Haumea hebenstreit biography of abraham lincoln

Don Ho

Don Ho, said those who knew him best, wouldn't have understood what all the fuss was about.

Ho, who died Saturday of heart failure at age 76, was the pop-culture face of Hawai'i.

He became a national star in the 1960s, riding the crest of a tourism boom in the Islands and a catchy hapa-haole tune about cheap champagne.

Back then, he was the dark-eyed, laid-back, slightly boozy, vaguely hedonistic — and incredibly sexy — embodiment of the nation's newest state.

He became a Waikiki headliner, appeared on national television, had a network series, toured the world.

And he endured.

Forty years in Waikiki and he was still packing them in.

But he never took himself seriously.

"He didn't come on with airs," said longtime entertainment columnist Eddie Sherman. "No matter what he achieved, he was always just a local boy.

He would be happiest sitting in a joint someplace eating stew with his friends."

Said Big Island rancher