Alfred Apaka

Alfred Aholo Apaka Jr. (March 19, 1919 – January 30, 1960) was a Hawaiian singer born in Honolulu whose romantic baritone became closely identified with Hawaiʻi from the late 1940s into the early 1960s. Of Hawaiian, Chinese, and Portuguese ancestry, he was a leading interpreter of hapa haole music, which blended Hawaiian melodies with pop arrangements and English lyrics. He first drew notice in a 1938 engagement at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and became a regular voice on the syndicated radio program Hawaiʻi Calls.

In 1952 comedian Bob Hope heard Apaka perform at Don the Beachcomber's in Waikīkī, which led to broadcast appearances with Hope and Bing Crosby and two spots on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1957. Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser became a devoted patron and built the Tapa Showroom at his Hawaiian Village hotel (today the Hilton Hawaiian Village) as a home for Apaka's revue. Apaka recorded for labels including Decca and Capitol during a career that lasted a little over two decades.

Apaka died suddenly of a heart attack in Honolulu on January 30, 1960, at age 40. His legacy endured through reissues such as the 1999 compilation The Lost Recordings of Hawaiʻi's Golden Voice, and he was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 1995. A bronze statue of Apaka, sculpted by Kim Duffett, was dedicated at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in 1997.