Mackey Feary

Bryant Mackey Feary Jr. was born August 13, 1955, to Bryant Mackey Feary Sr. and Regina Feary. Feary Jr. began playing music at the age seven, and got his first guitar when he was eleven. He attended Kalani High School in Honolulu, and by sixteen was performing live at the Oar House in Hawaii Kai.

During the 1970s Hawaiian music experienced a popular resurgence. The new music captured the feeling and social issues of living in Hawaii, but was closer in style to pop-rock groups like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, than it was to traditional Hawaiian music. Bands like Country Comfort, Cecilio & Kapono, Keola and Kapono Beamer, and Olomana were playing to capacity crowds at concert halls and arenas, and their albums were selling thousands of copies.

In late 1973, music manager Ed Guy, who worked with Cecilio & Kapono, was looking to put together a band that could capitalize on the new Hawaiian sound. After scouting and auditions Guy felt the most promising were Feary (then 17 years old), Malani Bilyeu, DJ Pratt, and Kirk Thompson. Guy encouraged the quartet to form a band.

Feary and Bilyeu were the lead singers and played guitar, Pratt was lead guitarist, and Thompson played keyboards and bass guitar. Added to the group were saxophonist Michael Paulo, and drummer Alvin Fejerang. The group chose their name by blindfolding Pratt and having him point at a map of the Hawaiian Islands. Pratt pointed to the town of Kalapana, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Soon after, they were the house band at The Toppe Ada Shoppe club and the opening act for concerts by the Moody Blues, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Cecilio & Kapono.

In 1975, a few months before Feary's 20th birthday, they released their first album, Kalapana I. The album, composed mainly by Feary and Bilyeu, captured the feel of living in Hawaii while embracing pop, rock, folk, and jazz. Tours of Japan, Guam, Samoa, and California followed.

A year later they released Kalapana II, again mainly composed by Feary and Bilyeu. The album won the band two Nani Awards including Best Male Vocalist for Feary. Their popularity resulted in a concert with Cecilio & Kapono at Aloha Stadium for 20,000 fans. It was considered one of the biggest local music concerts ever. Despite the success, group tensions caused Feary's departure in 1977.

Feary formed the first version of the Mackey Feary Band which was originally the backup band for Billy Kaui, included, Boom and Keefe Gaspar, Creed Fernandez, George Lustenberg, and Gaylord Holomalia. The second version with Kevin Daley, David Yoshiteru, and Gaylord Holomalia released their self-titled debut in 1978. For their second album, 1979's From the Heart, Yoshiteru was replaced by Beau Evans. Feary produced both albums composed the majority of the songs continuing Kalapana's Hawaii-themed pop-rock-jazz style. In 1980, when the Mackey Feary Band disbanded, Feary partnered with vocalist Nohelani Cypriano for the single, "Let's Do It/We Both Waited Too Long".

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