Solomon Hoʻopiʻi Kaʻaiʻai ( ; 1902 – November 16, 1953) was a

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawa ...

lap steel guitarist. A virtuoso, he was one of the most famous original Hawaiian steel guitarists, along with Joseph Kekuku,

Frank Ferera Frank Ferera (June 12, 1885 - June 26, 1951) was a Hawaiian musician who recorded successfully between 1915 and 1930. He was the first star of Hawaiian music and influenced many later artists. Biography Frank Ferera was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, ...

, Sam Ku West and "King" Bennie Nawahi.

Early life

He was born Solomon Hoʻopiʻi Kaʻaiʻai in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

in 1902 into a large family – his birth making him the 21st child in the family. Sol's family taught him to sing and play instruments by the time he could walk. He was playing the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

by age three. By his teenage years the Hawaiian steel guitar had become his instrument of choice. He made his debut with Johnny Noble and his Orchestra. According to the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame, at age 17 Sol and two teenage friends stowed away on the ocean liner '' Matsonia''. They were discovered by passengers who were so charmed by their musical performances that the other passengers took up a collection to pay their fares. They landed in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, played a few club engagements, and eventually made their way to Los Angeles at the behest of

Hoot Gibson Edmund Richard "Hoot" Gibson (August 6, 1892 – August 23, 1962) was an American rodeo champion, film actor, film director, and producer. While acting and stunt work began as a sideline to Gibson's focus on rodeo, he successfully transitioned ...

to play in his country music band. Sol's friends returned to Hawaii, and Sol formed a trio with new associates.

Sol Hoʻopiʻi Trio

By 1924, Hoʻopiʻi had moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, where he formed the Sol Hoʻopiʻi Trio, with Glenwood Leslie and

Lani McIntyre Lani McIntire (sometimes spelled Lani McIntyre, 15 December 1904 – 17 June 1951) was a Hawaiian guitar and steel guitar player who helped to popularize the instrument, which eventually became a mainstay in American country and western music. ...

, including sometimes additional musicians, and he successfully performed in the local and then very popular Polynesian-themed night venues. His first recordings in 1925–28 featured often jazzy improvisation. He recorded his best known material 1933 to 1938, as Sol Hoopii's Novelty Trio, Novelty Quartette and Novelty Five on Decca Records and

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History From 1916 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing prod ...

labels, like the famous ''Hula Girl'', ''Ten Tiny Toes'', and many more brilliant Hawaiian

hula Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form accompanied by chant (oli) or song ( mele). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visua ...

and hapa-haole songs penned by the best Hawaiian composers like Johnny Noble and Sol Bright. Originally favouring the acoustic lap steel guitar, he switched to electric lap steel only around 1935 and developed an original tuning, in addition to the open A or open G tunings commonly in use at the time. He very often applied bluesy and jazzy treatments to the

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

standards, as well as to Hawaiian classics. His peculiar rhythmic, harmonic and melodic techniques influenced not only Hawaiian-styled musicians but also famed country and western swing steel guitarists, like Joaquin Murphy and

Jerry Byrd Gerald Lester Byrd (March 9, 1920 – April 11, 2005) was an American musician who played the lap steel guitar in country and Hawaiian music, as well as a singer-songwriter and the head of a music publishing firm. He appeared on numerous radio ...

Christian ministry

In 1938, Hoʻopiʻi gave up his secular career to join the evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, writing and performing songs for her tours. The Foursquare Church A rare video exists of Hoʻopiʻi playing traditional hymns on his lap steel guitar, accompanied by Christian composer Phillip Stanley KerrHymnary.org on the piano. Kerr mis-pronounces Sol's name as "hope-y". (Prior to, and for years after Hawaii's attaining statehood, many mainlanders mis-pronounced the state's name as How-Wah-Yah, leading to show biz jokes about the 50th state of "How Are Ya?" ) Titled ''Musical Moments with Sol Hoʻopiʻi and His Hawaiian Guitar'', part of ''The Scriptures Visualized'' series, this was produced in 1942 by C.O. Baptista Films of Chicago.Billy Graham Center Part 2 of the video begins with Phil Kerr and Sol Hoʻopiʻi testifying about Hoʻopiʻi's Christian conversion, and contains a rare moment of Hoʻopiʻi doing a falsetto rendition of Kerr's composition ''I'm in Love with the Lover of my Soul''.

Steel guitar history

Some historians credit Joseph Kekuku with inventing the Hawaiian steel guitar about 1889 from an acoustic Spanish guitar. Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association This was long before Hoʻopiʻi's time. As far as the electrified lap steel, Philip Kerr mentions in the 1942 Baptista video that Hoʻopiʻi "was the originator of this electric guitar that he's playing." Hoʻopiʻi himself does not make that claim on camera and Kerr may have been saying that Hoʻopiʻi designed or made that particular guitar in his possession. However, the claim comes up again in 1950, in a Florida Newspaper announcing, "Sol Hoopii, king of the Hawaiian guitar and originator of the electric guitar..." as part of the entertainment line-up for a church anniversary. The electric lap steel guitar, in fact, was not invented by Hoʻopiʻi, but he was acquainted with its inventor, George Beauchamp, in Los Angeles. Beauchamp was a steel player who collaborated with violin repairman

John Dopyera John Dopyera ( Slovak: ''Ján Dopjera''; 1893–1988) was a Slovak-American inventor and entrepreneur, and a maker of stringed instruments. His inventions include the resonator guitar and important contributions in the early development of the ...

to attempt to build a steel guitar that was louder. Dopyera and Beauchamp developed a non-electric guitar prototype with a metal resonator, a large metal cone placed under the guitar bridge. They sought investors for a new company to manufacture and sell the

resonator guitar A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones (resonators), instead of to the guitar's sounding board (top). Resonator guit ...

. To promote their invention, they organized a lavish party hosted by millionaire Ted Kleinmeyer and asked Sol Hoʻopiʻi to demonstrate the instrument. Years later, after splitting with Dopyera, Beauchamp independently invented the first electric guitar (a lap steel), and received the patent on August 10, 1937.

Final days and death

For the last few years of his life Hoʻopiʻi was blind, but he continued to play, compose, and teach. Solomon Hoʻopiʻi Kaʻaiʻai died November 16, 1953. His place of death has been listed alternately as Los Angeles, California, or

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Bud Tutmarc, a Christian Hawaiian steel guitar player based in Seattle, was a close personal friend of Sol's and stated that Sol died in Seattle. On May 27, 1953, only 6 months before Sol's death, the two friends recorded a live Seattle performance of ''Indiana March'' (Sol on steel guitar); a three-in-one gospel medley (Sol and Bud steel guitar duet) – ''Mansion Over the Hilltop'', ''It Is No Secret'' and ''Aloha Oe''; a medley of ''At Calvary'' and ''Power In The Blood'' (Sol solo ukulele instrumental); and ''I'll Go With Him'' (ukulele and Sol vocals). Tutmarc died December 4, 2006, and his web site photo page has a snapshot of Sol and Bud having what looks like a one-on-one jam session. (photo #6 of the "Middle Years" gallery) Hoʻopiʻi is buried at

Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills is one of the six Forest Lawn cemeteries in Southern California. It is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, California 90068, in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Histor ...

. Find A Grave Steel guitarist George de Fretes, who died in 1981, considered Hoʻopiʻi to be his idol, and is buried next to him.

In popular culture

The Sol Hoʻopiʻi Trio appears as a house band wearing "...pink shirts and matching trousers, with red cummerbunds and leis..." in the 1998 novel ''Damned in Paradise''. Sol Hoʻopiʻi's guitar and memorabilia make an appearance in the 2004 novel ''The Celestial Jukebox''. Garrison Keillor does a brief tip of the hat to "Sol Hoʻopiʻi and his Royal Hawaiians" in his 2004 novel ''Love Me''. Author Simon Leng likens George Harrison's slide guitar work with the

Traveling Wilburys The Traveling Wilburys were a British-American supergroup consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. Originating from an idea discussed by Harrison and Lynne during the sessions for Harrison's 1987 album ' ...

to "a 1990s Sol Hoʻopiʻi" in his 2006 book on the works of the British legend.

Awards

In 1996, Hoʻopiʻi became an honoree in the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame. The Steel Guitar Hall of Famehe Steel Guitar Hall Of Fame, Inc inducted Hoʻopiʻi in 1979. In 2012 Hoʻopiʻi's recording of the Gershwin standard "

Fascinating Rhythm "Fascinating Rhythm" is a popular song written by George Gershwin in 1924 with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was first introduced by Cliff Edwards, Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire in the Broadway musical '' Lady Be Good.'' The Astaires also recorded ...

" was added to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States."

Soundtracks

Hoʻopiʻi performed in a number of Hollywood "jazz" movies like ''His Jazz Bride'', and later he was involved in the exotic movies craze, appearing notably in '' Bird of Paradise'', ''

Waikiki Wedding ''Waikiki Wedding'' is a 1937 American musical film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, Martha Raye, and Shirley Ross. Crosby plays the part of Tony Marvin, a PR man charged with extolling the virtues of the Territory ...

'', and even some

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

mystery movies. He also performed in the soundtrack for the Betty Boop cartoon '' Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle''.

Discography (partial)

78 RPM singles

Brunswick Sessions 1933–34

*Hula Girls – Brunswick 6768 *King Kamehameha – Brunswick 6873 *Ten Tiny Toes, One Baby Nose – Brunswick 6687 *King's Serenade – Brunswick 6950

Decca Sessions 1938

*Twilight Blues – Decca 2560 *Stack O' Lee – Decca 2241 *Fascinatin' Rhythm – Decca 2280 *Farewell Blues – Decca 2241

Compilation CD

*Sol Hoʻopiʻi in Hollywood Grass Skirt

Filmography

*''Radio Kisses'' (1930) *''Divorced Sweethearts'' (1930) *'' Flirtation Walk'' (1934) *''High Tension'' (1936) *''Hawaiian Nights'' (1939)

References

External links

* (as Sol Hoopii Jr.)
Sol Hoʻopiʻi – 1930s publicity still

Sol Hoʻopiʻi's sacred and private recordings
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ho'opi'i, Sol Native Hawaiian musicians Steel guitarists Hawaiian ukulele players American performers of Christian music 1902 births 1953 deaths Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) 20th-century American guitarists Decca Records artists Brunswick Records artists