JERRY WRITES ABOUT DON HO
November 2007

Jerry's new book, DON HO: MY MUSIC MY LIFE, a lavishly illustrated hardcover memoir/biography of Hawaiian music legend Don Ho, will be published in December.

In his introduction to the book, Jerry writes:

"In the early Summer of 2006, Don Ho employed two young women to record and transcribe some of the stories of his life. The idea was that the two-hundred-plus, double-spaced pages that resulted might be used in a book or provide background material for a film. When it was determined that more work was required, in the Spring of 2007 Don sat patiently for numerous additional interviews in what turned out to be---to the day---the final month of his life. In fact, some of Don's recollections of his early days in Waikiki were recorded as he relaxed with his wife Haumea and friends following what turned out to be his last performance. I left for my home in Thailand the next morning and before my plane landed, he had died.

"During those last weeks, many others were interviewed along with Don---family, friends, entertainers, business associates, even his physicians---the goal being to create an autobiography, illustrated with material selected from the Don Ho archives.

"What follows is not told in the usual manner for autobiography, wherein the subject tells his or her story in a first person narrative, either alone or with a professional writer's assistance. It is, rather, a kind of oral history of the man's life, a stitching together of memories shared in interviews, with the predominant voice being Don Ho's, accompanied by supporting voices, arranged chronologically. In other words, what follows is mostly pure, unadulterated Don Ho, complemented by the recollections of the same events and times by others who were there with him. When Don recalls his days as a boarding student at Kamehameha Schools, so too do his schoolmates; when Don talks about starting out at his mom's bar and restaurant, Honey's, Marlene Sai tells how she was discovered there. When I suggested this format to Don, I called it a "modern Hawaiian quilt." He approved it.

"Donald Tai Loy Ho was born of Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, and German heritage on August 13, 1930, in Kaka'ako and he died seventy-six years later, on April 14, 2007, in a house that he figured he would never finish tinkering with at Diamond Head. He quarterbacked a championship football team, earned a degree in sociology from the University of Hawaii, flew jets for the U.S. Air Force, fathered ten children, was given credit for electing at least one Hawaii governor, more than a decade ahead of Jimmy Buffett took the laid-back tropical lifestyle worldwide through his recordings and appearances both on television and in concert, and along the way became Hawaii's best-known and most beloved personality of all time.

"He also became the longest running act in Waikiki, a must-see performer for Hawaii residents and tourists alike for nearly half a century. Finally, in an effort to extend that amazing life after being flattened by a malfunctioning heart and conventional treatment failed, he made history by flying to Bangkok for experimental stem cell surgery that was forbidden in the United States, returning to the Waikiki stage soon afterward.

"Headline writers called him 'Mr. Hawaii' and 'The King of Waikiki.' His good friend Jimmy Borges said, 'When you think of Hawaii, there's Pearl Harbor, Waikiki Beach, Diamond Head, and Don Ho.' Another friend, Brickwood Galuteria, said, 'Sun, sand, surf, Don Ho.'

"Don, of course, would've quoted a song by his friend Kui Lee: "Ain't no big thing, bruddah." More than most of us could dare or dream, Don Ho enjoyed life to da max…yet by his unquestioned status as a cultural icon, and by the fact that he probably was better known than Diamond Head, he seemed totally unimpressed."

Published by Watermark Publishing in Honolulu, DON HO: MY LIFE, MY MUSIC is Jerry's 36th book and his third this year. Two earlier works were ALOHA ELVIS, from Honolulu's Bess Press, and ELVIS: THE BIOGRAPHY, from Plexus Publishing in London.

JERRY NOW IN 16 LANGUAGES
November 2007

The bestselling biography of Jim Morrison, NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE, has been translated into Chinese, the 14th language for this volume and the 16th language for Jerry's books overall.

What is now considered a classic by some, a "cult" book by others, the unauthorized biography of the late Doors singer was published in 1980, went to the No. 1 position of the New York Times bestseller list, and has remained in print ever since. It has been published in the most languages---English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French,Danish, Italian, Czech, Polish, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Finnish, and, now Mandarin Chinese.

Jerry's biographies of Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, and Yoko Ono as well as a number of his other nonfiction works also have been translated for the overseas markets. Often different editions in the same language appear---for example, separate Spanish editions have appeared in Spain and Mexico, Portuguese editions in Portugal and Brazil, English editions in the US and the UK.

In addition, one book, IN THE NAME OF THE BOSS UPSTAIRS, the biography of Fr. Ray Brennan, has appeared in Thai, and another, EXTREME CUISINE, has been published in Russian.

Elvis (The Biography) Is Alive
September 2007

Jerry’s two classic studies of Elvis Presley, long out of print, have been brought back to the marketplace in a single volume, updated to include a new last chapter describing the events of the past 30 years since the singer died and examining how he became No. 1 on Forbes magazine’s list of Richest Dead Celebrities five years in a row.

ELVIS: THE BIOGRAPHY, from London’s Plexus Publishing, made its debut during “Elvis Week” in August in Memphis, marking the 30th anniversary of Presley’s death. Jerry was the featured speaker at a seminar, “The Once and Future Elvis,” held on the University of Memphis campus and appeared at book signings for fans.

It was, surprisingly, Jerry’s first visit to Graceland, as well as to the Sun Records Studio where Elvis’s first records were made. When Jerry visited Memphis in 1969 to research the first biography of the singer, ELVIS: A BIOGAPHY (Simon & Schuster, 1971), the King was still in residence, and when Jerry returned 10 years later to write the sequel, ELVIS: THE FINAL YEARS (St. Martin’s Press, 1980), Graceland was not yet open to the public. And during both visits, Sun was an abandoned building.

Today, Graceland and Sun are part of a citywide network of tourist attractions that draw music fans from around the world. As many as 4,000 Elvis fans pass daily through the Graceland gates alone, with more visiting Sun as well as the Stax Soul Museum and a rejuvenated Beale Street, legendary “Home of the Blues” where B.B. King and others appear regularly.

Jerry’s new book is his fifth taking Elvis as its subject. A small volume called ALOHA ELVIS was published by Hawaii’s Bess Press, making its debut during Elvis Week at the box office of the Neal Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, site of the singer’s famed “Aloha Satellite” television show of 1972. The book went on sale at the same time a bronze statue of Elvis was unveiled nearby. The fifth book, ELVIS IN HAWAII, was published in 2002.

Plexus also published the UK edition of NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE and THE LIZARD KING.