"Honolulu City Lights" is a song composed by Hawaiian singer/songwriter

Keola Beamer Keola Beamer (born Keolamaikalani Breckenridge Beamer February 18, 1951) is a Hawaiian slack-key guitar player, best known as the composer of "Honolulu City Lights" and an innovative musician who fused Hawaiian roots and contemporary music. Keola ...

(b. 1951) in the 1970s which opens an album by the same name. The album won several of the Hawaiian music industry's

Na Hoku Hanohano Awards The Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards, occasionally called the Nā Hōkū Awards or Hoku Awards, are the premier music awards in Hawaii.Berger, John"A night of Na Hoku Hanohano" ''Honolulu Star-Advertiser''. May 22, 2011.Haug, Kawehi"Hoku awardees shine ...

in 1979, among them that for Best Contemporary Hawaiian Album, and both song and album went on to become one of the most popular and most played works of contemporary Hawaiian music. It has also become a Christmas music standard and is played on heritage radio station KSSK on its Christmas Music format during the Holiday season from November to December along with a handful of other Hawaiian standards and/or artists. A month long Christmas event in December that takes place in downtown Honolulu is also called ''Honolulu City Lights'' which began in 1985, but adopted the name officially in 1987. A contemporary remake of the song was recorded by Richard and Karen Carpenter in 1978, but was not released until 1986 on single, and 1989 on album. The Beamer Brothers album was re-released in 1999 as "Honolulu City Lights – 20th Anniversary" but listed as "Honolulu City Lights – 20th Anniversary" in leading catalogs and remains in print as of 2009.

Carpenters' version

According to the official website, Richard and Karen were vacationing in Hawaii in 1977 when they heard Keola Beamer's "Honolulu City Lights". They liked it and wanted to record it, eventually recording it at the same session as "Slow Dance". The recording was not commercially released until three years after Karen Carpenter's death. They finally released it in 1986, three years before it was released on the ''

Lovelines ''Lovelines'' is the posthumous thirteenth studio album by American music duo Carpenters, the second Carpenters album released after the death of Karen Carpenter. It was released in 1989 and is a compilation album assembled by Richard Carpenter ...

'' album.

Personnel

Karen Carpenter Karen Anne Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American singer and drummer, who formed half of the sibling duo the Carpenters alongside her older brother Richard. With a distinctive three-octave contralto range, she was praise ...

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lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

* Richard Carpenter –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Joe Osborn Joseph Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Ron Tutt Ronald Ellis Tutt (March 12, 1938 – October 16, 2021) was an American drummer who played concerts and recording sessions for Elvis Presley, the Carpenters, Roy Orbison, Neil Diamond, and Jerry Garcia. Early life Born in Dallas, Texas, United ...

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drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Tim May –

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

*Jay Dee Maness –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

*Earle Dumler –

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

*Gayle Levant –

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

*The O.K. Singers –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

{{Carpenters singles The Carpenters songs 1986 singles Culture of Honolulu Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winning albums 1978 songs