1. Kuiokalani Lee was born in Shanghai, China, on July 31,1932, as his parents were touring China.
29 Facts About Kui Lee
1. 2.
Kui Lee's father Billy was a singer and his mother Ethel was a singer and dancer.
3.
Kui Lee was a descendant of native Hawaiians, Chinese, and Scots.
4.
At the age of five, after his mother died, Kui Lee returned to Hawaii with his father who feared the escalating tensions in the area around Shanghai, and the threat of war.
5.
Kui Lee was regarded as a quick learner, and an articulate student, but he often missed classes to pursue his hobby of surfing.
6.
Kui Lee then enlisted in the United States Coast Guard and served for two years.
7.
Kui Lee's wife found a job performing at Honey's club with Don Ho.
8.
Kui Lee got a job performing at Nawiliwili Beach Park's Club Jetty in Kauai, and worked as a doorman at the Honey club in Kaneohe.
9.
Kui Lee convinced Ho to let him perform as a singer at the Honey club.
10.
Kui Lee appeared at Kalia Gardens and Kanaka Pete's in Lahaina during 1965.
11.
Kui Lee earned US$2,000 weekly for his club appearances.
12.
Kui Lee was diagnosed with lymph gland cancer while working at Kanaka Pete's in 1965.
13.
Kui Lee then went to New York City for a recording session with Columbia Records, which released his debut single "Ain't No Big Thing", paired with "All I Want To Do", in May 1965.
14.
Around that time, Kui Lee expressed to childhood friend Douglas Mossman his regret towards not graduating from high school.
15.
Kui Lee's next recording session was for Jack de Mello's label.
16.
On October 18,1966, Kui Lee played at the Waikiki Shell, during Aloha Week.
17.
Kui Lee used a wheelchair after the surgery and could not sing.
18.
Kui Lee apologized to the crowd and told anecdotes, then Nani Kui Lee sang his latest composition "The Intangible Dream Came True".
19.
Kui Lee favored laetrile, as he opposed cobalt and radiation therapies.
20.
Kui Lee's body was taken to the local Del Carmen funeral home and later flown to Ordensteins Mortuary in Hawaii.
21.
Kui Lee expressed his wish to be buried at sea, while a band played his songs.
22.
The label's publisher Mickey Goldsen credited Kui Lee with bridging a generational gap in Hawaiian music.
23.
Kui Lee expressed his concern to Billboard over the future of the "new wave of Hawaiian composers" following Lee's death.
24.
Kui Lee declared: "All this commercial garbage has to go".
25.
Kui Lee's followers compared him to James Dean, as the themes of several of his songs dealt with social deception and oligarchy.
26.
Kui Lee had been influenced by the popular music of the time during his stay in the mainland.
27.
Ho organized The Kui Lee Memorial Show at the Waikiki Shell on December 3,1968.
28.
Elvis Presley, who recorded a cover of Kui Lee's "I'll Remember You" in the summer of 1966, included the song during his live sets between 1972 and the summer of 1976.
29.
In December 1986, Sherman's musical Kui Lee opened at the Honolulu Community Theater.