Daniel Ho may be Hawaii’s hottest producer, but his chops are turning heads

The phrase "Three's a charm" rang true for Daniel Ho at the 2008 Annual Grammy Awards. During the last three ceremonies, Ho walked away with two of the coveted statuettes. This year-in which he will release his 60th album-the 40-year old composer, musician and producer completed the hat trick.

"When they called my name this time, everything went sort of blank," admitted Ho. "I couldn't really tell you what happened in those first few moments."

Talking to Ho is an inspiring foray into what it's like to hone a skill over many years of hard work, only to wake up an "overnight" success. At least, it seemed like it, according to Ho. After all, in the last four years he's cut an album with Hollywood hottie (and childhood pal) Tia Carrere; he's toured the U.S., Europe, and Asia representing Yamaha guitars; and earned three Grammies for his compilation CDs include "Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar," "Legends of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar," and "Treasures of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar."

Ho says he's just getting warmed up.

"I feel like I've just started hitting my stride with my playing," said Ho. "It's what keeps everything fresh and interesting for me. I'm an okay piano player; I still have a lot to learn on that instrument. But I feel like I've nailed down the sounds I want out of a ukulele and a guitar, and I'm starting to lay down tracks that I feel really good about."

This year, fans will get a prime opportunity to hear the sounds that Ho feels so good about when he releases three back-to-back albums. In March, Ho released "Skies of Blue," an album of cover songs that was recorded acoustically in Japan.

"It's real clean-everything is level-you can make out every note," said Ho.

Next, in May, Ho released "Ukuleles in Paradise-- Two to Three Feet", a duo effort with longtime collaborator Herb Ohta, Jr.

"Sunny Spaces," a solo CD scheduled for an April release, will take Ho throughout Japan and Germany before returning to The States. The album will feature Randy Drake on drums, Steve Billman on bass, and Brian Kilgore on percussion.

"It's personal to me, this album," Ho declared. "My heart is in it, and we used all vintage equipment that brings out the warmth of the acoustic sound quality."

Vintage sound is something dear to this artist's heart. His musical story began on the organ in second grade; shortly thereafter, he moved on to ukulele. By fourth grade he was studying classical guitar and piano, which naturally left only drums and bass to discover in high school. He cites a teacher at St. Louis High School (a former MGM Studios music director in the 1950s) who took him under his wing as the reason for his current success. He taught Ho that you need to have a working knowledge of every instrument in order to truly succeed in music. This powered Ho through Grove School of Music in California, where he studied composition, arranging and film scoring.

Fresh out of school, Ho simultaneously launched his own music publishing company, Daniel Ho Creations, as well as Kilauea, an instrumental contemporary jazz band. Shortly after its formation, Ho's band was opening for Chick Corea and Spyro Gyra. In 1997, when Ho felt they had reached their pinnacle, he formed a record company and set about recording Hawaiian-themed music compilations. His expertise lay in using the most modern recording technologies to preserve the simple, raw sounds of Hawaiian music. Success came one day in the form of a fax.

"I'd never won anything in my life-not even one of those McDonald's scratch-off games," admitted Ho. "So when I came home one day in 2004 and there was a huge order for the "Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar" disc, I thought it was a mistake. Turns out, it was nominated for the second Hawaiian Grammy. It's when everything turned around."

And the surprises just keep on coming.

In the late fall of 2007, Ho received an email from a reputable Hollywood music supervisor who asked him to submit a demo tape for an upcoming project. At the time, Ho had been working closely with longtime friend and associate Amy Ku'uleialoha Stillman, the director of Asian Pacific American studies at the University of Michigan. Stillman had been helping Ho with another project that required the translation of original lyrics to Hawaiian.

Naturally, Ho sent the Hollywood director a selection of some of their original Hawaiian songs. A month later, he'd almost forgotten the project when he received a follow-up email stating that Ho was to perform two songs to be used in the upcoming feature film "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." The kicker would be Ho's version of Sinead O'Connor's hit song "Nothing Compares 2 U" (written by Prince) that would play throughout the film's credits.

"Having just started to learn how to sing in Hawaiian, this is a pretty amazing honor," said Ho. "I've done orchestration and scoring for films, but to get asked to sing in a movie is huge."

Ho added that he spent hours going over the tune's translation with Stillman. The Hawaiian title-A'ohe Like Me 'oe-literally translates to "You have no equal." According to Ho, it wasn't easy to match up the lines with the music.

Today Ho enjoys the luxury of splitting time between his native O'ahu and L.A.'s recording industry hub. Living in Westwood certainly has its perks. Proximity to the major studios-not to mention the connections-are hard to come by in Hawai'i.

"I spend a lot of time in isolation in music," Ho reflects. "So much of the day I have headphones on, in my home studio. But being in L.A. and so close to cutting-edge technology and keeping an ear on what other musicians are doing is huge for my business."

What's on the horizon for this rising star? As another creative outlet, Ho recently launched a line of Hawaiian music T-shirts. "I always wear t-shirts when I perform. Finding the right cut, color, design, and message, is quite a challenge so we decided to make them ourselves." In September, he plans to release his most strenuous-and rewarding-effort yet: a duo album with Tia Carrere of all-original Hawaiian songs, co-written by Amy Ku'uleialoha Stillman.