Manny Lagod

Manny LaGod wins Award for "Male Singer/Song Writer of the Year!
Genre: World Music!
Song: Sunday Mornings

Main event finals, November 9th 2006
The Music Box Theater @ The Fonda. Los Angeles, CA.
- Los Angeles Music Awards

Date:
7/27/2006 8:25:55 PM

Status:
Selected

Response:
Congratulations Manny LaGod! Your track has been selected for the 20th Annual Brewhouse Triathlon Compilation. With so many amazing artists submitting for the project, it was difficult to select so few. You and your track stood out!


- Fitger's Brew House

Distinguishing notes:

Manny LaGod used to be Manny Lagodlagod, a onetime singer-bassist with Don Ho's sidekicks, The Aliis.

This CD — his first solo outing — is a lifelong dream come true that proves his pipes are still in working order, that he still can sell a romantic ballad and that he still has sex appeal (remember when he was nicknamed Pussy Galore?).

The material reflects an earlier era, from the title song — a cover of George Harrison's classic — to 1970s and '80s standards such as "Besame Mucho," "Volare," and "MacArthur Park." A medley of "Goin' Out of My Head," "What a Wonderful World" and "Over the Rainbow," plus a revival of his signature "Makahilahila (Bashful Eyes)" offer more nostalgia.

His backup support is on target, creating a clubby sentiment amid a light jazz format. A kiddie chorus enhances "Hey, Jude"; "My Beautiful Hawai'i," one of four LaGod originals, signals his love for his former hometown

Wayne Harada/Hon. Advertiser - Honolulu Advertiser

"Something” written by George Harrison and recorded by Manny LaGod is chosen for Oasis compilation Sampler! It is the #1 song track (out of 36 artist – 2-disc set) on Oasis Jazz Volume VI #3 Sampler. Distributed to radio stations in Jazz Genre, Easy listening! - Manny LaGod

Manny LaGod, one of the original Aliis who helped Don Ho pack 'em in at Duke Kahanamoku's in the International Market Place in the 1960s, has been living on the mainland for years and will release a CD in June.

Besides singing, Manny played bass guitar in his years with the Aliis. But back in his Farrington High days in the late 1950s, Manny played clarinet in the school's band, which was the best high school band in town.

A clarinet player who sat next to him was named Ben Cayetano. Yep, the Farrington student who went on to become governor of the great state of Hawaii used to play the licorice stick.

Manny said that he bought Cayetano's clarinet from him for $50, making a deal to pay him $5 a week. "I could hardly make the payments, what with the $5-per-week allowance I had," Manny said. "I had to shoot pool and do odd jobs to earn the extra $5 per week, and I sometimes fell short." Manny said the ex-gov recently talked to him about getting together for lunch and golf, and to talk about high school days ... - Ben Wood / Entertainment / Honolulu Star Bulletin

http://www.easyreadernews.com/story.php?StoryID=20034054&IssuePath

During the normal work week, Manny LaGod is the affable, mild-mannered barber customers have come to know and trust at Coronado’s barber shop and salon on Calle Mayor where Torrance meets Redondo. He’s been wielding scissors and combs at the comfortable strip mall shop since 1981, when he took the operation over from his father-in-law. The place – in business at the same location since 1963 — is always busy. There are two other barbers – er, stylists, as some are want to be known – employed at the bright, friendly shop.

But, as night falls, LaGod oftentimes reverts to the ways of a life he enjoyed before taking up the shears and buzz cuts of barberdom. Manny is an accomplished singer with an impressive resume whose talents will be showcased Sept. 21 in a show entitled “Memories” at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center at Cal State Long Beach.

It’s a big show. Featured artists include the Scott Martin Latin Soul Jazz Band; Akemi Welsh’s Polynesian Paradise; singers Janelle Sadler, Elaine Gibbs and Angela Gacad; the Latin Party Rage Dancers, plus more surprises.

This diversified group of entertainers opens for LaGod. “I don’t come out until after intermission,” he humbly admitted. His show and his history is highly influenced by his native home of Hawaii, though Manny promises all will not be ukuleles and hula dancers when he takes the stage. Be assured, LaGod can handle almost any style of music – always with an uncanny sense of ease. Perry Como, a crooning barber through the 1940s-‘60s (for those of you old enough to remember), was known for his casual presentation. When Manny sings, he makes Perry look like he’s popping speed. For this South Bay resident of about three decades, singing before a crowd of thousands is no more difficult than trimming a South High teen’s bangs.


- Easy Reader

http://www.presstelegram.com/lifestyle/ci_10501284

For the last 28 years, Manny LaGod has been cutting hair at a barbershop on Calle Mayor in Torrance - the rhythm of his days defined by the clickety-click of scissors and the melodic hum of electric shears.

But it's on nights when he plays gigs - at bars, birthdays, parties, weddings - or when he's writing and arranging songs that his real sense of self emerges.

It is then that he invokes the spirits of his idols: Engelbert Humperdinck, Bobby Darin and, of course, Frank Sinatra.

And then there was the late Don Ho, for whom LaGod's band, the Aliis, played backup for five years.

Ho died in April 2007 and in part to memorialize the popular Hawaiian singer, LaGod is presenting and performing in a musical extravaganza Sunday at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center at Cal State Long Beach.


- Press Telegram