Rivera to receive music lifetime achievement award

LIHU‘E — Larry Rivera of Wailua Homesteads later this month will receive a Hawai‘i Music Awards 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award, according to a news release.

The awards ceremony is March 27 in Honolulu, at the Hawai‘i Music Awards ceremonies, the release states.

Rivera will be recognized for his many compositions and recordings, and for being star of one of the longest continuous entertainment shows in Hawai‘i, for his regular work at the now-shuttered Coco Palms Resort in Wailua.

His “Love & Aloha” show in the main dining room (named for his first album, released in 1965), and his late show, “A Nite Cap with Larry,” in the cocktail terrace, ran for decades at the hotel, which has been closed since Hurricane ‘Iniki damaged it in 1992.

“Nite Cap with Larry” has been reincarnated at Café Portofino, next to Duke’s Canoe Club at the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club on Kalapaki Bay, each Wednesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., Rivera said.

It started March 3, Rivera said in an e-mail.

Known locally for numerous regular performances at Kukui Grove Center, the Kaua‘i Hilton and other venues, Rivera’s song compositions include “Kamalani,” made into a hit by the late Israel “Braddah Iz” Kamakawiwo‘ole and also recorded by The Makaha Sons.

Other Rivera compositions include “Wai‘ale‘ale” and “The Whole World Looks to Hawai‘i”, which he sang at the Waikiki Shell for Arthur Godfrey and the “Hawai‘i Calls” radio show.

Elvis Presley and Patti Paige sang background vocals for Rivera at his Coco Palms “Nite Cap” shows, the release states.

Other people Rivera had on stage included Rory Calhoun, Ann Francis and Myron Floren (of “The Lawrence Welk Show”), to name a few, the release states.

At least 16 recording companies have recorded “Uncle” Larry Rivera’s songs.

Rivera is also being acknowledged by the Hawai‘i Music Awards for his commitment to the culture and heritage of Hawai‘i, the release states.

His song, “Aloha Begins with Me,” encapsulates his life, as he continues to live a life of love and aloha, the release states.

The 14th Annual Hawai‘i Music Awards Celebration Banquet is at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 27 at the Empress Restaurant at the Chinese Cultural Center.

In addition to Rivera, the 2010 honorees include another Kaua‘i native, the late Shigeru Hotoke, who took the sound of Hawai‘i on tour through the voices of the Kailua (O‘ahu) High School madrigal singers.

Other honorees include Saichi Kawahara of Kapalakiko Press, Aloha Joe, Mihana Souza and Cyril Pahinui.

Rivera said in a telephone interview Monday the congratulatory e-mails have been pouring in. “I can’t keep up,” he said of responding to the e-mails.

“I’m very, very happy” to receive the award. “Main thing is I helped somebody get the aloha spirit,” he said Monday.

His entire family will be flying to O‘ahu for the awards ceremony, where they have a reserved table for 10, and he will be interviewed on the Honolulu channel 9 morning news show Friday, March 26, Prince Kuhio Day, he said.

He’ll also perform one song at the awards ceremony Saturday night, he said.

The Hawai‘i Music Awards started in 1995 as a concept to support Hawai‘i’s recording industry, and is an Internet-based awards program to take advantage of the international outreach capabilities for marketing and promotional support for newly released recordings by Hawai‘i and Hawaiian recording artists anywhere in the world, according to the Web site.

It was the first interactive-voting Web site on the Internet, and over the years has received over 90,000 votes from over 100 countries, 48 states and hundreds of music-production companies, according to the Web site.

Johnny Kai is executive producer of the show and Web site.

Rivera can be reached via e-mail at larry@thelarryrivera.com. Awards program tickets may be purchased online at www.hawaiimusicawards.com, and a digital download of Rivera’s latest CD, “Kamalani,” is available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/LarryRivera.