Born and raised on the Big Island, Ilima Shim’s first brush with fame came when she was on the Konawaena High School varsity track team and earned a place on the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Track and Field All-Star Team in 2003. Read more
Ask multi-Na Hoku Hanohano Award winner Robi Kahakalau the standard local question, “Where ya from?” and she’ll say she was “made in Hawaii and born in Germany.” Read more
Heua‘olu Sai-Dudoit’s hyphenated last name is worthy of explanation since it connects two families with longtime ties to the local music community. Read more
Raised in Michigan and Vermont, Daniel A. Kelin II earned a degree in theater at the University of Vermont and then decided to continue his education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Read more
The HBO reality show “We’re Here,” created by Stephen Warren and Johnnie Ingram, follows show stars Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela Laquifa Wadley as they go to small-town America recruiting residents to become their “drag daughters” and perform with them in a one-night drag show. Read more
Born and raised in Aiea, Susan Soon He Stanton got an early start toward her successful career as a playwright, author and screenwriter when she began to explore theater while attending Punahou School. Read more
No‘u Revilla was born and raised in Waiehu on the north coast of Maui, where she grew up immersed in Native Hawaiian culture. Read more
Englishman Jon Woodhouse grew up in London as it was becoming ground zero for the international cultural revolution known as the British Invasion. Read more
At 57, ocean cinematographer Mike Prickett has triumphed over physical setbacks that could have been insurmountable. Read more
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Babyface — recording artist, songwriter, record producer, movie producer, record label executive — was performing and recording professionally while he was still in his teens. Read more
Fans will be able to hear the new songs when Kolohe Kai opens the “Hazel Eyes” tour on Sept. 10 at the Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell. Read more
Last month, Kulaiwi’s debut album, “Native Lands,” won album of the year, group of the year and Hawaiian music of the year at the 2022 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. Read more
Hawaiian slack key music returns to Waikiki this weekend as Milton Lau and the Ki-ho‘alu Foundation present the 40th Annual Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival “Waikiki Style” Saturday at the Waikiki Aquarium. Read more
Matty Hiroto Inaba was visiting Japan with his mother in 2015 when a Rubik’s Cube caught his eye. Read more
In 2018, already a veteran nightclub singer, Chardonnay wrote, recorded and self-produced her first single, “Stranger,” a seductive story of love at first sight. Read more
Growing up, Mike Lambert’s friends knew that his father was an officer with the Honolulu Police Department. When one of them decided to join the force, he asked Lambert to get an application form from his father. Read more
A supergroup is created when superstar recording artists partner with peers to create a new constellation of musical talent. Read more
One day early in 1992, Jim Beloff found a Martin tenor ukulele at the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, Calif. The find changed his life forever. Read more
Chris Jaymes, who relocated to Hawaii last year when his fiancee got a job with the CBS series “Magnum, P.I.,” has an impressive resume spanning a broad spectrum of contemporary performing arts. Read more
Chelsee Sawai entered Mid-Pacific Institute as a sophomore after surviving two years of vicious bullying at another school. At Mid-Pac, she blossomed. Read more
Celina Lim was 6 when she told her mother she wanted to take music lessons. Her older sister played violin, so she wanted to play an instrument too. Given a choice, she chose cello. Read more
