Ray Kinney

Ray Kinney (September 26, 1900 – February 1, 1972) was a Hawaiian-born singer, musician, composer, orchestra leader, and performer whose career spanned radio, stage, and screen. Born in Hilo, Hawaii, to Irish-Hawaiian parents William and Pilialoha Kinney, he demonstrated early aptitude on the ukulele and developed a tenor voice that would define his professional identity. At fifteen, Kinney and his six brothers were sent to school in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they formed their own band and began touring the western United States. He returned to Hawaii in 1920 following the death of his mother.

Kinney's career gained momentum in 1925 when he was cast in the lead role of the island opera Prince of Hawaii, composed by Charles E. King, which began touring California the following year. In 1928, bandleader Johnny Noble selected Kinney to appear on his radio program originating from station KPO in San Francisco, a show designed to promote Hawaiian tourism. That same year, Brunswick Records signed Noble with Kinney as one of the vocalists, resulting in 110 singles and contributing to a national tour followed by an eleven-month engagement at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Decca Records later signed Johnny Noble and His Orchestra, again with Kinney as vocalist, to a contract in 1936, with sales strong enough to sustain the arrangement for four years.

In July 1935, Kinney appeared on the premiere broadcast of Webley Edwards' Hawaii Calls radio program from the Moana Hotel, a show on which he would regularly appear for several years. While working in a taro factory in 1934, he was approached by bandleader Harry Owens to join his orchestra for their opening engagement at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Kinney became the first Hawaiian entertainer to appear in a major Broadway production when he and the Aloha Maids were cast in the Olsen and Johnson revue Hellzapoppin, which opened in September 1938. The production ran for 1,404 performances, continuing until December 1941. That same year, Kinney outpolled Rudy Vallée and Guy Lombardo in a New York popularity survey of American singers and began a four-year engagement leading his own orchestra in the Hawaiian Room at New York's Hotel Lexington. In 1940, he hired Alfred Apaka as his vocalist at the Hawaiian Room, and Apaka appeared on several Kinney recordings during that period.

Kinney composed numerous songs throughout his career, among them Across the Sea, Not Pau, Hawaiian Hospitality, Maile Lau Li'ili'i, Island Serenade, Kalapaki Bay, Ululani, and Leimana. His 1941 musical short Ana Lani has frequently been confused with the 1947 production Hawaiian Hula Song. During the war years, he toured 157 military bases and clubs and became a favorite of Hawaii's 442nd Regiment. After the war, Kinney returned to Hawaii and joined Don McDiarmid's Orchestra at the Kewalo Inn, performing as vocalist and bass fiddle player.

In 1949, Kinney discovered Eddie Kamae and brought him on tour, eventually adding him to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel Orchestra in 1959. At age sixty-five, Kinney signed a recording contract with RCA, observing that a career spanning nearly forty years and close to 600 recorded songs was something of a miracle. He married Dawn Holt, and the couple had five children: daughters Leimana, Meymo, and Raylani, and sons Rankin and Rayner. Kinney died on February 1, 1972, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 2002.