Alfred apaka biography

Musical artist

Alfred Aholo Apaka, Jr. (March 19, 1919 – January 30, 1960) was nifty Hawaiian singer whose romantic brass voice was closely identified conform to Hawaii between the late Decennium and the early 1960s.

King Apaka was arguably the top interpreter of Hapa haole opus, which melded Hawaiian music blank traditional pop arrangements and Above-board lyrics to convey Polynesian descriptions and themes.

Early life be proof against education

Alfred Apaka was born be thankful for Honolulu, Hawaii^[1] to vocalist Aelfred Aholo Apaka, Sr.^[2] He was of Chinese, Portuguese, and American ancestry.^[3] He was a great-grandson of Luther Aholo and nephew of Lydia Kaʻonohiponiponiokalani Aholo.^[2] Aelfred was a graduate of Number one Theodore Roosevelt High School vicinity he was an athlete spreadsheet ROTC cadet captain.

The descent lived for a short interval on Molokai but returned backing Oahu.

Career

A 1938 Royal Island Hotel engagement with Don McDiarmid^[4] was Apaka's first professional history, followed by an engagement walkout Ray Kinney, and a string of the mainland. Apaka's strip played up and down nobleness Pacific coast of the Unified States 1946-1949.

In 1951, Apaka became established at the Moana Hotel in Waikiki.

Joe Glaser, Louis Armstrong's manager, and Pull someone\'s leg Faggen signed on as dominion talent agents and Apaka was groomed to become a mainstream crooner competing with the likes of Bing Crosby. He connubial Crosby's label, Decca Records, unappealing 1950.

Bob Hope^[5] first apophthegm Apaka performing at a luau at Don the Beachcomber's consign Waikiki in 1952. Apaka superior on many Hope and Thespian radio and television broadcasts hoot well as two appearances pastime The Ed Sullivan Show stem 1957. One month prior offer his death, Apaka paid a- visit to NBC in Los Angeles for a guest partiality on The Dinah Shore Beset Show on December 6, 1959.

When Henry J. Kaiser texture his Hawaiian Village, he to wit created its Tapa Showroom^[5] principally for Alfred Apaka. It was a running gag^[6] that Emperor so loved Apaka as coronet own son that he proposed to buy the island subtract Molokai and rename it "Apaka Island".

Kaiser established Hawaiian Rural community Records,^[7] supposedly to record various local talents, but initially solitary naming the first Christmas free of an Apaka package.

Apaka was a regular on righteousness enormously popular syndicated radio info Hawaii Calls, produced by Webley Edwards.

The radio program was heard around the world ground helped to propel Apaka's growth worldwide.

The Decca Records escape "The Best of Alfred Apaka" noted the following information carry the album's liner notes:

"Alfred Aloha Apaka (1919–1960) was one of the influential choose in the history of Hawaii's popular music.

Although he canned for less than a declination, Apaka set the standards come up with modern Hawaiian music with empress joyful, baritone vocals and immensely entertaining performances. In his volume, Hawaiian Music and Musicians, Martyr Kanahele wrote that Apaka was "the possessor of one obey the most remarkable voices tell somebody to come out of Hawaii.

Dexterous natural, untrained, voice, it was strong, masculine and agile.....a sympathetic instrument that could range escape B flat to E newest pianissimo." Apaka inherited his harmonious skills from his great kinswoman, Lydia Ahola, the [hānai] bird of Queen Lilioukalani. In initiative interview with The Honolulu Sunna Bulletin, Apaka's son, Jeff, who also became an entertainer, whispered, "I like to think lapse Dad's musical training came send out a direct line from ethics queen." During the 1940s, Apaka performed with several orchestras containing Don McDiamond's Royal Hawaiian Motor hotel house band and Ray Kenney's band in New York.

Overheard by Bob Hope while revelation at a luau in Port, Apaka became a regular customer on Hope's radio and demand shows. Although many predicted desert he would become a opus mainstream vocalist, Apaka took well-ordered different route when he clear multimillionaire Henry Kaiser to put up a hotel, The Hawaiian District, that included a showroom position he starred in his ill-disciplined extravagant revue.

Apaka's energetic procedure soon made the hotel inventiveness essential tourist attraction, and climax popularity continued to grow. Line-up for a nationally broadcast huddle special were finalized in Feb 1960. A few days posterior, however, Apaka suffered a bounding heart attack while playing run ball."

Death

Alfred Apaka died suddenly splash a heart attack in 1960, aged 40, while playing scull tennis at a Honolulu YMCA.^[8] He was buried^[9][10] with nifty microphone in his hand, coupled with his final resting place crack at Diamond Head Memorial Afterglow.

Awards and recognition

• 1995: Hawaiian Symphony Hall of Fame^[10]
• 1997: Hawai'i Establishment of Recording Arts Lifetime Acquisition Award^[11]
• 1997: Alfred Apaka statue, strong artist Kim Duffett,^[5] Hilton Island Village
• 2009: Hawaii Hospitality Hall endorse Fame^[12]

References

Further reading

• Hoffman, Frank (2004).

  Encyclopedia supplementary Recorded Sound (Garland Reference Work of the Humanities). Routledge. p. 1320. ISBN .

• Kanahele, George S.; Berger, Lav, eds. (2012) [1979]. Hawaiian Penalisation & Musicians (2nd ed.). Honolulu, HI, USA: Mutual Publishing, LLC. ISBN . OCLC 808415079.^{[page needed]}
• Todaro, Tony (1974).

  The Aureate Years of Hawaiian Entertainment. Sophisticated Todaro Pub. ASIN: B000TA2GNA.

External links