Harry Owens

In an interview on KFAC (classical music station in Los Angels) in the 1970s, Alvino Rey was asked to answer the question whether the steel guitar was originally used for country music or Hawaiian music. His reply was he had invented the electric guitar but it was Harry Owens who first laid in onto his lap and played it as steel guitars are played today.

His most famous composition and signature song was "Sweet Leilani" (inspired by the birth of his daughter), crooned by Bing Crosby, which won the Oscar for Best Song, after being featured in the film Waikiki Wedding (1937). It remained top of the charts for twenty-eight weeks and has sold more than twenty million copies to date. Among more than 300 songs written or transcribed by Owens are such popular compositions as "Voice of the Trade Winds", "Blue Shadows and White Gardenias", "Linger Awhile", "Hawaii Calls" and "Polynesian Holiday". Owens was also credited with helping to reinvigorate the tourist industry in Hawaii.

Owens made prolific recordings for Decca, Capitol and Columbia and enjoyed being regularly showcased on the radio show 'Hawaii Calls' (from 1935, complete with ocean sounds emanating from Waikiki Beach for added authenticity) and had his own show on CBS television from 1949 to 1958.

One of the foremost exponents of Hawaiian music, Harry Owens arrived in the islands in 1934 and became quickly enamored with the local scene. Owens had been a straight trumpet player in Los Angeles dance bands (at the Ambassador Hotel Cocoanut Grove and for Vincent Rose).

His previous experience as a leader dated back to 1926, when he fronted a band at the Lafayette Cafe in L. A. . His song "Aloha Oe" was heard by the manager of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, who asked Owens to establish a house orchestra at his resort. Owens obliged, and, abandoning western-style music, totally embraced Hawaiian culture -- music in particular -- transcribing many traditional songs for the first time. He was also instrumental in popularising the steel guitar. Owens took his 'Royal Hawaiians', with regular vocalists Hilo Hattie and Alfred Apaka, on several successful tours of the U. S. West Coast. This included a return to his old haunt at the Cocoanut Grove and engagements at the Mural Room of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.