It was no accident that behind so many great Hawaiian performers of the big band era stood Benny Kalama.
While he never received the individual accolades that contemporaries like Alfred Apaka did, Kalama, a gifted singer, arranger and instrumentalist, was highly respected by his peers and by knowledgeable audiences who cued in to his elegant falsetto.
Kalama was born in Kohala on the Big Island and attended McKinley High School in Honolulu. He used his skills on 'ukulele and bass guitar to land a spot in a big band in the 1930s and remained a popular figure in Waikiki for the next half-century.
It was Kalama, then a member of Don McDiarmid's orchestra, who is credited with discovering Apaka, then a student at Roosevelt High School. Kalama would later serve as Apaka's musical director.
In the 1960s, Kalama succeeded Al Perry as musical director for the "Hawaii Calls" radio program.
While Kalama lent his vocal and arranging skills to a host of his musician friends, including Charles Kaipo Miller Jr., Jerry Byrd and Sonny Kamahele, he produced only one solo recording, the classic "He Is Hawaiian Music."
Kalama, who was honored with the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts' Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993, continued to perform with best friend Kamahele and Alan Akaka until 1997. He died two years later at the age of 82.
