Myrtle Keahiʻaihonua Kalanikahea Hilo[1] (May 17, 1929 - October 3, 2009) was a native Hawaiian taxicab driver, radio personality, ʻukulele player and singer. Her signature album The Singing Cab Driver was released in 1967 on Makaha Records. She was born in Hauʻula, Hawaii on the island of O'ahu. In 1998 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts.
Myrtle Keahiʻaihonua Kahea Hilo was born in Hauʻula on the island of O'ahu, in the Territory of Hawaii. She attended McKinley High school, graduating in 1948. She married George Hilo, a heavy equipment operator for the Board of Water Supply. Together they had six children.[2] Hilo worked as a cashier, and a taxicab driver before achieving success in the entertainment business.[3]
In the late 1960s, she began to make a name for herself in Waikīkī. She accompanied herself on ʻukulele and recorded her first album The Singing Cab Driver on the Makaha Label. Hilo was featured at Sunday entertainment galas in Waikīkī promoted by Kimo Wilder McVay.[5] She had her own bi-weekly live broadcast on KHVH radio, from the Outrigger Reef Hotel, and a Sunday evening live broadcast from the Moana Hotel.[6][7]
Between 1967 and 1973, Hilo recorded three albums. Her break-out hit "Will You Love Me (When My Carburetor Is Busted)" eventually became a classic, and is believed to be a George Naʻope adaptation of the Benjamin (Bell) Zamberg's '"Carburetor the Automobile Song'" from Yiddish theatre.[8] By the 1970s she was filling in for Kahala Hilton headliner Danny Kaleikini.[9]
Hilo continued driving her taxicab on a full-time basis, sometimes picking up fares after she closed her show at night. Although she took regular fares, she also sometimes accommodated private tours. Travel companies began an arrangement with her for use of her name for United States mainland tours, while booking her as the on-board entertainment.[10]
After three successive family deaths in 1976, her husband and both her parents, she took a sabbatical from performing and moved to Tacoma, Washington.[11]
^"Marriage applications". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. December 18, 1948. p. 32, col. 2. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "What do you think?". The Honolulu Advertiser. June 15, 1952. pp. 11, 1. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Myrtle K. .Hilo". www.territorialairwaves.com. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
^"KHVH's Singing Cabbie". The Honolulu Advertiser. March 31, 1968. p. 91. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "Radio listings". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. April 21, 1968. p. 117, col. 2. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Carburetor Song". www.huapala.org. Retrieved June 11, 2018.; Harada, Wayne (February 20, 1968). "Myrtle, Vicki Albums Charm". The Honolulu Advertiser. p. 25. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^Harada, Wayne (January 22, 1972). "another Hilo hukilau-ing". The Honolulu Advertiser. p. 21. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Obituaries - Harry Kahea". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. May 25, 1976. p. 32. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "George Hilo Sr. obit". The Honolulu Advertiser. July 20, 1976. p. 22. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "obituaries - Annie Kehea". The Honolulu Advertiser. December 28, 1976. p. 40. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; Harada, Wayne (November 21, 1979). "Chit-chat". The Honolulu Advertiser. p. 13. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^Donnelley, Dave (June 19, 1987). "19 Jun 1987, 20 -". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 20, col. 4. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.