Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Music Video of the Week)

Music Video of the Week, 26 Jun 2017

Israel "IZ" KamakawiwoʻOle – TRANSCEND Media Service

The funeral and the scattering of “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole’s ashes in Hawai’i were featured in this documentary music video released posthumously. 289,584,132 YouTube views as of May 14, 2017. He died at the age of 38 on June 26, 1997.

Throughout his life, Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole was morbidly obese and at one point weighed 767 pounds (348 kg) standing 6-foot-2-inch (1.88 m) tall.  The Hawaii state flag flew at half-staff on July 10, 1997, the day of his funeral. His koa wood coffin lay in state at the state capitol building in Honolulu. He was the third person in Hawaiian history to be awarded this honor, and the only one who was not a government official. Approximately ten thousand people attended the funeral. Thousands of fans gathered as his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean at Mākua Beach in Hawai’i on July 12, 1997.

RIP dear friend with a heart so big it weighed 348 kg.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 26 Jun 2017.

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