix. This is his second collaboration work for Watermark Publishing; Showman of the Pacific: 50 Years of Radio & Rock Stars, a memoir written with the legendary Hawai‘i concert promoter Tom Moffatt, was released in 2005. A former long-time Hawai‘i resident, Hopkins now resides in Thailand.
Don Ho: My Music, My Life has been featured in The Honolulu Advertiser, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, HAWAI‘I Magazine and the Maui Weekly.
Don Ho: My Music, My Life is available for purchase at your local bookstore and at online booksellers, including direct from the publisher at www.bookshawaii.net.
Author: Don Ho w/ Jerry Hopkins
Hardcover with dustjacket, 176 pp
Release Date: December 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9790647-4-6
$29.95 retail price
Tags: Don Ho, Don Ho autobiography, Jerry Hopkins
