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Artist
Hilo Hattie
12+ albums
popUSAfolk popHawaiian
about
Hilo Hattie (October 28, 1901 – December 12, 1979) was born Clarissa "Clara" Haili in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was a Hawaiian singer, hula dancer, actress and comedian of 100% Native Hawaiian ancestry. Clara loved to dance the hula and sing in the church choir. She began teaching at Waipahu Elementary School in 1923, entertaining her students with what would become her comedy hula routines. In 1930, she married Theodore Inter. By 1936, she had joined Louise Akeo's Royal Hawaiian Girls Glee Club singing at venues around Oahu. The group got $25 per appearance to distribute among the 25 members. The Don McDiarmid Sr-Johnny Noble song When Hilo Hattie Does the Hilo Hop became her signature tune. McDiarmid intended the 1935 song to be danced by the typical beautifully smooth hula dancer. But in 1936, while the band was performing as shipboard entertainment on a cruise to Portland, Oregon, the seductive dancer meant to perform it fell ill. Hilo Hattie, who claimed to have never had a hula lesson in her life, ran with it as a comedy piece, and it became a monster success in its time. Clara legally changed her name to Hilo Hattie, when she performed her second signature song, The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai, in the movie Song of the Islands. From 1939, Hilo Hattie was a favorite among the military. By 1940, Harry Owens was conducting the Royal Hawaiian Hotel orchestra and hired her. Hattie joined the Webley Edwards-hosted Hawaii Calls broadcasts that went out to 600 radio stations ar
