TV

Esera Tuaolo may have made a name for himself on the football field, but it was long before his debut in a helmet and pads that the big Hawaiian got his first shot in front of a crowd.

The youngest child in his family, but by far the biggest ham, Tuaolo often got the call to entertain dinner guests with his voice and antics as his father played the ukulele and his mother plucked away at the guitar.

Back then, the song of choice was “God Bless My Daddy,” a melody his father taught him about a kid losing his father at a young age and being sent somewhere far away from his mother. At the age of nine, that song became prophetic when Tuaolo’s father passed away and he was sent to the United States to live with his older brother.

Still, the love of music his father instilled in him remained. Even as he pursued a career in football, he continued performing whenever he got the chance.

Tuaolo’s music and his football have mixed for years: He sang the national anthem before some football games at Oregon State; in 1991, he sang the Star-Spangled Banner before the Senior Bowl – the day the United States engaged in Operation Desert Storm; and he later became the only player to sing the national anthem before a National Football League game he played in, belting it out at Lambeau Field when his Green Bay Packers took on the Chicago Bears.

“I was singing where Vince Lombardi coached, with Mike Singletary across the field listening to me,” Tuaolo remembers of that historic day. “It was awesome.”

While the singing of the national anthem before stadiums of tens of thousands brought him great pride, he continued to long to get into a studio and begin recording an album. When the opportunity arose earlier this year to record a Christmas single, Tuaolo was ecstatic: He has always been a huge fan of holiday-themed music.

His new Christmas single, “First Christmas,” evokes great emotion from Tuaolo. Originally written for the Backstreet Boys by Joe Hogue, Tuaolo fell in love with it the first time he heard it. While it was written as a romantic love song, Tuaolo poured his love for his children into his performance.

“If there was a song for me to write for my children,” Tuaolo says, “this would be the one.”

In addition to the words of the song and his performance, Tuaolo’s love of his children – and children anywhere – shines with the donations he’ll be making to kids organizations after the holidays. A portion of the proceeds from the single sales will go to four organizations: Camp Heartland, PFLAG, The Trevor Project, and Minnesota AIDS Project.

The single also includes a bonus track of “Silent Night.” Tuaolo’s personal arrangement of the holiday classic, this version features not only the siren’s vocals, but also his strumming of the ukulele. While almost every version of “Silent Night” that hits the radio airwaves in December is haunting, Tuaolo’s version is triumphant and joyous. It’s also accented with a second verse in Samoan that gives a unique accent to the uplifting feel of the song.

On both tracks, Tuaolo's voice is gorgeous. He is blessed with a set of pipes that could truly rival the smoothest voices in R&B and the most energetic in pop.

After the holidays, Tuaolo is planning for a busy 2005. He expects to release his first album in the early summer (including a dance version of Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff”) and a full Christmas album in late autumn. His autobiography is expected out in autumn. While he is reluctant to talk much about his life story that will be unfolded in its pages, he did talk candidly about his friendship with Brett Favre, with whom he shared a room in training camp in the early ‘90s. He also mentioned getting arrested with the future Hall of Famer – but for more of that story, he says, you’ll have to read the book.

To order Tuaolo’s double single, visit his Web site at BigE98.com.

Nov. 27, 2004