Albert "Sonny" Cunha

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Albert "Sonny" Cunha (1879 - 1933) was a Hawaiian composer, bandleader, pianist, singer, politician and entrepreneur. He was the first to popularize hapa haole music, a type of Hawaiian music with influences from popular music and with lyrics that are a combination of English and Hawaiian (or wholly English). Albert Cunha was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Angela Gilliland and Emmanuel, and later attended Yale Law School. In 1903 he composed My Waikiki Mermaid, the earliest known hapa haole song. This was followed in 1905 by his first big hit, My Honolulu Tomboy. Other notable songs followed, My Hawaiian Maid, Honolulu Hula-hula Heigh!, My Tropical Hula Girl and Honolulu Hula Girl. In 1914 he published the first hapa haole songbook, Famous Hawaiian Songs. He played piano, sang and led a dance orchestra in Honolulu for many years, toured the mainland, founded the Cunha Music Company (which sold instruments and presumably sheet music), and served as a Congressman from 1923 to 1924.