LIHU‘E — “Is she here yet?” “Can I get her autograph?” The whispers and sometimes shouts across the back parking lot of Hilo Hattie here, and inside the crowded store, didn’t let up until LaToya Jackson stepped out of her
LIHU‘E — “Is she here yet?”
“Can I get her autograph?”
The whispers and sometimes shouts across the back parking lot of Hilo Hattie here, and inside the crowded store, didn’t let up until LaToya Jackson stepped out of her white Lincoln Navigator limo Thursday evening.
The famed singer, who got her start with her family’s act The Jackson Five in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, singing and tap dancing with her brothers, is in the state to promote a new perfume line, but yesterday was not made available to answer reporter questions about her brother Michael Jackson, under indictment for child molestation, or any other topic, for that matter.
Her first solo album was released in 1980 after she performed with her brothers and helped pen songs with her sister, Janet Jackson.
In the ‘80s she wrote Jimmy Cliff’s hit song “Reggae Nights.” After appearing in videos, penning a best-selling books, and posing for a Playboy pictorial, Jackson said she woke up one day and decided to “start over.”
Starting over includes release of a new CD, with JaTail Records, which she co-wrote and co-produced.
As one bystander, Jobe Allen, put it: “She’s R&B royalty.” Allen was waiting in line to get an autograph from Jackson for his 74-year-old father. Jackson was signing promotional posters available with purchases of Wicked Wahine perfume.
Jackson and international pop star Sarina Paris are traveling around Hawai‘i to endorse the sweet, exotic fragrance produced by Royal Hawaiian Perfumes.
The formula hasn’t changed in 40 years, made of a mixture of Hawaiian floral and Oriental ingredients.
“We have changed to new packaging. It’s a new look,” said Doug Esteban, director of operations and sales support for Royal Hawaiian Perfumes.
“We haven’t heard from her (Jackson) in a while. So it’s kind of like her, she’s starting over, too,” said Esteban.
When Jackson exited the stretch SUV, a crowd of well-wishers were gathered around the “secret” back entrance to the store, armed with digital cameras of all shapes and sizes. Some had ribbon and flower lei to give her.
Visitors who heard the news on local radio stations came to the store hoping to spice up their trip to Kaua‘i. Peter Shaw and wife Michelle of Minnetonka, Minn., handed pieces of scrap paper to their four children, who hoped to get autographs.
Anxiously waiting in line was daughter Marissa, 10, of whom Peter said, “She loves famous people.”
Dawn Puni, who didn’t have enough cash to purchase a bottle of perfume, still was able to snap a few photos and present Jackson with a blue, red and purple ribbon lei her auntie made on Wednesday night.
“She’s great, just like the rest of them. I think it’s great that she came here to a little store like Hilo Hattie,” exclaimed Puni. “It’s not every day that we see something like this on Kaua‘i.”
Lifestyle Writer Kendyce Manguchei may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226) or kmanguchei@pulitzer.net.
