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I
was born at Kapiolani Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii. I was
raised in Enchanted Lakes/Kailua where my mom, Jerri Santos, was
a hula teacher and taught me the art of music and dance. At an
early age, I taught myself how to play the ukulele and later,
the guitar. My parents encouraged me to work hard on my music
and my hula, always supporting me and never letting me quit.
Hawaiian music was always around, so it was pretty hard not to
learn and play hawaiian music. I later started to dance for
Kuma Hula John Keola Lake at St. Louis High School for a few
months and was taught a lot from him . . .about never giving up
on a dream.
I played with a
number of groups while in Hawaii...a lot of "back yard" groups
or "kanikapila" some other groups include Ke Kani Leo Hou,
Pu'ukani and musicians such as Joey Barros and Cory Kaneaiakala,
just to name a few. I had the opportunity to record with John
Kahale Chang of Kahale Records and the group Pu'ukani. It was
an exciting experience and I knew that I wanted to record
something of my very own.
I
got married in 1992 and moved to Las Vegas where I started my
family. I never gave up on Hawaiian
music, even though I lived on the "mainland". I was able to
find other guys that loved the Hawaiian music just as much as I
did. I later met Steve Ventic of Ocean Breeze Records, who is
currently producing my album "Keola - Ho'omana'o", including a
"Hawaiian" remake of "I'll Leave This World Loving You". Steve
is not only my producer, but also is my manager and part of a
new group "Hawaiian Soul" along with Janoe Kalawa and myself.
Janoe is also part of a "family" band here in Las Vegas known as
Pu'ukapu. Hawaiian Soul is also recording with Ocean Breeze
Records, so be on the look out for Hawaiian Soul's upcoming
hits, such as the original "Get Up, Get Up" written by Hawaiian
Soul.
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