Jack de Mello (15 Nov 1916  27 April 2019) Arranger, keyboardist, composer, conductor, producer, entrepreneur and in 1947 founded and recorded the song that became his first island hit, Coconut Willie. As the label grew he changed the name to and in 1969 was introduced. He is the Father of . Jack de Mello He was 102. Jack de Mello recorded close to 160 albums of all types of music, including almost 500 Hawaiian songs. These songs recorded in the biggest and best studios around the world gave Hawaiian music a new identity. Decca Studios in London, Barclay Studios in Paris, RCA in Rome, major studios in Hollywood, New York, Chicago all became Jacks playground and introduced the worlds music business to a category of music that they only heard in scratchy radio broadcasts from Waikiki Beach on Saturday mornings. He made Hawaiian music viable to a musical world who felt it primitive at best. The London Philharmonic, , and the were among those who marveled at what was traditional Hawaiian music arranged by what was quickly becoming one of the masters of Hawaiian music. Victor Records of Japan recognized Jacks talent and recruited him to produce 21 albums featuring the Victor Pops Orchestra over an eleven-year partnership. 1982: Winner of a Sidney Grayson Award which was the name of what from 1987 became the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award under the auspices of the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts.

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