| Lehua Sandbo | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Lehualani Ehukai Sandbo |
| Born | February 7, 1983 |
| Origin | Haleiwa, Hawaii, United States |
| Genres | Japanese pop |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Years active | 2000–2002 |
| Labels | Zetima |
| Associated acts | Coconuts Musume, Aoiro 7, 7-nin Matsuri |
| Website | Hello! Project.com |
Lehualani Ehukai Nahina (née Sandbo) (born February 7, 1983 in Haleiwa, Hawaii, United States) is a former singer of Norwegian, Hawaiian, Filipino, Irish, Spanish, and Chinese ancestry. Better known by the stage name Lehua Sandbo (レフア・サンボ Reua Sanbo), she joined Hello! Project in 2000 as the only second generation member of Coconuts Musume.
Sandbo had known she wanted to be an actress or singer since a young age. Her first year of high school at St. Francis School in Mānoa, Oʻahu, she was cast as the lead in her school musical.
According to Sandbo in an interview from 2003, she first heard of the Coconuts Musume auditions from her aunt who read about it in a Hawaiʻi newspaper. She says,
| “ | I wasn't going to audition at first because I just finished doing a play. Something just got into me and told me that I have to audition for it, so I called and they said that they already had auditions, but they would still take my resume and some pictures and would call me if they wanted to meet with me. A couple days after I had mailed everything in, I got a call saying that they wanted me to sing for them. | ” |
After being called back for an audition in Waikīkī, Sandbo had sang her rendition of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" (originally by Dolly Parton). A few days later, she and two other girls were finalists in the auditions. The second part of the auditions required the girls to sing and dance a Coconuts Musume song. Sandbo had shocked everyone when she chose to perform the Japanese version of Dance & Chance. After everything was said and done, Sandbo was picked as the winner.
Sandbo was added into Coconuts Musume in February 2000 to join the three members, Ayaka Kimura, Mika Todd and Danielle Delaunay. Her first recording however was not with the group Coconuts Musume, but with the 2000 Hello! Project Shuffle Unit, Aoiro 7.
The first Coconuts Musume single to be released with Sandbo was "Tokonatsu Musume". After that single, the group had released "Watashi mo "I Love You"", which was also fellow member Danielle Delaunay's last single. After Delaunay's graduation, the three member group only released one more single, "Jonetsu Yuki Miraisen", before Sandbo too was off to graduate.
On February 17, 2002, Sandbo graduated from Coconuts Musume and Hello! Project at the end of the Hello! Project 2002 ~Kotoshi mo Sugoizo!~ concert tour.
Within the same year of leaving Hello! Project, Sandbo was awarded the Miss Congeniality award for the Miss Hawaii USA 2003 pageant.[1] Later, in 2008, she was crowned Mrs. Hawaii USA and will compete in the 2008 Mrs. United States pageant,[2] the only nationally televised beauty pageant for married women.
She now enjoys the life of a private citizen in her hometown of Haleʻiwa, Hawaiʻi. She married professional longboard surfer, Kapono Nahina, and together they have a daughter, Kaianna Lehualani Nahina. Sandbo is also attending college in hopes of becoming a registered nurse.
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