FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 28, 2018
Manifesto Records is very saddened by the tragic news of the death of Kalapana’s lead singer and original member Malani Bilyeu, who died yesterday at age 69.
Bilyeu was a founding member of Kalapana, formed in Hawaii in 1973. Along with co-founding members D.J. Pratt, Mackey Feary and Kirk Thompson, Kalapana went on to become one of the most popular bands in the history of the Hawaiian Islands.
In 2017, after 40 years, the original members of Kalapana were awarded all of the rights to their original recordings, and were finally seeing income on those recordings for the first time ever.
On November 30th, Manifesto Records had just released a big reissue project with Kalapana that consisted of Kalapana: The Original Album Collection, a 9CD Box Set of the band’s first 7 albums, as well as Black Sand, a 20 song Best Of CD collection of Kalapana’s biggest hits and most popular songs.
Malani is gone, but his memory and legacy will live on forever with the beautiful music that he and Kalapana left behind.
Mahalo and Aloha Malani!
Media Contact:
Dan Perloff
Manifesto Records, Inc.
(310) 556-9800 x151