Kawai Cockett

Ideal remembered for his personal hit “Beautiful Kauai,” singer Kawai Cockett carried the torch for traditional Hawaiian music in to the 21st hundred years. Born Sept 24, 1938, at Pukoo, Molakai, Cockett grew up by his father’s cousin. Unlike many Hawaiian kids of his era, he grew up speaking the island’s indigenous tongue and didn’t learn British until he inserted primary college, around which period he also started playing the ukelele. After senior high school Cockett went to Kapiolani Technical University before relocating to Oahu in 1957 to pursue a profession being a performer. A protégé of famed composer John Kameaaloha Almeida, the so-called “Dean of Hawaiian Music,” he started his recording profession in 1969 using the record Beautiful Kauai, credit scoring his first & most long lasting hit along with his definitive rendition from the name trim. Although Cockett documented several LPs throughout his profession, earning a Na Hoku Hanohano Prize as Man Vocalist of the entire year for 1993’s O Ka ‘Ohao Ku’u ‘Aina Nani, he appreciated his greatest achievement being a live performer, headlining in Waikiki for greater than a 10 years and touring thoroughly on your behalf from the Hawaii Guests Bureau. Cockett officially retired in 1998, however in the years to check out he regularly performed concerts for kids, and in 1999 also resurfaced with a fresh LP, Na Mele Maoli. He passed away of problems from diabetes on Sept 20, 2006, under a week timid of his 68th birthday.