Biography

Butch O'Sullivan, whether performing live on-stage or just jamming with friends in the backyard, makes the music come alive with his musical stylings. He sings from the heart giving all he has to his music and his audience. Unlike other singers with limited repertoires, Butch is a completely self-contained entertainer -- a literal one-man show. He caters to his audiences -- playing their requests, if need be, strolling through the tables to meet them in person... and touching their hearts with his songs. Over the years, his music has gained him the respect of his musical peers and developed for him a loyal following of thousands of fans from around the world.

Butch grew up in `Aieauka, then a sleepy sugar plantation town then outside of Honolulu proper. Life was slow in those days and you knew everybody. `Aiea was surrounded by sugar cane fields and had a multicultural flavor. All the kids walked around barefoot and life was so simple. The family house was always filled people dropping in to visit and on the weekends, there was always a backyard get-together. He first learned to play music from his kupuna (elders) at these backyard parties. Though his first cheap guitar wouldn't stay tuned, he would struggle to follow his uncles and aunties on the chords. He remembers, "My Uncle Boy (Frank Ferreira) played the guitar at the backyard parties that we always had at the house. It was from him that I learned to play the guitar. I watched him and enjoyed the strength of his strumming and those cool chords he played." From these musical roots, he has carried on the traditions of Hawaiian music taught to him by his kupuna. To him, there is nothing better than playing at a backyard luau surrounded by family and friends. Listening to his Hawaiian music and the sweet sounds of his guitar, one can sense his deep love and respect for his culture.

Both sides of his family have deep roots to `Aiea. His father's family was amongst the first homesteaders of `Aiea Heights and his grandfather laid out the road that leads to his home today. The Japanese side of the family moved to `Aiea from Kapaa, Kaua`i, in the 1920s after his grandparents served out their contract on the plantation. Surrounded by family, life in his early years seemed idyllic. However, in the mid-50s the construction industry in the Honolulu area slowed and his father had to seek work on the outer islands to provide for the family and his mother's strength held the family together. Times were tough, but the kids never knew poverty. Though they didn't have any fancy clothes, they had an almost idyllic childhood hiking in the hills of `Aiea Forest Reserve with cousins who lived just down the road. He still lives in the home of his childhood -- a home filled with fond memories. He remembers his father sitting on the front porch after finishing work in the garden, playing his harmonica with a bottle of beer close at hand. "The porch acted like a heat sink from the afternoon sun and was warm as the evening cooled down." He remembers his mother always in the kitchen cooking for the groups of people that always flocked to the house -- or puttering in her hot-house with her prize orchids.

After attending public schools in `Aiea, he went on to attend The Kamehameha Schools for Boys-- a famous school for children of Hawaiian ancestry. There his eyes were opened to the beauty of art... an avocation he has pursued in addition to his music. Later in life, he would graduate from the University of Hawai`i with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Having worked in all media, working mainly in fine sculpture is his passion. Two of his art works (a welded sculpture and a fabric screen print) are in the permanent collection of the Hawai`i State Foundation of Culture and the Arts. Even today, a sketch pad is never far away from his hand and his backyard is filled with unfinished metal sculptures. (Click here to see Butch's Art page.)

Though they encouraged his love of music, his parents never thought that he would ever make music a lifetime career. Butch reminisces, "I remember my father took us to a music store at the Moanalua Shopping Center after church one Sunday morning. He bought this 78 rpm record sung by Aunty Genoa Keawe -- "Puamana" -- and brought it home. I was confused as we had an old Emerson console record player whose turntable worked, but no sound came out. Ingenious as my father was, he simply went into the kitchen, got a water glass from the cupboard, and gave it to me. I learned the words by putting that glass to the tone arm as its needle rode the grooves on the spinning disc as it spun inwards towards the spindle."

His music has always been his first love. His first band, the Diablos, was made up of his neighborhood friends. They won the first place trophy at the first University of Hawai`i Talent Contest in 1963- Bette Midler was in the same contest with a folk trio which won first place in their division. He recalls, "Life then was simpler than it is now and the music reflected this romantic simplicity. This is when I started to learn how to play music. Instrumental groups armed with guitars and saxophones were also products of these times." Though his friends went onto other careers, he continued on playing with various groups to perfect his craft. The first years were lean ones where he worked at day-jobs, while playing at night in hole-in-the-wall bars. He remembers those times well. "I have played in so many bars and restaurants in my lifetime. Some hotels would turn the restaurant into a bar after the dinner hour was over. The managers in these places never looked at the energy or the soul of the musician. Naturally, the bottom line in profits was all they ever cared about. The musician singing his heart out in these places was disheartened as there were so many other distractions."

However, as his skills matured, he went on to become a full-time musician playing in the top clubs in Waikiki. In the 1979, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he played in dinner clubs for four years. But in the early 80s when a recession made music jobs scarce, his music took him on the road. He remembers, "It was always a lonely time for me because I traveled alone. I always had to leave early and the house was always empty when I came back to it. So many times I had to leave these towns in other states that I had just played in while everyone was still sleeping. I had to get to the next state to set up and play my music again." He remembers having to travel two-thirds the length of the USA in two days - from Lamar, Colorado to Petersburg, Virginia. "At 3AM on a Sunday morning after I finished playing that night, I loaded up the truck, and drove to Petersburg, Virginia. Upon arriving at 8 PM on a Monday night, I was so tired that I could hardly hold up my guitar. I asked the manager if I could have the night off and he said that if I didn't play, I wouldn't have a contract. So I had to set up and play at 9PM for four hours."

Hawai`i kept calling him home. He returned to Hawai`i in 1984. It was by chance that he got another gig. A friend asked him to sit-in and after 2 songs, the manager of the restaurant offered him a 7 night-a-week gig. He continued to play his music in the top clubs of Waikiki. But in 1989, the Eldorado Casino Hotel in Reno offered him an attractive offer to play in one of their lounges. This led to him playing in Carson City, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, and Laughlin in Nevada. After that he moved to prestigious dinner clubs and hotels in Palm Springs-Coachella Valley, California area. But again Hawai`i beckoned him home. In 1993, he returned to Hawai`i to care for his parents till they passed on. He continued his solo music performances in Waikiki at the Moana-Surfrider Hotel, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, and at the Ihilani Hotel. In 1998, as a soloist, he joined the crew of the American Hawai`i Cruise Lines where he performed on board the S.S. Independence. In June of 2001, Norwegian Cruise Lines approached him and offered him a lounge headliner position. He now works aboard one of the newest, finest cruise ships in the world, the M.S. Norwegian Star; the Star is often rated by www.cruisecritic.com as the best overall cruise ship in the world, as well as the number one in entertainment among all cruise ships (as of July 2003).

As a soloist, he's able to bring his personal form of music to the audience and "to play music to make the world better." He realizes that as an entertainer he is privileged to bring happiness and brightness into people's lives. He sings from his heart and along the way he has touched the hearts of so many others.

Go to Top of Page