 to take your help back. We are coming to you live from our Think Tech Hawaii studio in downtown Honolulu and from my home office in Makiki. Today we will hear from voice Eva of song Melvin Lee. Melvin will share her gift of music and how she heals many with her voice including healing herself. Please welcome Melvin Lee. Aloha Melvin. Aloha Wendy. So good to have you on. I make it a tradition that we're going to have you on at least once a year and usually it's about this time of the year where everyone's all festive and so are you. So let's get started Melvin. You know I remember Melvin Lee in a long red evening dress playing at the Olimwana Hotel. Please share with us a little bit about your memories while there. I had I just I think it was just a time in my life where I needed something like that a gig like that. I lasted about 12 years there at the Olimwana Hotel and it was I went through a lot over there and we and they just hung on with me you know they kept me there no matter what well the United Airlines went on strike and nobody everybody showrooms was empty you know we went through that and I had only one couple in the audience one one night you know and but but I did the whole show for them anyway you know it's times like that and then of course the show was always packed it was great. Yeah I remember going to see you there and that's amazing that yes you're a true showman so of course the show must go on whether there's one or a packed house you're gonna perform like you're performing at the Grand World Opera or something just every every day goes on every show goes on that's a professional which you are so you're not just a diva Melvin but you have so many talents what brings most joy in your performances is is knowing that I can reach their hearts you know uh whether it's through my music or spiritually or you know just making their lives a better music always it's a healing a healing type of uh you know recovery for anyone you know who's going through a lot whether it's good or bad in their lives music does that it calms you. And you know in that photo um the faces of Melvin I mean so you're not just a performer but you're actually you're a comedian because I have many times or just even just you and myself we just talked during and you just you're a jokester or you're on stage and you got everybody warmed up and rolling and then you warm them up further with your voice so I know that that's part of your whole genre of who you are. I'm a prankster too you know. Yeah I know that. I know that so that's why I gotta be careful with you what I say because I know if I say something you're gonna do them or you're gonna prank you're gonna prank me so I know I know already because I I'm like you too okay remember now whatever you're thinking I'm thinking the other side the same thing okay so um yeah I know we have a photo of you and uh Rodney Kazimero I need to honor this man Rodney Kazimero I know that he's a dear friend and I just um just please share some fond memories that you have with with Rodney. Yes that that familiar photo photo was in in uh Kohala we did a show together in Kohala during Christmas time in fact I think it was yeah and um we dressed like Tira and Blala you know some of you were dressed I I wrote a tattoo on my arm you know like you wrote tattoos and we acted real Tira and every we had the audience going crazy in Kohala and you know Kohala is a small town people the show starts at seven they're there at four o'clock yeah and you know what I told them I told them I said hey what are you both doing here you better go home and check your house I see somebody rubbing your house you know hey but I don't go and laugh because you know when you were performing at the Alts or wherever you go I mean here in town I try to get to your show at least an hour was so early so I can have a great seat and you know that and you're all your friends are also waiting in line with me just trying to get in so I truly understand that so don't laugh at us we just like we like be a part of your stage you like sit on your lap and sing with you we want to hear every joke coming what you should have stepped on my tour at the Alamoana Hotel so I can remember you you know yeah but then we wouldn't probably be friends you'd be probably still pissed off at me hey you in broke my toenail what's the matter with you so no I'm not going to do that to you now I love you too much and look you still remember me so you know you're on stage with so many icons of Hawaii another male legend that you performed with is Willie K you must have some very special memories with brother Willie as well his dad played guitar for me on Maui when I did some gigs over there you know yeah that's how I got to know he really was young of course but Willie he he's talented he came from his dad you know it's a it's a it's a gene that he had and and no matter what he sings or plays he saw that talent he is so overwhelming it is his his performances were overwhelming and and I told him so I said you know you make everybody's here stand up when you sing and you perform because you're a great performer and he told me says well I wish my hair would straighten out we told me if he straightened out that hair we wouldn't have recognized him but you know like with Willie right brother Willie when he would be on stage of course you would expect the Hawaiian you know and all the great songs but when he started to sing opera OMG right I mean his operatic voice was just incredible and we waited always to hear that come out of him right yes so down to earth I just love listening to him and we miss him dearly truly miss him I do too I miss him dearly Hawaii misses the world misses him embedded in our hearts and our minds of his style of singing right right and so we're so blessed that we got an opportunity to share that with him were you with him within the last year before he passed before he went to heaven yes because he did he performed at the Hilton wine village and uh and we went to see him that time and and it was just it was awesome it was just awesome and uh I'm not knowing that that was the last time I would see him right right yeah miss miss miss him truly truly especially like at Christmas when he would sing all the Christmas carols and we go to his Christmas concert nobody does a holy night as well oh wait oh wait yeah I agree I have to agree with that wow so I've seen you perform with many others on your stage so tell me about these other these other crazy buddies of yours that I when I saw uh I was going to see your show a lot and see wherever you were performed these guys were with you so tell us about your buddies I think one of the funniest moments was rap ripplinger when he came to my show at the alamwana and he was so tongue-tied I was giving out those lines one after the other and he was like he says you know Melvin you're the only one that can do this to me he said whatever he said I came back with another and the audience was in they were roaring you know but he was a great talent another great talent wow and so how about that guy um was it cheeks I see his cheeks there why why kiki kicks I only know miss kicks he moved on mommy now a book is an author now you know he writes like he for me yeah yes I remember him very well and then always Pito Pito's in that picture with you you know yet Tito very nervous yeah yeah and he's still performed too right he played for loyal goner for a long time he also played for me too at the international marketplace right right yeah tell us about a little bit about your days with loyal and the fabulous four of you crazy theaters me the divas yeah the divas the funniest part was when we went to Hong Kong oh my gosh and we went into the other side you know you're not supposed to call and you were scared we almost didn't come out of the you know the um coming aside I think it was I don't wear wear but we we went in and we went shopping and we all bought we said oh look here's some uh you know some Gucci and all that bags and everything so we brought a whole bunch rough we knew it was fake but you know it looks so nice yeah yeah right nicely made when we brought up to the other side I went to pull the handle the handle broke and inside was newspaper oh it's an expensive newspaper you bought we laughed they've had a good laugh when it was more than that the stories from there it's just fabulous you know well so even even the rubber band lasts longer than the person so that's a good tip guys don't be buying that stuff you come to you and get your hands wet I tell you right be careful be careful if you're looking at bottom no buy them yeah really better right last longer I did that one time I did that one time it was a cat for the cancer awareness of it was an auction in Hilo and the only thought maybe about seven items and I said where's all the items they said oh well this is how we could get and I just bought a beautiful handbag from these Koreans you know a beautiful shop it was a beautiful handbag all green you know brand new and I had all my stuff in and so I ended up I said do you have a paper sack they had one from you know that that market they have there in in big island yeah so they got the Japanese market but anyway so I put my okay mark okay okay something like that I started put all my stuff inside the um in the package and then I wrote with a belt and Gucci and I auctioned my bag off then I auctioned my watch I auctioned my ring I said oh but my earrings I did just so they can make extra money and I went back went out I was aloha airlines at time and they said Navin what is that I say it's my Gucci bag but it was the real deal right it was not coffee was real and then girlfriend on the K store on the big island is KTA well so also I know you're from Moloka'i and I know there's another angel from Moloka'i and her name is Raya Tia Helm oh yes what is it like performing and hanging out with her because she has a lot of family history with music as well she comes from a very talented family the Helm family you know George Helm and all of them and you know I one day we she was performing on on Moloka'i and I had already you know stepped down from the platform and everything you know kind of easing back already and Raya Tia was rising that time I went on stage in front of all the Moloka'i people that were there and I said Raya Tia I passed my torch to you you know and just remember to keep your feet up to the ground and know where you came from and always appreciate that you know when you come from your roots yeah she never forgot that she's very humble sweet girl I love her very sweet and very humble and she's not like real I mean coming from Moloka'i I'm not putting them down but she's real like um she's not she's not like Tita I mean like I guess like you I mean like me right oh she can be oh yeah she can be normally she can be of course we know when to beat Tita and we know when to date I know that's why it's so cool because like we when we open our mouth we're good right we look like we're from this east side but when we open our mouth oh you know where we from right yeah but Raya Tia is a sweetheart is a gem and I just love it when she sings her falsetto voice and just yes this incredible talent and great family history I just love it really really love it so you know Melvin I know you sing all genres of music but I know you have a passion for jazz where does that passion for jazz come from with you I started with a jazz band in Waikiki there was my the first band that I uh the first band I performed with was actually guys from Nanakuli but then when I got into Waikiki professionally to sing in Waikiki at Hilton Hawaiian Village Garden Bar was my first place and they were a jazz band and they played all kinds of genres but jazz was really a big thing and that's how I learned how to sing jazz I had a good good teachers and all the great singers would come from the mainland you know would come and visit to Hawaii and go to the Garden Bar and that's how I met all of them and working on the SS Learley the ship you know the gosh the cruise ship and the Mariposa I met all these great singers like Sarah Vaughn and Carmen McCrae and and then I got to do a show with Nancy Wilson here and Victor Mone I did shows with them it was wonderful went to Japan did on the same show with um Frank Sinatra and Shirley Bassey so it was a great experience and I learned from those were all my teachers just watching them wow no wonder and you have such a passion when you sing that when you sing jazz I mean I can just feel it um have you ever gone to the grand old offering of course I sang there yeah and it was it was wonderful because um it was my birthday and and Slim Holt sent thousands of orchids in my honor and roses were sent to me and everything bouquets of roses for my birthday from Hawaii so I passed I had them pass all the flowers out to the audience in the grand old offering and they had never seen orchids before a lot of them really yeah so and so I sang they sang happy birthday to me the whole audience wow how special is that and so did you sing um on your own country no I sang crazy oh and that and and they um and Patsy Klein's uh her producer became my producer his name was Owen Bradley yes and he was a producer of like um Brenda Lee you know you know the singer yeah and and many others and Conway Twitty and all these great singers that were there I mean it was awesome meeting on then I got to be friends with Loretta Lynn and yeah and Jeannie Pruitt and Skeeter Davis and all these great singers yeah and Dolly Parton and I of course did a show together television special yeah oh which one was that share it with us the one with us she's um uh she's uh what do you call that Mount Olamana and I'm uh Kapiolani Park oh excuse me what is that send us the little girl look at our chest she's Mount Olamana and I go Wendy you're slow no I wanted you to give us the graphics oh it was it was great it was great singing performing with great people like that you know they of course and even till today you when you are performing you have always by your side that great bongo player bongo drum player who's that guy oh you mean uh uh Stuart uh Stuart am I safe oh strong strong strong yeah sorry he's an actor I know he is that's what I'm saying he's a famous actor I mean I see him on Facebook he's posting all of his pictures with like the likes of Clint Eastward would everybody yeah everybody he performed with I mean it's like crazy and I know he always performs with you and I love seeing him when you call him up he's a sweet sweet person and you know very humble the first time I ever heard of him was he was in a very scary movie it was filmed in this in this desolate hospital and he was the killer yeah and and oh I was so afraid when I saw when I finally met him first I said you you made me scared you know when I was young but he's such a sweet person he's such a sweetheart I mean ultimate sweetheart and um yeah as I said I'm glad that he's sharing his history because he lives right here in Hawaii and he was with just like you with so many famous people but you know because he played the second role people may not have know who he was or is but now that he refreshes our memory OMG every time I see him I just gotta give him a hug he's like hey you somebody yeah right you have a new program one day I shall I will because but he said he's filming like he's always filming magnum and Hawaii five or you know magnum now so when he's not busy maybe he said he will but he has a lot of history behind him and just as colorful as you are so I want to bring us to something a little bit more serious so ha the breath of life so I know you have a special um presentation that you want to do for our audience and I want to just ask you to share with us what you're doing in this photo with your ipu well let me tell you first of all um wait let me get this over here first of all I I used to teach hula in in Tahiti I had a big halal and I had about 180 students and I used I taught them hula kahiko and hula when I nobody knows a lot of people don't know that over here in Hawaii because I didn't I wasn't the kind of kumu hula that you know compete and all that yeah no it wasn't it was just they just wanted to learn how to dance hula so I taught them and it came by mistake really because I never never dreamed that I would be teaching hula you know and uh and you see in Hawaii it came in my dream I'm not the only one that had my motions and in my dreams is uh uh you know great kumu hulas like O'Brien Eselu and uh right you know I could name some others we are you know motions but anyway so I'm gonna chant for you just a small one yeah that I taught yes yes so while I get into the mode yeah okay you should do more of that Mel no I'm retired now and my you know they call me mommy hula in Tahiti I told don't call me kumu you call you call me mommy hula even the mama's mommy hula oh what a reverend name yeah yeah they're my baby hulas yes beautiful yes so so here we are today you are I remember you started a silver fox club we're gonna get together soon yeah I know I mean I I I saw you started you and your your sidekick Ivalani Ivalani say you you guys have these the silver fox club and I thought oh not yet but one day maybe one day I'd be joining you but I'd just be watching all of you always oh it's fun you guys have it is such a great great opportunity that I when I saw when I saw my hair changing I thought to myself oh my gosh and my friends were all dyeing their hair a lot of them yeah and when I when I was I was gonna keep coloring my hair but it's not healthy you know yeah yeah and so I and I everybody said oh Melvinian I said listen we got to be proud of who we are and how we look God gave us you know this is the aging process we're just going to take care of our health the main thing is our health never mind the hair it's the health you know and so when I saw a lot of my friends I said hey I'm going to start a club and I told Ivalani I said Ivalani I'm going to start a club called the silver fox white in a silver fox club and she said well I'm good idea I said yes because you know you got to get your hair uh white too so she started to get her hair and then all my other friends so I got all the names I made certificates and have a card card and so but there's no monies involved you know no more president no more I'm just a founder yeah but I'm the leader right and no more um uh you know fees and no more anything at all it is we just I pick a restaurant so that we can give our local people some business yeah healthy restaurant of course and we all get together and everybody pays for their own lunch and we just and stories and recipes and crafts and stuff our ideas and our lives we talk about our lives and we become like dear abbeys to each other right oh I know I see you guys when you went out before I see all the fun you're having I thought gee I can wear one week and join you guys on you've got to wear a wig I'm gonna wear a wig okay so boss walks in I can wear one week and I can come all right so in that photo with you with the move the yellow move this is how we are so accustomed to seeing you on stage in your Hawaiian attire with your ukulele in hand Melvin so are you self taught with all your instruments because whenever I see you on Facebook or wherever you're always on an instrument and I'm like how in the world can you know how to all this music and the ukulele and singing so talented so were you self taught or were you yes when I was three years old my grandfather made an ukulele for me and what he did was he played and he put it in my hand and I copied him I copied him yeah and then I got older and he taught me how to play the other harp wow and then and I just he just played and I played and I can hear it yeah and then the guitar he played slack key and he played guitar I grabbed the guitar and I played yeah and even with keyboard loyal told me says Mel why don't you go and play piano you know you play piano I said but I never took lessons like you I cannot play like you she says Mel you can do anything you want to do if you put your heart to it I said yeah of course I know that and so I started because I played piano but only in the key of C yeah so now I learned the other keys but I don't know how to read notes I never did I never took lessons of any time no vocal no musical lessons or anything God gave me this gift and I'm using it now you know yeah so we have to mahalo you because yes you're using it um consistently and you never not and you never let anything say no you can't and I know we'll talk real brief about you your health journey but I know even during the lockdown you made it a point to entertain not only Hawaii but the world and um this is how the world gets to enjoy you and you're on Facebook every Sunday behind your keyboard um what does this do for you as you sing into Facebook and you see people pop in from all over the world what does it do for you Melvin? It is so wonderful because they get to hear our Hawaiian music and our and our how we are you know I mean we we just and I do and they're different I sing in different languages you know also as well yeah and to to know that they're there yeah that they're watching me all over to Norway you know I was so surprised and it was so nice and and gosh where else in Indonesia all over you know in Japan it's a wonderful plot that they can tune in you know hone in on my my my music that I could present you up to them and I know it makes them happy because from how they write to me yeah the things that they say so I'm very thankful for that I thank Jesus for that because I got my voice yeah still yeah I mean and you can see all the reactions um you have your regulars you know and um as much as I can I'm popping on and I'm listening or I'm just listening and I'm working but I see all your fans your friends your ohana from all over and the comments that they give to you and so we get warmed up because of that as well it's not I mean not just you benefit but you are um healing all of us through your music and all the good wishes that people are spent uh spreading when they share it with you so thank you and never stop and you know this one more thing I want to tell you real quick yes I keep myself I worry I'm going to be eating next year and I worry about if I should lose my speech or if I should have Alzheimer's or if I should you get I'm forgetful of course but not as as bad as I you know would think that I should be but you know what I do on my iPad I'm playing games like mindful games not games you know it's word games number games and things like that and I'm very competitive and it keeps me alert and I read you know and I of course I read my my word daily word every day and yes have to and and I keep myself in sync to to know that okay this is right and if I if I like one time I went into the kitchen and I forgot what I went into the kitchen for so my daughter said ah mom you forgot that what you went to went there for I grabbed the can of corn and I opened it up and I said okay for corn but you know it's things it's pretty cool it really is is scary yeah it is it is and so that's you know that's we all know as we get older the first thing is the memory we think the memory goes so yes what you're doing is you're doing exercise for your brain and that's so important that's why like for us I we I play mahjong you know I play dominoes and anytime you want to pick up a game and I'll come over with my dominoes we play dominoes but these are all brain strategy games that we're going to continue to exercise our brain and that's why you are who you are every sunday I know it takes preparation to put on your show you have themes you sing the songs of themes you know those are great activities so it's so important that we have that so important that we can continue to do what you're doing you know and don't ever stop because that also is great therapy for you and keeping you young yeah yeah yeah and crafts you know and I I I tell my friends eat healthy yeah eat vegetables and fruits too and I said and do a craft I do I make earrings and make your jewelry you know make sure yes I made this too of course yeah yeah you're never not busy you're always busy so you're gonna be forever young I crochet I knit you know I do something I know and you have a very loving husband who nurtures you and just keeps you on your toes as well as you keeping him on his toes so it goes both ways yes but you know Melvin of course our time has come to an end because we don't can see who will talk first and who will talk more between you and me but you've been watching taking your health back with Wendy and my special guest Melvin we need to say mahalo to you and thank you for talking story with us and making our world a much better sounding place to live in and please keep on blessing us with your god-given talents of song I'm Wendy Lowe and we'll be back with another edition of taking your health back mahalo Melvin and aloha everyone aloha I love you Wendy love you too thank you so much for watching think tech Hawaii if you like what we do please like us and click the subscribe button on youtube and the follow button on vimeo you can also follow us on facebook instagram and linked in and donate to us at think tech Hawaii comm mahalo