Periodontist Dr. Matthew Hashimoto helps put his patients’ nerves at ease with some music from Etta James or Bonnie Raitt.
Growing up in Hawaii, the radio was always playing tunes from Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder, so it’s no wonder he developed a taste for soul music early on, and that he started singing when he was just a toddler.
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A lot of people who loved getting up and performing in front of an audience as a kid get too self conscious to continue into adulthood. But fortunately for us, Dr. Hashimoto’s interest never waned, and he started getting more serious about his music when he was in college. The 35-year-old eventually went on to become a periodontist, but he’s continued his passion for music as a member of a Stevie Wonder cover band, “The Shades,” and that means his patients are sometimes treated to some in-house entertainment.
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They can’t critique them, at least not while he’s working on their teeth. But we imagine they’re as enthusiastic as anyone who’s ever watched him perform on stage, including at New York’s Apollo Theater, which has launched such legends as James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. Six years ago, he won first place during an amateur night competition there, earning the title “Super Top Dog”with his crowd-pleasing rendition of Etta James’ 1960 hit, “At Last.â€
That’s the same song he performed in April, with a vocal maturity that had the audience on its collective feet and roaring its approval within the first 10 seconds of the opening note!
In an interview afterward, Steve Harvey asked whether he’d be willing to give up his periodontal practice to sing full-time, but Dr. Hashimoto’s response is surprising. He loved performing at the Apollo and said being able to get up on stage and show everybody what he could do was “life changing.”
Still, he loves being able to help people on a day-to-day basis as a periodontist, so ideally, he’d continue that by day and pursue his musical interests by night.
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In the season finale, members of the audience knew they were in for a treat when he took the stage, and his powerful cover of Bonnie Raitt’s 1991 hit, “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” certainly did not disappoint! Check it out in the video below, and share if you’re as stunned as everyone else by the power in those pipes.
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