Loya Piʻilani Garner
On November 15, 2001, Hawaiʻi lost one of its most beloved voices. Loyal Piʻilani Garner—singer, entertainer, and cultural touchstone—died after a two-year battle with colon cancer. She was 55 years old.
Born in Kalihi on September 28, 1946, Garner grew up between Waialua and ʻĀlewa Heights, moving through neighborhoods that shaped her easy local manner and deep connection to island audiences. A self-taught vocalist, she caught her first major break in 1966 while still attending the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, landing a demanding six-nights-a-week engagement at the Golden Dragon in the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It was the beginning of a career that would place her voice in hotel showrooms, living rooms, car radios, and community fundraisers across the islands.
By 1975, Garner had become a standout performer at the Canoe House at the Ilikai, and two years later she released her debut album, Hawaiʻi Today. The record introduced a style that would become her signature: emotionally direct, locally grounded, and effortlessly accessible. Over the next two decades she released six more solo albums, recording enduring favorites such as “Blind Man in the Bleachers,” “Mama, I Love You,” and the playful island classic “Shave Ice.”
Many residents also knew her voice from television and radio commercials, including long-running jingles for Cutter Ford and Windward Mall. But it was her work as host of the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon that earned her the affectionate nickname “the Lady of Love.” During one broadcast, after learning the fundraiser was in danger of missing its goal, Garner made an emotional on-air appeal for donations. The phones lit up, and the telethon ultimately surpassed its target—a moment still remembered as emblematic of her sincerity and persuasive warmth.
Central to Garner’s personal and professional world was her longtime companion and manager, Janice Ukauka. Ukauka worked closely with her for decades, helping guide her career while also sharing her life away from the stage. Their partnership was widely known within Hawaiʻi’s music community and remains an important part of Garner’s story and legacy.
In 1997, she helped form the supergroup Local Divas with Melveen Leed, Nohelani Cypriano, and Carole Kai. The collaboration brought together four powerhouse performers whose careers had unfolded alongside the rapid social and cultural changes of late-twentieth-century Hawaiʻi. Their partnership also reflected the increasingly visible role of women entertainers in shaping public life, nightlife, and popular culture in the islands—spaces that overlapped closely with LGBTQ community gathering places, music venues, and charitable events during the same period.
Garner was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and initially given nine months to live. She continued performing and recording when she could, ultimately fighting the disease for two years. Friends and colleagues consistently described her as generous with her time, deeply professional, and guided by an unwavering love for music and people.
Her achievements were widely recognized. She won the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for Best Female Vocalist in both 1982 and 1993, and in 2007 the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts honored her posthumously with a Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also among the first established performers to spotlight rising local comedian Frank De Lima, helping introduce him to wider audiences.
Garner died just two weeks before a scheduled holiday concert with the Local Divas. Rather than cancel, her collaborators transformed the event into a tribute performance, poignantly titled This One’s For You, Loyal.
Within Hawaiʻi’s musical history—and within the broader tapestry of communities that sustained nightlife, performance culture, and chosen family—Loyal Garner remains a symbol of generosity, resilience, and aloha. Her voice endures not only in recordings, but in the collective memory of audiences who heard their own lives, joys, and struggles reflected in her songs.
Loyal Garner on Hot Hawaiian Nights - 1993 - King Broadcasting Company
Honolulu Advertiser, November 2, 2001