HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A new documentary is sharing the little known story of Larry Ramos, a Kauai boy who became the first Asian American to win a Grammy.
Emmy award-winning journalist and documentarian Rick Quan is the producer and director of “Along Comes Larry: the Larry Ramos story” and joined HNN’s Sunrise to talk about the film.
He said he created the film to help give Ramos the recognition he deserves for breaking racial barriers as the only non-white member of two of the biggest groups of the 1960s, The New Christy Minstrels and The Association.
Born in Waimea on Kauai in 1942 and of Filipino descent, Ramos won an ukulele competition when he was seven and gained national exposure when he appeared on the Arthur Godfrey Show. He moved to California in the early 1950s and starred in the nationwide tour of “The King and I” with Yul Brynner.
In 1962, he joined the folk rock group The New Christy Minstrels and won a Grammy for Best Performance by a Chorus. In 1967, he joined the group The Association and was a lead vocalist on the hit songs “Windy” with Russ Giguere and “Never My Love” with Terry Kirkman.
“Along Comes Larry: the Larry Ramos story” will be screened at the Hawaii International Film Festival on Oct. 21-22 on Oahu and Nov. 2 on Kauai. For tickets, visit hiff.org.
Click here to view the trailer for ‘Along Comes Larry, the Larry Ramos story’.
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