Kapono, Henry

He is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, producer, actor and author born Henry Kapono Hosea Ka’aihue on Oahu, Hawaii, and raised in Kapahulu. He tends to use “Kapono” as his surname in his performance career, with the Hawaiian translation into English being “righteous”.

His first musical experiences came at home as a child and he was a member of a children’s choir at his local church. He began learning the guitar and his father taught him the ukulele but his heart was in sport back then and he gained full scholarships for baseball at the Honolulu Academy and football at the University of Hawaii. His professional football dreams faded when he suffered an injury and it wasn’t until then that he decided on a career in music.

He started by performing folk music in Waikiki and soon progressed to becoming a member of the rock group Pakalolo, which appeared all over Hawaii and at venues in the Far East. During two of the Vietnam years he became a permanent fixture there after a tour company stranded him and the group and they performed for the troops while working their way to Thailand. On his return to Hawaii he immediately found further work as half of the successful duo Cecilio & Kapono with Cecilio Rodriguez. They released eight albums that include Elua, Night Music and Summerlust over as many years before going their own separate ways at the beginning of the 1980s, although they still make a point of re-uniting every year.

This was when he decided to go it alone again and release his 1981 album Kapono: Stand in the Light. He has since gone on to release at least another 14 albums, which include Duke’s on Sunday, Evolution of Poi, Home in the Islands, Same World, Song for Someone, Spirit Dancer and Wild Hawaiian. Appearing as a guest/session singer with other artists he has also been heard in concert in Waikiki with Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band and on recordings such as Night Flight by Yvonne Elliman and One More Mile by Jim Messina.

Recognised for his music, he has been in receipt of the Best Album of the Year, Best Single of the Year, Best Song of the Year and Best Male Vocalist of the Year at Hawaii’s Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, which are considered a Grammy equivalent. Outside of acting he has worked as an actor in several television shows including Byrds of Paradise, Live With Regis & Kathy Lee and Magnum P.I. He has also appeared in the movies Behold Hawaii, Damien and Waterworld and appeared and composed for Dance of the Long Bone.

As if this isn’t all enough, he is also an award winning children’s author whose A Beautiful Hawaiian Day won the Ka Palapala Po’okela Award for Best Book in 2000.

3rd June was decreed Henry Kapono Day by Honolulu’s mayor in 1998.

Here he is performing “Na Ali’i”…

Sources:

Kapono, Henry

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