Lehualani Ehukai Nahina (née Sandbo) (born February 7, 1983 in

Haleiwa Haleiwa () is a North Shore community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Waialua District of the island of Oahu, City and County of Honolulu. Haleiwa is located on Waialua Bay, the mouth of Anahulu Stream (also known as Anahulu River). ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

) is a former singer of Norwegian, Hawaiian, Filipino, Irish, Spanish, and Chinese ancestry. Better known by the

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

, she joined

Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but has s ...

in 2000 as the only second generation member of Coconuts Musume.

Biography

Sandbo had known she wanted to be an actress or singer since a young age. Her first year of high school at St. Francis School in

Mānoa Mānoa (, ) is a valley and a residential neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. The neighborhood is approximately three miles (5 km) east and inland from downtown Honolulu and less than a mile (1600 m) from Ala Moana and Waikiki at . Neighbo ...

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

, she was cast as the lead in her school musical. According to Sandbo in a
interview from 2003
she first heard of the Coconuts Musume auditions from her aunt who read about it in a Hawaii newspaper. She says, After being called back for an audition in Waikīkī, Sandbo had sung her rendition of

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

's "

I Will Always Love You "I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career, ...

" (originally by

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

). A few days later, she and two other girls were finalists in the auditions. The second part of the auditions required the girls to sing and dance a Coconuts Musume song. Sandbo had shocked everyone when she chose to perform the Japanese version of '' Dance & Chance''. After everything was said and done, Sandbo was picked as the winner. Sandbo was added into Coconuts Musume in February 2000 to join the three members,

Ayaka Kimura , born October 30, 1981 and known professionally as , is a Japanese actress and former singer. From 1998 to 2008, Nagate was part of Hello! Project as a member of the Japan-based girl group Coconuts Musume. History Nagate joined Hello! Pr ...

, Mika Todd and

Danielle Delaunay Danielle is a modern French language, French female variant of the male name Daniel, meaning "God is my judge" in the Hebrew language. Variants *Dana – Czech language, Czech, German language, German, Romanian language, Romanian Polish language, ...

. Her first recording however was not with the group Coconuts Musume, but with the 2000 Hello! Project Shuffle Unit,

Aoiro 7 was a Japanese idol project group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2000 and associated with Hello! Project. Beginning in 2000, the Shuffle Unit project was a yearly collaboration among existing Hello! Project acts, where members were recombined ...

. The first Coconuts Musume single to be released with Sandbo was " Tokonatsu Musume". After that single, the group had released " Watashi mo "I Love You"", which was also fellow member

's last single. After Delaunay's graduation, the three member group only released one more single, " Jonetsu Yuki Miraisen", before Sandbo too was off to graduate. On February 17, 2002, Sandbo graduated from Coconuts Musume and Hello! Project at the end of the ''Hello! Project 2002 ~Kotoshi mo Sugoizo!~'' concert tour. Within the same year of leaving Hello! Project, Sandbo was awarded the Miss Congeniality award for the

Miss Hawaii USA The Miss Hawaii USA competition, previously known as Miss Hawaii Universe, is a beauty pageant that selects the representative for the state of Hawaii in the Miss USA pageant. Kiana Yamat of Honolulu was crowned Miss Hawaii USA 2022 on Februar ...

2003 pageant. Later, in 2008, she was crowned Mrs. Hawaii USA and competed in the 2008

Mrs. United States Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard English pronunciation: ) is a commonly used English honorific for women, usually for those who are married and who do not instead use another title (or rank), such as ''Doctor'', ''Prof ...

pageant, the only nationally televised beauty pageant for married women.

Personal life

She now enjoys the life of a private citizen in her hometown of

. She was married to professional longboard surfer, Kapono Nahina, and together they have a daughter, Kaianna Lehualani Nahina. Kaianna is currently 17. She was born on February 4, 2004. In 2016 she remarried to Adrian Kanoa, a deputy. Together they had Ava and Avery Kanoa.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandbo, Lehua 1983 births Living people Coconuts Musume members People from Hawaii American people of Spanish descent American musicians of Filipino descent Japanese idols Hawaii people of Chinese descent 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers