Robyn Kneubuhl and Ginger Johnson, otherwise known as Hula Honeys, has donated $3,000 to the Emma Veary Scholarship fund at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College.
“Emma Veary continues to be a huge musical influence,” said Johnson, part of the award-winning jazz duo. “After playing to packed crowds at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Redondo Beach and Mar’sels Restaurant, we saw how far that musical influence has reached. We wanted to help nurture the next generation of musicians the way Maui has nurtured our careers, so we decided to contribute part of the profits from that tour to the Emma Veary Scholarship.”
The multi-year Emma Veary Scholarship, named after Robin Kneubuhl’s mother, was established by a private donor in California who had enjoyed listening to Veary’s performances on the beach outside the Halekulani Hotel 40 years ago. Veary would tell her paying audience that the next song was for ‘friends on the shelf’ or for her ‘scholarship friends,’ and then she would then turn and sing to her fans on the beach who could not afford to buy a ticket to a Waikīkī concert.
The scholarship will be awarded to a UH Maui College student who demonstrates the ability and promise in all types of music like the Golden Voice of Hawaiʻi, Emma Veary.
“We’re hoping that others in the local music community in Maui will help grow this important scholarship so that it can support more deserving music students and inspire them to pursue careers in the industry,” said Kneubuhl.
