Liz Damon's Orient Express was a 1970s band from Hawaii, featuring lead singer Liz Damon, two female backup singers and a rotating backup band. The name apparently derived from the original backup band being entirely Asian. Their only song to make the BillboardHot 100Top 40 was "1900 Yesterday", which made it to No. 33 on the US and No. 15 on the Canadian charts in early 1971. Most impressively, it peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey.
Band members
Damon's backup singers on the 1970 album At the Garden Bar, Hilton Hawaiian Village were her sister Edda Damon and Sydette Sakauye. In the early 1970s, Sakauye left and was replaced by Meri McPherson. While the Damon sisters and McPherson appeared to be constants, their backup band appeared to undergo numerous personnel changes. Meri McPherson married Native Hawaiian activist and Kamehameha Schools classmate Kela M. Whifa after leaving the group in 1984. He was the inspiration for the Sons of Hawaiihit song "Kela Mea Whifa" written about a Maui sugar mill. McPherson also sang back-up for a few years with the Cowsills. The Meawhifas currently live in Hilo, Hawaii, and are planning a comeback reunion tour. Currently, the band has reformed and is on the "Liz Damon and the Orient Express" Facebook page.
Performances and recording
The band was the house band at the Garden Bar at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for 18 months and recorded its first album, At the Garden Bar, Hilton Hawaiian Village in 1970. Originally released on Makaha Records, it was then picked up by White Whale Records, who released it as an eponymous album and also released "1900 Yesterday" as a single. White Whale Records was under financial distress at the time and folded shortly after "1900 Yesterday" became a hit. Liz Damon's Orient Express released Burt Bacharach's "Loneliness Remembers " for the Anthem label in late 1971, and it became their second and last US chart single, and the only charted version of that song, which was originally recorded by Dionne Warwick. The group released three more albums during the 1970s consisting mostly of covers. In 1979, the group released a comedy album. During the late 1970s, the band moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where they performed until their breakup in the mid-1980s. Only Liz Damon's Orient Express is available in print today, although "1900 Yesterday" appears on some compilations of 1970s mellow music.
