George Kahumoku, Jr. and Daniel Ho - biography

George Kahumoku, Jr. is an interesting fellow. He's about as Hawaiian as you can get, which is a nice thing to say about someone. Much of his life is dedicated to helping others. He is a teacher at Lahainaluna High School in Maui. Not many teachers would volunteer for the classes George teaches. His students are in the Special Motivation Program. To get into George's class, you must have some exceptional qualifications. You have to have flunked five out of your six classes; AND you have to have missed 23 or more days out of 44 in the school term. These are the kids George teaches. They are actually a wonderful and bright group of young people, who just need a little help in making it through school. Fortunately, George is there for them.

George's family is from south Kona on the big island. They spent considerable time on Oahu, where George's dad was able to find work and where George and his brother could attend Kamehameha school. George showed an early interest in drawing, and at a young age he won several competitions awarding him scholarships to the Honolulu Academy of the Arts. George's father, grandfather and many other relatives and friends played musical instruments, including guitar, ukulele and mandolin. George got his first guitar when he was 10 years old and he played it until his fingers hurt. At age 12, he was working in Waikiki washing cars all evening for ten cents a car. One night he wandered into the bar next door to the car lot and played a couple of songs. Made twenty-seven dollars and twelve cents in 10 minutes. It was the end of a promising career in automobile care.

Daniel Ho was born and raised in Kaimuki, on the island of Oahu. He discovered his fascination with music at the age of three when his mother taught him Mary Had a Little Lamb on a toy piano. Throughout grade school and intermediate school, Daniel studied the organ, 'ukulele, classical guitar, piano, electric guitar, bass, drums, and voice. As a high school senior, he flew to Michigan to compete in the Young Keyboard Artists Association International Piano Competition before heading off to the Grove School of Music in Los Angeles, California. He remembered the experience well, "It was like David and Goliath – and I didn't have a slingshot."

At the Grove School of Music, Daniel studied composing, arranging, and film scoring. He began his professional career in 1990 as the leader, keyboardist, producer and composer for the contemporary jazz group, Kilauea. By 1997, they had released six best-selling smooth jazz albums to rave reviews. Two records reached Billboard's top ten, two hit number one on Radio & Record's national airplay charts and all but one placed in the top five.

Daniel has since recorded 18 CDs as a solo artist. Isolating Daniel's musical genre can be quite difficult as he continues to tap into the many facets of his talented background. His portfolio includes smooth jazz, slack key, religious, acoustic alternative, classic and contemporary Hawaiian. He has performed throughout the continental U.S., Tasmania, Australia, Mexico, Japan and Germany as a soloist and tours with Grammy Award winning vocalist, Peabo Bryson, as a keyboardist. He was a guest lecturer at Stanford University, and a featured soloist with the Honolulu Symphony. This multi-instrumentalist/composer has received numerous industry honors, including two coveted Na Hoku Hanohano awards - 1999 Religious Album of the Year (Hymns of Hawaii) and 2000 Song of the Year (Saving Forever), as well as seven Hawaii Music Awards.