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Lehua 27082

Mrs. Hawaii

Lehua 27608
43220875

Lehua Sandbo (レフア・サンボ), legal name Lehualani Ehukai Kanoa, is an actress, singer, and beauty pageant contestant who is a former member of Hello! Project, having joined in 2000 as the sole second generation member of Coconuts Musume. Lehua left Hello! Project in early 2002 to return to Hawaii and pursue her college education. She later said the aftermath of 9/11 was the reason she left, she wanted to be close to her family.

After Hello! Project, she competed in the 2003 Miss Hawaii Pageant, being named Miss Congeniality. Lehua was also crowned Mrs. Hawaii-USA on June 6, 2008, and competed in the 2008 Mrs. United States National Pageant, where she was named Mrs. Photogenic.

Biography

Early Life

Lehua knew that she wanted to be an actress or singer since a young age. During her first year of high school at St. Francis School in Mānoa, Oʻahu, she was cast in the lead in her school's musical.

2000

Lehua was added into Coconuts Musume in January/February 2000 to join the three members, Ayaka Kimura, Mika Todd and Danielle Delaunay.

According to Lehua (in an interview conducted in 2003), she first heard of the Coconuts Musume auditions from her aunt, who read about it in a Hawaii newspaper. She said,

"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 had 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, Lehua sang her rendition of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" (originally sang 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. Lehua shocked everyone when she chose to perform the Japanese version of Dance & Chance. After everything was said and done, Lehua was picked as the winner.

Her first recording at Hello! Project was not with the group, but with the 2000 Hello! Project Shuffle Unit, Aoiro 7.

The first Coconuts Musume single to be released with Lehua was "Tokonatsu Musume." After that single, the group released Watashi mo "I LOVE YOU", which was also fellow member Danielle Delaunay's last single.

2001

The three-member group only released one more single, Jounetsu Yuki Miraisen, before Lehua also went on to graduate.

2002

On February 17, 2002, Lehua graduated from Coconuts Musume and Hello! Project at the end of the Hello! Project 2002 ~Kotoshi mo Sugoizo!~ concert tour.

2003

Lehua was awarded the Miss Congeniality award for the Miss Hawaii USA 2003 pageant.

2008

Lehua was crowned Mrs. Hawaii USA and went on to compete in the 2008 Mrs. United States pageant, the only nationally televised beauty pageant for married women.

2009

In 2009, Lehua and Kapono Nahina divorced.

2015

On March 2nd, Lehua and Adrian Kanoa got married. Soon after, she became pregnant with her second child.

2016

In late February, she gave birth to her second daughter, Ava Belle.

Profile

  • Name: Lehua Sandbo (レフア・サンボ)
  • Full Name: Lehualani Ehukai Kanoa (née Sandbo)
  • Nicknames:
  • Birthday: February 7, 1983 (1983-02-07) (age 41)
  • Spouses: Kapono Nahina (m. 2003; div. 2009); Adrian Kanoa (m. 2015)
  • Children: Kaianna Lehualani Nahina (born February 4, 2004)
  • Birthplace: Haleiwa, Hawaii, United States
  • Height: 5' 4"
  • Blood Type: O
  • Hair: Brown
  • Eyes: Green
  • Bust: 34
  • Waist: 26
  • Hips: 34
  • Dress: 5
  • Shoe: 7
  • Western Zodiac: Aquarius
  • Eastern Zodiac: Dog
  • Ethnicity: Norwegian, Hawaiian, Filipino, Irish, Spanish, Chinese
  • Religion: Catholic
  • Interests: Acting, Singing, Dancing, Longboard Surfing, Shopping, Visiting Beach, Talking, School, Jazz Dance, Soccer, Life
  • Favorite Color: Orange
  • Favorite Food: Italian, Hawaiian, Gyudon, Ramen, Okonomiyaki
  • Favorite Singers: Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Morning Musume
  • Favorite Movies: Pretty Woman, Romeo and Juliet, Like Water For Chocolate
  • Favorite Books: One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Kadin, The Gate to Women's Country, Season of the Sun, Private Pleasures, Siddhartha, The River Between, Maus
  • Favorite Hello! Project Members: Iida Kaori, Yaguchi Mari
  • Hello! Project Groups:
  • Shuffle Groups:

Discography

Compilation Albums

Singles Featured In

Coconuts Musume

Aoiro 7

7nin Matsuri

Trivia

  • She was recruited for the group after reportedly surprising the judges during the final round of auditions with two other girls when she was the only person to sing DANCE & CHANCE in Japanese.
  • She says she still keeps in touch with other members.
  • She hinted of the possibility of a reunion tour in an interview.
  • In 2014, she posted a video on her Facebook of her singing "Aoi Sports Car no Otoko" a Capella.

References

External Links

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