Lehua Sandbo
| Lehua Sandbo | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Lehualani Ehukai Sandbo |
| Born | February 7, 1983 |
| Origin | Haleiwa, Hawaii, United States |
| Genres | Japanese pop |
| Occupation(s) | 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,
After being called back for an audition in Waikīkī, Sandbo had sung 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.
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