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Richard Claunan was born and raised in Waialua, Hawaii. He was introduced to music at the young age of 7 by his father, a musician playing at parties, and his older brother who had a singing group in the little town of Waialua, Hawaii. His father taught him the basic chords on the guitar and at the age of fifteen he started his own band playing surfing music and gradually singing. (Everybody wanted to be like the Beatles).

The band was known all over town, including most of the neighboring islands.  At the age of 18, Richard enlisted in the Navy from 1967 to 1971.   In 1972 he moved to California playing with a group called "The Pacific Exchange" and touring most of the coastal states on the Smugglers Inn and Double Tree Inn chains.  

In 1987, moved to Atlanta performing on the weekends with his hula group "Hula Halau Kapilialoha” at private parties as well as various venues throughout the Atlanta area offering a Polynesian Revue.  In 2002 the group started performing at Trader Vic’s located in the Atlanta Hilton Hotel.  His life long friend (Al Galius) moved to Georgia in 2005 and they started their own band called “Kaikua’ana” meaning (Brothers since childhood).  Both Al and Richard, having been brought up in Hawaii, cherish and hold dear their heritage passed on to them from their elders. As Kaikua’ana, they offer a wide range of Hawaiian Jams and Contemporary music performing in the Atlanta area.

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Al Galius was born and raised in Waialua, Hawaii. Being the youngest of 9, he learned how to sing harmony from his older brothers and family friends who were already in singing groups. He started playing the guitar at a young age.  Richard was already playing in a band, which inspired him to start his own with high school buddies. He moved to California in 1969 to join a dance/show group called "The Manila File" performing in Las Vegas and the Lake Tahoe area. Then Al and Richard formed their own group called The Pacific Exchange playing the Smuggler Inn and Double Tree Inn chains. Al moved to Georgia in 2005 and decided to start a band again with Richard called Kaikua'ana.

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Freddie Florito was born in Manilla, Phillipines. He started playing music at the age of fourteen. Soon after he started playing bass guitar with the jazz group "Total Eclipse".  In Hawaii he joined the Sandy Conterras Show group, which eventually went to Las Vegas. Playing at the Dunes Hotel and Casino they alternated with the Four Freshmen and the Platters. Freddie later moved to Atlanta playing with various groups and is presently playing with Kaikua’ana.

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