Solomon Kamaluhiakekipikealiûikaûapunikukealaokamahanahana Bright Sr. (9 November 1909 â 27 April 1992) was an American entertainer of Hawaiian and Castilian ancestry, who played steel guitar and is most widely known as the composer of Hawaiian Cowboy. He was awarded the 1987 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts, and inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 1995. He was also known as Solomon Kekipi Bright Sr..
Solomon K. Bright was born the fifth of fourteen children to Hawaiian minister Andrew Laukea Bright, and church organist Alike Kekipau Bright in Honolulu. He was raised in a house at 910 Cooke Street in Honolulu. When he was a child, he gathering duck eggs in the swamps of Honolulu and sold them to stores to raise money to go to the movies. As a teenager, he won the city's Charleston dance contest â after coming in second during a prior try in which he was assaulted by the winning contestant. He also played the drums in the Hannah Bright Orchestra (Hannah being his slightly older sister).
His early touring years were as part of Sol Hoûopiûi's Novelty Trio, before forming Sol K. Bright's Hollywaiians. During this time, Bright also began producing musical shows. After his World War II stint in the U.S. Merchant Marines, he began appearing in films and on radio and television. In his later years he performed regularly in Hawaii before live audiences. In 1928, he was recruited by Sol HoâÂÂopiâÂÂi (ho oh pee ee), perhaps the greatest Hawaiian musician of his time, who brought him to Hollywood. àIn addition to appearing in a few films, Bright later wrote and recorded songs with his own group, the Hollywaiians.àHe was known for performing on the steel guitar, although it was said that he could play just about any instrument. After World War II, he produced and directed Hawaiian-themed live shows in Los Angeles and elsewhere before returning to the Islands in his final years.
In a 2014 broadcast on his radio program âÂÂTerritorial Airwaves,â â the audio archives of which are available online â disc jockey Harry B. Soria, Jr., recalled old âÂÂUncle Solâ coming down to the station in the early 1980s, drinking scotch in the studio, and taking him carousing.àMany hours later, Soria came to his senses to find Bright still going strong, riding a broomstick in a club while performing âÂÂHawaiian Cowboy.â àToday, Bright is best remembered for that song â a novelty tune, but one that reflects a proud tradition.
Hawaiian cowboys, known as paniolos, have been a part of island life since 1793, when King Kamehameha I received a gift of cattle from George Vancouver (after whom, they've named a city in Canada).ÃÂ Among the most famous of them was Bright's cousin, Ikue Purdy, who stunned the rodeo world by winning a competition in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1908 after roping and tying a steer in 56 seconds.ÃÂ Although Purdy went back to work on a ranch and died in 1945, his memory has not faded: he was inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1999; and a bronze statue of him was erected in Waimea, Hawaii in 2003.
Bright talked about Purdy one evening while performing in San Francisco in 1932.àHe then noticed that a woman in the audience was leaving $20 tips on the table every time someone played a cowboy song.àGiven that incentive, Bright, with some help from another band member, composed âÂÂHawaiian Cowboyâ on the spot.àThe song, which is primarily in Hawaiian, describes a âÂÂhorsewomanâ whose âÂÂride is smooth like the bonefishâ as she crouches and works the knees, and who does not want her beloved cowboy mounting a âÂÂCalifornia steed.â àSoria has noted that the song contains kaona, a Hawaiian word that refers to a hidden meaning.àSometimes kaona are political, but in this case, Soria equated them with double entendre.
He died on April 27, 1992, at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu.
1929, as part of Sol Hoûopiûi's Novelty Trio, Columbia label
1934 Sol K. Bright's Hollywaiians, the Victor label:
May 24, 1937, Sol K. Bright and His Holly-Waiians, Brunswick Records