TOMMY CASTRO

Honolulu native Thomas Koani contributed a great deal to Hawaiian music in his 51 short years of life.

A steel guitar virtuoso and arranger, he arranged many songs for the legendary Lena Machado, played with Alvin Isaacs KMM Orchestra, Giggie Royce's orchestra, played at the Young Hotel downtown, and performed with the Royal Hawaiian Serenaders, Ray Kinney's Orchestra, and toured to the Lexington Hotel in New York.



Biographical material from Tony Todaro, The Golden Years of Hawaiian Entertainment (Tony Todaro Pub., 1974).