George de Fretes
| George de Fretes | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 23rd 1921 Bandung, Indonesia |
| Died | 19th November 1981 Los Angeles County, California |
| Genres | Hawaiian music |
| Occupation(s) | Music |
| Instruments | Steel guitar |
| Associated acts | The Amboina Serenaders, Joyce Aubrey, Wanda de Fretes, Ming Luhulima, The Mena Moeria Minstrels , The Royal Hawaiian Minstrels, The Samoa Voices, The Tielman Brothers Rudi Wairata |
| Notable instruments | |
| Steel guitar | |
George de Fretes was a musician from Indonesia who found fame in the Netherlands. Like his fellow countrymen Ming Luhulima and Rudi Wairata, he found sizable popularity in the Netherlands and Europe playing Hawaiian music.
He came from Maluku Islands, Indonesia and was born 23 December 1921 in Bandung. He was married to Joyce Aubrey and together they had a daughter Wanda who was born in Bandung, Indonesia in 1946. She like her musical parents also would become a recording artist. By 1952, de Fretes and Aubrey had divorced and she had moved to the Netherlands taking their daughter Wanda with her. Aubrey joined the The Mena Moeria Minstrels as their singer. The group was headed by Ming Luhulima. It is believed that George de Fretes stowed away on a ship called the Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and arrived in the Netherlands around 1958.
He died on 19 November 1981. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery, Los Angeles County, California. He is buried next to his idol Sol Hoʻopiʻi.
George de Fretes was a multi instrumentalist. In addition to the stell guitar, he also played guitar, violin, trumpet and saxophone. He became a popular artist in the Netherlands, and like Luhulima had gained his fame there. Along with Luhulima he was responsible for the Portuguese style or genre of music in the Netherlands called Kroncong becoming well known. He is also credited with teaching Rudi Wairata techniques on the steel guitar.
In 1960, he released an EP record on the Fontana label that featured the song "Ou' OelateZ". Besides himself, the record featured Joyce Aubrey and Bill Toma on vocals. In 1966, he joined the Tielman Brothers for period of time and went on tour with them. Also in 1966, he recorded an album with Frank Valdor. Later he left to settle in the United States permanently. Around 1970, 1971, Hula Girl was released on the Eclipse label. This was actually a re-release of an earlier album, Aloha Keakua that was released on the Omega label.
In September 2010, his daughter Wanda took a trip from California to the third Chanos International Steel Guitar Festival aka CISGF which was held in Chanos-Curson, France. She was there to receive a posthumous European Steel Guitar Hall of Fame award for her father.
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