Raiatea Helm

Raiatea Mokihana Maile Helm (born August 8, 1984) is a Hawaiian music vocalist from the island of Molokaʻi, best known for her leo kiʻekiʻe (Hawaiian falsetto) singing. She began her music career as a teenager and released her debut album, Far Away Heaven, in 2002. The record earned her the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for Female Vocalist of the Year as well as a Most Promising Artist Award.

Her second album, Sweet & Lovely (2004), brought a nomination for Best Hawaiian Music Album at the 48th Grammy Awards (2006), making Helm the first Hawaiian female vocalist to be nominated for a Grammy. Her third album, Hawaiian Blossom (2007), earned a second nomination in the same category at the 50th Grammy Awards (2008). Neither nomination resulted in a win. Over her career she has recorded numerous albums, including collaborations such as Keola Beamer & Raiatea (2010), and the 2016 release He Leo Huali, A Pure Voice.

Helm has earned multiple Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards and has performed both traditional and contemporary Hawaiian repertoire. She has collaborated with established Hawaiian artists including Keola Beamer, and her work draws on songs composed and popularized in the Hawaiian Islands across the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.