The most prolific composer in Hawai'i's hapa-haole tradition never studied music and could not speak Hawaiian.
Nonetheless, R. Alex Anderson's sing-along songs — including "Lovely Hula Hands," "The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai" and "I Will Remember You" — were as beloved in the Islands as they were across a nation then hungry for all things Hawaiian.
Anderson was born in Honolulu in 1894. After graduating from Punahou School and Cornell University (where he wrote the song "I Will Remember You" during a bout of homesickness), Anderson served as a fighter pilot in the Air Force. His dramatic escape from enemy territory after being shot down was the basis of the 1938 Errol Flynn movie "Dawn Patrol."
After returning to Hawai'i, Anderson began writing songs that his new wife, Peggy Center, would sing. He scored a hit with his first song "Haole Hula," which contained the lines that so many consider his defining creative statement: "In every note I'll tell of the spell of my Islands, for then I know that you'll be in love with them, too."
Anderson's most enduring hit was the Christmas song "Mele Kalikimaka," which Bing Crosby recorded (along with the Andrews Sisters) as the B side to his single "White Christmas."
Anderson died in 1995, leaving behind a legacy of more than 200 songs.
