Posted at 10:31 a.m., Wednesday, June 21, 2006 (Honolulu Advertiser)
Entertainer Dick Jensen dies at 64
Advertiser staff
Dick Jensen, a nightlife figure in the Waikiki and Las Vegas of the 1960s through the 1980s, died this morning. He was 64. Nicknamed “The Giant” for his outsize talent, Jensen, who was inducted into the Hawai’i Academy of Recording Arts’ Lifetime Achievement circle in May, had been suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease. He died from complications from tracheotomy surgery, his daughter Renee Jensen Oliveira said.
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Dick (center) with Tom and Sweetie Moffatt
Dick was a kind man, a gentle Giant, an inspiration to all Hawaii’s performers, and one of the greatest local talents ever to rise to international fame.
He wasn’t Don Ho or Alfred Apaka or Sam Kapu…the men who made Hawaiian music famous. He was our very first Vegas-caliber showman, headlining next to Wayne Newton, Tom Jones, and Engelbert Humperdinck, doing the moonwalk long before Michael Jackson ever did it, dancing up a storm on the Ed Sullivan show (7 minutes, Ed gave him!), and traveling around the world to entertain his legion of fans.
In his latter years he became Reverend Dick Jensen, with such a fervor and passion for God. It was his wish that he be taken off life support on Father’s Day and be allowed to return home to the Lord.
He’s wowing ‘em in Heaven. Huzzah!