In 1993, Pekelo’s first release, Going to Hana Maui, received four Na Hoku Hanohano Award nominations, and was voted the year’s number one Hawaiian album by the Hawaiian music radio station, KCCN. Soon after, Pekelo was invited to the early morning Perry & Price talk show on KSSK radio and opened for Kenny Loggins while touring the islands. His 1995 release, Hana Jam, again brought Na Hoku Hanohano nominations and his latest CD titled Piha Hau’oli has been a radio favorite since its release in December of 1997.

Pekelo was born and raised in Hana, Maui, where at the age of five, he was inspired by kiho’alu guitar style of Albert Kapunanui, a blind man called “Tutu Apa’a.” When he was 10 years old, The Hana Music Festival Pekelo saw the great Gabby Pahinui, and Eddie Kamae of the popular Sons of Hawaii. Their music left a deep impression on Pekelo who combined that style with the grass roots music of his Hana family. 

Pekelo plays all his music in kiho’alu or slack-key guitar virtuoso, a master falsetto singer, a composer, arranger, teacher of ukulele and guitar, and lecturer-story teller. 

He found and taught the Maui Youth Slack-Key Project, which was funded by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to perpetuate slack-key guitar playing among teenagers. Pekelo continues to teach young children and adults in Hana and all over Maui. Pekelo’s skills have won him invitations to entertain in Hawaii, the West Coast, the Smithsonian, and at Wolf Trap in Virginia. He played in Washington D.C., as one of the original members of the Native Hawaiian Band, a group of Hawaiian slack-key virtuosos. Pekelo also performed in Japan and at the 1999 Washington D.C. 4th of July Celebration with the legendary Sons of Hawaii, headed by ukulele virtuoso, composer, and award-winning filmmaker, Eddie Kamae. 

Pekelo realized his dream to become a member of this band he had idolized as a child. In 1999, Pekelo became an educational assistant at Baldwin High School for the Alternative Learning Center, a school for teens at risk. While raising his two daughters, Pekelo still finds the time to entertain at the major resorts and special events on Maui.

Since his last recording in 1997, Pekelo has pursued other projects on Maui, such as working with the Pacific Island Institute Elder Hostel Program. He continues to share his Aloha and knowledge through music, stories and cultural experiences.

For the past eight years, Pekelo has been composing songs for this new CD, Hana By The Sea. Songs he feels and holds deep in his na’au - songs of people, places and significance to everyone.