Theodore Takashi Chinen, known professionally as singer Teddy Tanaka, died Nov. 28 at the Queen’s Medical Center. He was 73.

To his fans, he was Mr. Happiness. To his former pastor, he was "joyful." To his ex-recording producer, he was the eternal optimist.

Tanaka had been battling esophageal cancer for the past 18 months and was in treatment at Queen’s and at the Mayo Clinic.

"Teddy was a very happy man with a great sense of humor, and he always tried to make anything and everything end with a happy ending," said his wife, Nanci Tanaka Chinen. "He loved life, he loved his family, he was the love of my life for 48 years."

He was widely known, here and abroad, as a pioneering Asian-American performer who parlayed a win in a high school talent contest into a full-fledged singing career. He achieved some of his own dreams but also gave hope to folks like him — ethnic minorities — aiming for the entertainment circle.

An early recording of the Japanese tune "Koko Ni Sachi Ari (Here Is Happiness)" became his ticket to fame and emerged as his career signature here and in Japan. He often was called "Mr. Happiness."

Teddy met Nanci in 1966 while both were working as vocalists in a strip club in Honolulu — the now defunct Oasis — "where he was a lead singer and I was second banana," said Nanci.

They had been part of a trio called The Tokyo Playmates, who later evolved into a popular nightclub showroom and recording act during the late 1960s and ’70s after they became a duo. In the heyday of Waikiki entertainment, Teddy and Nanci headlined clubs at the Ilikai Hotel (Opus One) and Outrigger East (On Stage), where they sang pop and Nippon tunes and did their impression of then-popular husband-and-wife legends, Sonny and Cher Bono. "I’d put on a turban and he put on fake mustache," said Nanci.

"I first met Teddy and Nanci when I was singing at the Miyako Hotel in San Francisco," said jazz singer Jimmy Borges. "I enjoyed their act — very professional and polished — and audiences loved them."

The couple were somewhat of a novelty then — a handsome Japanese-Okinawan vocalist with a Caucasian wife singing pop songs as well as Japanese melodies — "and as far as I know, they were the only musical act in the U.S. that were racially mixed. I’m sure they opened many young Asian eyes to the world of entertainment and the possibility of joining that world, if you have talent," said Borges.

Said Frances Kirk, a former entertainment director at the Outrigger Hotel, who also produced recordings with Teddy and Nanci: "He always was optimistic and pursued big dreams." She added, "Teddy always had a smile on his face and to him, nothing was impossible."

Tanaka, a 1959 McKinley High School graduate, fronted a doo-wop group called The Jokers, winning the Territorial Show of Stars competition. He went to Japan to record "Happiness," and when the tune became a hit, he was prompted to change his surname from Chinen to Tanaka, paying homage to Ray Tanaka, at that time a manager, musician and talent booker. The single led to his first album, "Here Is Happiness."

Their son, Nathan Chinen, a New York Times music reviewer and columnist, was too young to know his parents as performers but recently recalled, in his blog, The Gig, the role they played in the annals of the traveling show. The Tokyo Playmates, which preceded the Teddy and Nanci group, "were a serious road act, of the sort that doesn’t really exist anymore," wrote Nathan Chinen. "They played sharp, turn-on-a-dime arrangements of hit songs and popular fare (‘Spinning Wheel,’ ‘Colour My World,’ ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’) and changed the set almost as often as they whipped through costumes, accents and instruments. My father was the ringleader and front man; my mom was the glittery co-star and resident torch singer."

It was an act that played before showroom headliners like Frank Sinatra at Harrah’s in Reno, Nev., and Don Rickles at the Sahara in Las Vegas. Nanci said the variety and impression content was inspired when they saw the Society of Seven perform on the mainland.

They were married in 1968 at the Little Chapel of Flowers in Las Vegas, typifying the road act wedding, and did gigs here, throughout the U.S. and globally, including Japan.

The duo retired as pop artists when they became Christians in 1988, focusing on religious music. Said Rick Lazor, who now is with OlaNui! but was pastor at Nuuanu Baptist Church in the 1990s where the Tanakas often led Sunday morning worship celebrations, "Whatever went on before, Teddy’s joy in his newfound faith in Christ was infectious.

"Where Pharrell Williams is certainly ‘happy,’ Teddy was ‘joyful.’ He was able to pull the best from us. Of course, a huge part of that grace came with the fact that he was now playing to a new ‘audience.’"

Their 1998 Christian album, "Faith, Hope and Love," was nominated for a Na Hoku Hanohano Award. Since Tanaka’s death, the CD has been stirring new interest among his fans.

They were highly visible in the community, hosting Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon from 1977-84. They also had a TV variety show called "Televi Digest," also in the ’80s. And there was briefly a restaurant, Teddy and Nanci’s ’50s Cafe, on Dillingham Boulevard in Kapalama.

Tanaka was born in Hilo to musician parents. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, his father (an issei, Takahiko Chinen) was sent to internment camps for four years in Jerome, Ark., and then Tule Lake, Calif. His mother (a nisei, Kiyoko Chinen), volunteered to accompany him and bought along young Teddy.

After the end of World War II, the Chinens relocated back to Kapahulu and Teddy, who was speaking Japanese, had to learn English when he first attended Waikiki Elementary School.

Survivors include sisters May and Doris, and brother Ernest. Besides wife Nanci and son Nate, other survivors are daughter Harmoni Chinen; Sheri Chinen Gizis, Nanci’s daughter from an earlier marriage who was raised by the Tanakas; a son from Teddy’s first marriage, Anthony; six grandchildren; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Dec. 21 at Hosoi Garden Mortuary; visitation from 1 p.m.