Kimo Wilder McVay: Difference between revisions

| name = Kimo Wilder McVay

| captionimage =

| image_sizecaption =

| birth_name = KimoJames Wilder McVay

| alias = Kimo McVay<br>The Baron of Waikiki<br>Knuckles McVay

| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|09|16|mf=y}}

| birth_place = [[Washington, DC]]

| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2001|06|29|1927|9|16}}

| death_place = [[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]]

| origin =

| instrument = =

| genre = =

| occupation = = Show business entrepreneur

| years_active = 1950–2001

| label =

| associated_acts = [[Don Ho]], [[Robin Luke]], Tavana Anderson, [[John Rowles]], [[Keola Beamer]], Kapono Beamer, [[Andy Bumatai]], Freddie Morris[[Myrtle K. Hilo]], John Hirokawa, [[Duke Kahanamoku]], Fabulous Krush, Moku Kahana, [[Carole Kai]], Freddie Morris

| website =

| past_members =

'''KimoJames “Kimo” Wilder McVay''' (September 16, 1927–June1927 – June 29, 2001) was aan American musician turned talent manager, who successfully promoted Hawaiian entertainment acts. McVay promoted and managed acts such as teenage heart throbheartthrob [[Robin Luke]], [[Don Ho]], New Zealand singer John Rowles, comic Andy Bumatai, Keolo and Kapono Beamer, ventroliquistventriloquist Freddie Morris, magician John Hirokawa and many others.

Kimo Wilder McVay was born September 16, 1927, in [[Washington, D.C.]]. His father was Navy Captain [[Charles Butler McVay III]].<ref name="Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis">{{cite book | last =Kurzman| first =Dan | title =Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis| publisher=Broadway | year =2001 | isbn =978-0-7679-0678-4 }}</ref> His mother was HawaiiHawaiian heiress Kinau Wilder (1902–1992), great-granddaughter of pioneering missionary physician and politician [[Gerrit P. Judd|Gerrit Parmele Judd]], and granddaughter of shipping magnate [[Samuel GarnerGardner Wilder]]. One of his many cousins on his mother's side was [[George R. Carter]] (1866–1933), the [[Territorial Governor of Hawaii]].<ref>{{cite book |title= A record of the descendants of Dr. Gerrit P. Judd of Hawaii, March 8, 1829, to April 16, 1922 |date= July 1922 |editor= George R. Carter |editor-link= George R. Carter |editor2= Mary H. Hopkins|url= https://archive.org/details/recordofdescenda00cart |publisher= Hawaiian Historical Society }}</ref>

It was possibly the clearing of his father's name that gave Kimo Wilder McVay the most personal satisfaction.<ref name="Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis"/> His father was found guilty of negligence in the 1945 sinking of the [[USS Indianapolis (CA-35)|USS ''Indianapolis'']] in the closing days of [[World War II]] and eventually committed [[suicide]] as a result. Kimo spent his adult life on a quest to clear the record. Half a century later, the United States Congress passed action exonerating the senior McVay.<ref name="Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis">{{cite book | lastlast1 =Nelson| firstfirst1 =Pete | last2=Scott | first2=Hunter | title =Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis| publisher=Delacorte Books for Young Readers | page=155 |year =2003 | isbn =978-0-385-73091-4}}</ref>

<ref name="Robin Luke">{{Cite web | title=Robin Luke | publisher= Robin Luke| url=http://robinluke.com/bio.htm | accessdateaccess-date=17 May 2010}}</ref>

KimoMcVay was a friend and manager to [[Duke Kahanamoku]]. The [[Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship]]<ref name="The Encyclopedia of Surfing">{{cite book | lastlast1 =Warshaw | firstfirst1 =Matt |last2=Finnegan | first2=William | title =The Encyclopedia of Surfing| publisher=Mariner Books|page=169 | year =2005 | isbn =978-0-15-603251-3 }}</ref> was developed by Kimo McVay in 1965, in part to help publicize the newly opened Duke Kahanamoku's nightclub McVay operated in the International Market Place in Waikiki. In the early 1960s, Kimo accompanied Duke Kahanamoku to see the up-and-coming [[Don Ho]] at Honey's in [[Kaneohe, Hawaii|Kaneohe]].<ref name="Entertainment manager Kimo McVay dies at 73">{{cite news |title=Native blood and custom clash |last=Harada |first=Wayne |newspaper=Honolulu Advertiser|date=29 June 2001 |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Jun/29/br/br01p.htmll}}</ref> It was a magic moment that brought Don to Duke's Waikiki nightclub as a springboard to international fame for Ho and his band The Aliis. With Don on stage hoisting a mai tai glass and encouraging the crowd to "Suck 'em up, everybody!", the promotional "Suck 'em Up"-themed mai tai glasses became souvenirs among Don Ho fandom. It was McVay<ref name="Kimo McVay, Hawaii's Mr. Show Biz">{{cite news |title=Kimo McVay, Hawaii's Mr. Show Biz |last=Berger |first=John |newspaper=Honolulu Star Bulletin|date=30 June 2001 |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/06/30/news/story11.html}}</ref> who in 1967 talked Don Ho into recording the <ref name="Pober Discography">{{Cite web | title=Pober Discography | publisher= Discogs | url=http://www.discogs.com/artist/Leon+Pober | accessdateaccess-date=16 October 2010}}</ref> song ''[[Tiny Bubbles]]'', written by Leon Pober,<ref>{{Cite web | title=Tiny Bubbles: Words & music by Leon Pober | publisher= Huapala | url=http://www.huapala.org/T/Tiny_Bubbles.html | accessdateaccess-date=June 23, 2010}}</ref> Ho's signature tune.

McVay lined up Maori artist [[John Rowles]] as Duke's in-residence act<ref>{{cite journalmagazine |last1=Harada |first1=Wayne |year= |title=From the Music Capitals of the World-Honolulu |journalmagazine=Billboard |publisher=Billboard |issue=25 July 1970 |pages=58 |url= |doi= }}</ref> to follow Ho's tenure at the nightclub. Rowles had already made his United States debut the same year at the [[Flamingo Las Vegas]], following Ho's booking at that venue. When Rowles was the in-residence act at Duke's, McVay placed copies of Rowles' hit single ''Cheryl Moana Marie'' into invitations for the opening of Al Lopaka as a fill in act for Rowles.<ref>{{cite journalmagazine |last1=Harada |first1=Wayne |year= |title=From the Music Capitals of the World-Honolulu |journalmagazine=Billboard |publisher=Billboard |issue=12 September 1970 |pages=63 |url= |doi= }}</ref> Under McVay's management, Rowles would become the headliner at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel's Monarch Room.

The [[Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts]] awarded McVay the 1999 [[Na Hoku Hanohano]] Lifetime Achievement Award<ref name="Na Hoku Hanohano Award">{{Cite web|title=Na Hoku Hanohano Award |publisher=Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts |url=http://www.nahokuhanohano.org/cms/index.php?page=Lifetime-awards |accessdateaccess-date=17 May 2010 |deadurlurl-status=yesdead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227155255/http://www.nahokuhanohano.org/cms/index.php?page=Lifetime-awards |archivedatearchive-date=27 February 2014 |df= }} Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts</ref> for his substantial contributions to the entertainment industry in Hawaii.

[[Category:ImpresariosAmerican impresarios]]