Friday, September 18, 2009

In memory of Mary Kaye, the "First Lady of Rock and Roll"


Subject: Mary Kaye ( Mary Ka'aihue ), Film: Kodak color 400
Style: Editorial Portrait, Music
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"Mary Kaye (January 9, 1924February 17, 2007) , sometimes called the "First Lady of Rock and Roll", was a guitarist and performer who was active in the 1950s and 1960's."*
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I photographed the great late Mary Kaye few years back for a magazine which doesn't exist anymore and in a hotel (Last Frontier) which has been demolished since then. Things change in the blink of an eye.
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She was very kind to me on that day. We talked about a project which she was excited about, and it had something to do with Elvis Presley and she was going to meet a few friends and fans after our session.
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"Mary Kaye (born Mary Ka'aihue) descended from Hawaiian royalty in the line of Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii's last reigning monarch, and was born into a show business family. She is credited, along with Louis Prima, as being a founder of the Las Vegas "lounge" phenomenon: an all-night party atmosphere where stars and common folk rubbed elbows in a freewheeling environment. Mary Kaye died in a Las Vegas hospital of pulmonary disease on February 17, 2007." *
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"Norman and Mary Kaye started their singing careers at a very early age in Hawaii, where their father, Johnny Kaaihue, put them in the carnival circuit, performing 10 shows a day. Mary tells me [ LEN BUTCHER ] her dad was the son of Prince Kuhio and was called Johnny Ukulele after the instrument he not only played, but popularized as well.

Mary actually made her debut at age 3, in a grass skirt at a carnival in St. Louis, while Norman, aged 6, strummed the ukulele. Their dad acted as the barker. Quite a life for a couple of young kids. At that time, they were known as the Kaiihue Trio, with their dad making up the threesome. They then became the Royal Hawaiians. "**
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"In 1949, they found themselves playing the Strip at the Last Frontier, in the days when the Strip was just starting to come into its own, with headliners like Sophie Tucker, Joe E. Lewis and Edgar Bergen. And who was playing conga drums in the lounge? None other than Sammy Davis Jr. " **
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"Aside from their 15 albums, they played hundreds of nightclubs around the country and the world. They followed Ethel Merman into the Talk of the Town in London; played La Vie En Rose in New York with Harry Belafonte and Buddy Hackett; and filled in for Perry Como on his TV show. Their hits included "Besame Mucho", "Get Happy", "They Didn't Believe Me", "Little Girl Blue", "I'll Remember April", "My Funny Valentine" and "April in Paris". " **
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"Mary was photographed with her combo, the Mary Kaye Trio, in a 1956 Fender promotional advertisement featuring a new Stratocaster electric guitar. This ash blonde guitar with maple neck and gold hardware later became popularly known as "The Mary Kaye Strat" was the first custom guitar out of the Fender Custom Shop. A slab-board Swamp Ash blond 1954 Fender Stratocaster guitar, the Mary Kaye model, is one of the most expensive and highly collectable guitars in the world. Only a few were produced in 1954, but the color has been re-introduced to the Fender line after the strong international demand for the Mary Kaye color scheme. A limited series Mary Kaye Tribute Strat was issued in 2005 for the 50th Anniversary of the Stratocaster."*
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Rest In Peace
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Cheers
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Wolf189
Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, NYC
волк189 фотография
портрет, чувственный, изобразительное искусство
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sources: * and **
Wikipedia, Las Vegas Review Journal and others:
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