Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole is a prominent American celebrity wife. Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole is famous as the wife of the late Hawaiian musician, Hawaiian sovereignty activist, and singer-songwriter.
Early life and Childhood
Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole was born in the year 1962 and she is 59 years old as of 2021. She is originally from Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, and her birth name is Marlene Ah Lo. There is no verified information regarding her parents, siblings, and other family details. Further, she also has yet to share insights into her educational journey.
Caption: Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole captured while touring the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center in the year 2007. Source: The Honolulu Advertiser
Career and Professional Life
Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole is famous as the celebrity partner of Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. Late Israel is also popular as the “Hawaiian of the fearless eye, the boldface”. Israel is also famous as Bruddah Iz or Iz. Her late husband was a Hawaiian prominent musician, singer-songwriter, and Hawaiian sovereignty activist. Besides this, she also professionally had a part-time job in the cardiology department of Kaiser Permanente’s Moanalua Medical Center.
Talking more about her late husband’s achievements, Israel Kamakawiwoʻole gained commercial success outside Hawaii with his album Facing Future. The late singer released his second studio album in the year 1993. Likewise, Israel released his medley of Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World on his albums Ka ʻAnoʻi and Facing Future.
Likewise, he recorded this song in one take in the year 1988. Milan Bertosa revealed this information in a 2011 interview. It was past 3 am when her late husband recorded this song. He recorded it at a Honolulu recording studio and its owner was Milan Bertosa.
Subsequently, several films, TV programs, and tv commercials featured this medley. Actually, this song became widely popular in the year 1999. This was when an excerpt of this song was used in the TV commercials for eToys.com.
Similarly, several movies also featured the full song. Some of them are Finding Forrester, K-Pax, Meet Joe Black, 50 First Dates, Fred Claus, Letters to Santa, Son of the Mask, and IMAX: Hubble 3D. Moreover, some TV series that featured Israel’s Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World are Modern Family, ER, Scrubs, Cold Case, Storm Chasers, Glee, South Pacific, Lost, and the UK original version of Life on Mars among numerous others.
Caption: Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole posing for a photo with her late husband Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. Source: Pinterest
Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole’s Late Husband’s Legacy
Her late husband’s ukulele playing and incorporation of other genres remains influential in Hawaiian music. Israel incorporated several genres of music including jazz and reggae.
Then on 6 December 2010, NPR named her late husband as the Voice of Hawaii. NPR did this in its 50 great voices series. Likewise, on 24 March 2011, her late husband also received the honor of the German national music award “Echo”. As Israel was no more in this world to receive this award, the music managers Wolfgang Boss and Jon de Mello accepted the trophy.
Additionally, on 20 May 2020, Google Doodle published a page to celebrate Israel Kamakawiwoʻole’s 61st birthday. This page featured information about her ex-husband’s life, musical career, and impact on Hawaii. This also included a two-minute cartoon video with Israel Kamakawiwoʻole’s cover of Somewhere Over the Rainbow playing as the background and imagery of Hawaii.
Caption: Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole and her late husband Israel Kamakawiwoʻole were the inspiration behind the two volcanoes featured in the short film ‘Lava’. Source: Reddit
Relationship Status
Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole was married to Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. The couple has a daughter named Ceslie-Ann “Wehi”. Wehi has four children and she legally adopted two of her eldest grandchildren. Likewise, she is raising her two younger children with their father. Marlene is raising her two eldest grandchildren in her Pearl City home.
Her marriage lasted until Israel’s untimely demise due to chronic medical problems that included respiratory and cardiac issues. Israel passed away at the young age of 38 years in the Queen’s Medical Center at 12:18 a.m. on 26 June 1997.
Her husband’s funeral was on 10 July 1997. On this day, the Hawaiian flag flew at half-staff. At present, Israel’s koa wood casket lay at the state capitol building in Honolulu. This makes her husband the third person and the only non-government official to be honored like this in Hawaii. During Israel’s funeral, approximately 10,000 people attended. Moreover, his family scattered Israel’s ashes into the Pacific Ocean at Mākua Beach. At this time, thousands of fans gathered. Additionally, this was back on 12 July 1997.
Caption: Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole posing for a photo with her late husband Israel and their daughter Wehi. Source: The Honolulu Advertiser
Body Measurements
Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole stands tall at an approximate height of 5 feet 6 inches or 1.68 meters and her weight is around 65 Kgs or 143 lbs. Similarly, she has a chest-waist-hip measure of around 43-34-40 inches. Similarly, she has dark brown hair and eyes of the same color.
Social Media and Net Worth
It seems like Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole doesn’t have a personal account on any social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Tiktok, etc. Moving on, talking about her net worth and earnings, there is no verified information. Her late husband, Israel has a net worth estimation of $3 million US dollars.
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