Don Ho’s Little Girl Grows Up
The eighth of the legendary singer’s 10 children, Kea Ho grew up on stage singing and dancing with Dad. Now she’s in the spotlight as an actress, singer, model and swimsuit designer.
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says about the experience. “So, I ended up going back into music and modeling and the entertainment business, which is in my blood. My dad was getting really sick at the time and he always wanted me to be a singer, he wanted all of us to be singers. I recorded the cover of Michael Buble’s Home for him, which he picked for me because I was always so homesick for him and Hawaii.
“He kept it in a CD player next to his bed. We intended to do it as a duet, but he passed away before he was able to record it. One of his greatest desires was to have a duet album with his kids.”
Ho also started working on music projects with deejays in the underground club scene in L.A. and New York, and headlined a couple of her own shows, which led to modeling jobs. She’s appeared in international high-fashion magazines including Cosmopolitan Hong Kong, Marie Claire Latin America, Vogue Taiwan and Self China. Maxim UK called her its “most international model ever” (she’s Hawaiian, Chinese, German and Portuguese from her father, and Spanish, Mexican, English, Native American and Czech from her mother), and Playboy featured her in its “Becoming Attraction” section in August 2010.
She also appeared in Adam Sandler’s recent film Just Go With It, and has become a sought-after host for numerous club venues and events, such as red-carpet corresponding for Who’s Next What’s Next LA Fashion Week, co-hosting the Southern California Slack Key Guitar Festival, and Summer Solstice at the Playboy Mansion benefitting Rescue Humanity.
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“When they asked me to host this charity event (at the Playboy Mansion), I was really excited because the charity side of stuff is something I’m trying to get more involved in,” says Ho, who sponsors a child in Honduras through Christian Foundation for Children and Aging. “One of my dreams is to create a charity foundation in my dad’s name for children in Hawaii for music and the arts. For me, as somebody who is kind of creating my career but still establishing myself, it’s important to do these kinds of things early because a lot of my world is very superficial and self-involved. My goal is basically to become the people I admire, such as Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Lopez, who created their own brand and also use their celebrity status to influence the things they believe in. I want to be able to establish myself on that level so I can have more of an influence on things I feel are worthy of putting time and energy into, such as different charities.”
Her charity work includes spearheading a new organization that involves getting together top glamour models in L.A. to do various charitable outreaches, from homelessness to beach cleanups.
“I never wanted to be famous growing up and didn’t pursue show business until after my father’s death, and the hardships that accompanied that led me to have a strong desire to have a bigger voice in the world,” says Ho. “That desire to have a bigger voice in the world in order to better effect change is what drives me in my career and show biz, as well as my love for the arts, because it is what I know and grew up in, and music is my soul.”
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Ho’s latest project, Lovechilde by Kea Ho, is a sexy bikini line inspired by the worlds of fashion, music, Japanese anime, films, the beach and the glamour world. “It’s everything I’m about,” she explains. “I tried to incorporate all of that into a suit and make it not just for swimming, but also something that when you’re wearing it, it’s like a showpiece. It’s functional and comfortable. You can wear it at a photo shoot, in the water, on the beach or to a glamourous pool party.
“I also want to design party dresses. My fashion style is more over the top. It’s definitely very sexy, but also about being a strong woman. It’s extremely edgy and original.”
That adorable little girl on stage with her famous father has sure grown up. Now a beautiful, independent woman making it big on her own, Ho may not have her daddy’s arm to hold on to (as they used to walk arm-in-arm everywhere they went), but it’s her memories with him that keep her going. And that’s something she holds on to protectively and lovingly.
Dad would be proud.
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