We all know this famous song, but very few people know who was the artist

We all know the song, but very few of the artist who covered, with Hawaiian-style, the old success of Judy Garland: Somewhere over Rainbow.

In fact, today is not the main theme of the film the wizard of Oz (1939) which sounds on the radio in the world, but the cover made by this soft-spoken giant rhythm of ukulele in 1993.

The soft-spoken giant

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole was born in 1959 and was a noted Hawaiian musician who knew how to merge the ethnic sound of their land with touches of jazz and reegae with great talent. His soft, melodious voice and the sound of their inseparable ukulele completed their particular and distinctive musical style.

He started playing at age 11, forming a group with his brother Skippy Kamakawiwoʻole ' ole. Together would achieve a great success on the island with their songs, until Skippy died of a heart attack in 1982, allegedly related to obesity that suffered.

We do not know if Israel decided to ignore what happened with his brother but he also suffered from a serious obesity. A disease that affected him most of his adulthood, weighing 340 kg and suffering a lot of medical problems.

He died in 1997 for respiratory problems resulting from your illness. He was only 38 years old. Back left their magnificent album Facing Future, which includes the famous versions of What a Wonderful World and Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Far from mourn his death, more than 10,000 people attended the Makua Beach to celebrate his life and legacy. There, in a beautiful ceremony the ashes to the sea were dumped while they sang their songs. Images which, by the way, can be seen at the end of his official music video, which already has more than 247 million reproductions. Do not miss it.

Disney-Pixar recently paid tribute to the artist with the beautiful short film: Lava, which tells the story of love between two volcanoes.