 Aloha and welcome to the Hawaii Smooth Jazz Connection. I am your host, Gwendolyn Harris. I am so excited to be back here this week to present another local artist here in Hawaii. Today, we have a vocalist who has been performing in Hawaii and abroad for years. She is a three times Hawaiian Music Awards winner and the winner of four Hoku Awards. She is an exciting and riveting internationally acclaimed singer and songwriter who has worked many years to become one of the world's most accomplished performers with over 10 CD releases to her name here in abroad. Her performance career is still in high gear paying tribute to Shaday Natalie Cole, Roberta Flack, Prince Chuck Manjion with parents at Blue Note Hawaii and Japan. A longtime Whitney Houston impersonator, she has traveled on the road internationally with the Legends and Concert. When she is not performing, she loves to give back to the community working with different fundraisers such as the March of Dimes, Make Them Smile and more. Let's welcome Jani to the show. Thank you so much for that wonderful introduction. My eyes were starting to cross but it really, it's weird isn't it when you hear people reciting what it is that you've done over the course of your years and it's a little nerve-wracking too and some people would call it bragging, right? But it isn't bragging if you've done it. You've worked hard for it and you deserve all the accolades. So let's get started here. How did you get started in music? I've been at it since I was about eight years old and my mother encouraged me to sing at parties and things like that. So I kind of started getting used to the idea of letting it rip especially in intimate situations around parties and stuff. Then I entered my first talent contest when I was 12 and I won singing a Roberta Flack tune, right? I put on an afro and I did my best. Now back then we didn't have karaoke karaoke. So we had the only thing that we could do was put the 45 on the record player and sing along to it. So everyone of course thought that you were just lip-syncing but that's not the case is it? I was actually singing into the microphone loud enough to be heard over Roberta Flacks recording on the record. So you just got the attention to everybody. Yeah and I just did it. I just did it just like that and so then it just continued on after that. But when did you turn professional? While I was in high school I was involved in a lot of drama club activities and one of the shows that we did called Nostalgia was a show that was based around hits, rock and roll hits from the 1950s and 60s and so we we bopped around the different high schools doing that and then all of a sudden that show got booked to do something where we actually got paid and next thing I know I'm auditioning when I'm 16 years old for a dance band that was playing at the Ebony club. It was an exclusive club called Ebony. Sorry about touching your stuff there Rich. So that's kind of it in a nutshell. It was fun. It was fun. I started working those nightclubs and my mom would have to come along with me you know because I was too young to be out there. Wow so you know what it's like when these these these young stars I should say today what they what they go through. Right but the good news for them is they have so much more to to access. They have you know they have the internet. They have TV. They have it's it's it's amazing what they have all these contests and all these great platforms. Social media has been a really great addition to any singer's life and as up there as I am in generations compared to them I was able to you know make that transition just like you Miss Gwen and how we had to you know learn how to do the smartphones and learn how to do social media and you know without leaning over to the kids and the grandkids and going oh hey how do you do this exactly how do you do this how does this work oh grandma no no no no well as I stated earlier you've traveled all around the world how did that come about hmm okay so after I graduated from high school I just couldn't stay here it was too small for me back then I'm from wine I okay so you know you blink you miss it in my mind so I had to get on a plane and get on out of here so I started touring with my boyfriend at the time who was a keyboard player for a band called Freshwood down talk to me about the name of that please don't ask me that question anyway we toured around and got busy and I was just the girlfriend and the wife and the groupie you know what I mean so I was just waiting and waiting and waiting waiting for my chance to to really start touring and then when we finally settled down in the bay area I was able to really sink in and and do dual work that was like my introduction to making it making a go of it and so when I was forced to come home to Hawaii because girl I came for a visit one day and some criminals took everything out of the back of my car and they left me with panties and shoes so so I had to work at a Korean bar to get enough money to buy clothes and then right after that I was I auditioned for another band so speed up speed forward I was performing at Nick's fish market one night and lines were out the door because I'm the sidekick to Norm Compton hey Norm how you doing hey Norm hi so uh I was a sidekick to Norm Compton and in walks the famous rock and roll singer band leader Paul Revere of Paul Revere and the Raiders and he sees me in all my glory and he goes you know you would make a really good Whitney Houston and I was like what what and so I auditioned I went out bought a wig I I had a dress custom made and had some tracks and everything and and there I was performing for legends and say legends in concert that's really go ahead say that three times really fast legends in concert and they sent me all over the world as Whitney Houston as Whitney Houston and so while I was all over the world I would just go ahead and step into nightclubs and sit in right because that's what we do we go and we we sit in and we say hey can I come and sing a song with you and so next thing you know I'm I'm doing all of that wherever I go wherever I went that's what I did so not only was I helping to build the Whitney Houston brand and the legends and concert brand but I was also you know building up me building your own brand yeah building my own brand did you ever get a chance to meet Whitney no unfortunately girl I did not I remember someone asking me once hey why don't you just go to Whitney Houston and ask her if she can give you some of her old costumes and I was like what really I got scared when I when someone asked me that and I and I just kind of went hmm hmm why would Whitney want to lend me some of her old clothes think about it for just a minute okay so it could have gone either way I heard she was really very professional very nice very sweet but then you read all those things in the paper and you just kind of go oh I don't want to go nope not going to do it so I just had to fake it you know I just had to fake her style in her class and her look and everything and I did okay from some of the pictures I've seen you look like just like her really yeah well excuse me for what I'm about to say that's when I was like crackhead skinny oh my goodness no and everyone thought that I was you know one of those and I'm like God gave me this so so and I don't know where this came from but that's okay now tell me I just found this out recently myself that you were with Dream Girls and Jennifer Holiday okay how did that come about all right well I was in Dream Girls twice in 1989 I was tapped to play the part of of Laurel okay and it was a local cast so it and it was produced by Tommy Aguilar who was a very well known dancer choreographer and so he was he was really trying to to continue on his legacy by producing this show and boy did he take on something huge and major and the thing about it was is there weren't enough black people in Hawaii to really fill the roles he couldn't find anybody back then that was that was going to do it so what he did was he localized it so some of us were and some of us weren't and that's okay because you know you're allowed that kind of license with it it was a huge production it starred myself Desiree Cruz who is John Cruz's sister and all those other cruises that are out there I love you it also starred Loretta Oblast who took over for Star Williams because Star Williams just couldn't do the choreography and just didn't want to keep up with the rigorous rehearsals that were that were required to do the show so they replaced her with Loretta Oblast and that girl took off you know who I'm talking about right I do I do so that was number one oh beautiful the costuming the the choreography that the stage everything moving around on stage it was really fantastic so let's fast forward to 2002 2002 I was newly married and my brother who's an amazing bass player over in Brooklyn New York he's played with Hugh Massacala, Pat Martini, I'm sorry Pat Martino sorry sorry Michael Franks I mean some really big wigs he was also the bass player for Jennifer Holiday and he's and he happened to mention to her that hey my sister's a singer and you know I'd really love it if you could help her audition for the gig and I flew myself over and I auditioned for Jennifer Holiday in New York and what was coming up was she was she was doing the show for the 20th anniversary of the Broadway hit Dreamgirls I remember that yeah and we did it at in Atlanta at Fox Theatre and we did a two-week run and for that show I was given the role of Michelle Robinson and so but but here's the thing it was a smaller role but I didn't care I did not care I was on stage with Jennifer Holiday and that amazing cast of characters girl the costuming was that umpteenth level stuff and the wigs yikes now I was never trained as a dancer so I had to really like hoof it I had to learn it and you know there were times when I you wanted to do what and okay so there was a scene where we had to we'll be right back we have to we have to take a quick break but we'll be right back all right don't go anywhere I know hello and welcome to at the crossroads I'm your host Keisha King I'm live at five every Wednesday where we have entertaining and educational conversations that are real and relevant both here in Hawaii and across the globe I'll see you at the crossroads Aloha Aloha and Mabuhay my name is Amy Ortega Anderson inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii with Think Tech Hawaii we come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday we invite you to listen watch for our mission of empowerment we aim to enrich and lighten educate entertain and we hope to empower again maraming salamat po mabuhay and aloha welcome back to the Hawaii smooth jazz connection we are here today with Jinnai thanks for having me back sweetie thanks for having me period I know that that dream dream girl's story was getting a little long in the tooth but it was an amazing experience and Jennifer holiday was just the sweetest person well just uh you were just lucky to work with Jennifer holiday I was so lucky so fortunate now before we go on to some more questions that I have for you will you play for us a little bit oh I can is that all right yes okay yes I'm just gonna do a real quick one okay okay just something to tease the audiences for you know what they can see when they come see you well I do so many different things that this is just one of the little things this is what I show up and I volunteer for cancer patients and kids and stuff like that so I bring my trusty crusty ukulele with me and I can do this I've seen her play percussion yes I have she looks like Sheila E when she does it when she's on her come and I can turn around and do the smooth jazz connection Hawaii smooth jazz lovers connection wow I just had a song made about me wow today well you know that could hardly count as a song but I want to make sure I gave I gave you something special thank you I thank you now that you just did that all right why don't you tell us how you got connected with Blue Note Hawaii because you're there all the time well given the fact that I've I've did the Blue Note nightclubs in Japan for the eight CDs that I have released there that's all smooth jazz by the way but a lot of people here on the state side you know the the record deal is kind of different you know state side as compared to Japan so I rolled up on the good folks at the Blue Note and I I pretty much insisted that I be there as often as possible I mean and now the phone's starting to ring because it realized that they needed they needed me they needed local acts like me yes to come along and show our quality so um that what you just heard that's just me goofing off but the thing is I pride myself at being a premier jazz vocalist here in Hawaii and I can hold my own out there internationally as well no one would throw me out of a club unless there was more room for an audience outside so Blue Note could not be in Hawaii without using artists such as myself and and the willy K's who can you know play all this there's so many of us and the good news is we're allowed to bring our Hawaiian variety of jazz r&b pop Hawaiian whatever it is that we've got going on we can all present our wares their best staging best light best sound and best opportunity so I I have to tell you over the last two years I've been privileged to sing in produce co-produce 20 plus shows over the last two years doing tributes like you mentioned earlier Shade Natalie Cole it's a lot of work girl it's like I imagined for those of you that have not seen any of Jenae's tributes the one that I really liked is the one that she did with the tribute to Prince can we bring that one out where she looks just like Prince wait I gotta see this I gotta see this she was doing the tribute yeah she was doing the tribute to Prince and I mean it was just like she had so many different outfits during that show but when she came out with this I was like whoa girl but yes um Jenae has just has done so many tributes Prince Shade Roberta Flack and you have an upcoming one that you're about to do tell us about that right so now I I have a threesome coming up I'm doing a a series of shows called Divas of Jazz and R&B this is volume two because volume one was Shade Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston because you know she did a few jazzy things so volume two is Anita Baker Roberta Flack and Tony Braxton wow yeah so so I'm trying to do like an all-inclusive kind of a deal and the format is to invite young performers singers instrumentalists you know whatever I can get my hands on but right now I've got two beautiful singers I have Kathy Baroga who's been bouncing around here in Hawaii for a while and she's a wonderfully accomplished vocalist that men see her and they just start drooling because she's so beautiful she's so classically beautiful and she can really sing and I'm looking forward to having her on stage as we highlight the music of those three diva artists and then I've got this vivacious incredibly bubbly young lady by the name of Lyric Maderos that's going to be joining us for a couple of songs and I share some of the wealth of experiences that I've had being on stage producing promo work all that stuff I try to offer what it is that I have and what I'm able to do to anyone who's interested in learning so that leads me to that next step yeah next step I'm gonna get to that so tell us about that next step this is where I'm really gonna focus in on offering master classes because I you know people ask me all the time do you teach vocals and I'm like no I'm not well suited for that because I know what my talents are and I know what I can and can't do teaching other people's children how to sing is kind of not my forte I'll leave that up to the amazing expert setter out there so for me however I can do a performance master class because that's what I have to share that's what I've spent 40 plus years on stages all over the world learning how to perfect my own craft so now I'm completely and totally willing to share and so I'm going to be launching a platform called that next step for any budding performer you don't have to be young you can be you can be out there already but you want to really hone your craft and you want to make it better and you want to learn how to do more than what you're already able to do come talk to me because I would be so very happy to share with you what I know see you hear that for anybody that's out there that wants to come up in the business see jenai see jenai see jenai now tell us about the date of your show that's coming up at bluenose so that show coming up is april 7th we have two shows we do 6 30 and 9 p.m. the tickets there's a really nice come on a rate on this so for example you can get a table of six for two hundred and twelve dollars after taxes right so that's pretty good you know you can you can treat the family to a night at the blue note and and I'm always reaching out to the audiences and trying to get them to familiarize themselves with all of the great talent that's here in hawaiian and I try to bring them as much of a variety as I can not only in the music that I do but in the music that I'm sharing with these other budding young performers I keep saying young it doesn't matter who you are just bring it you know take that next step take that next step with me now one last thing what is your formula for success what can you tell some of our up and coming artists to sum it up in a nutshell always smile and be happy with what it is that you're doing and if you're not happy sweetheart get out and do something else don't let people tell you what to do do it on your own terms and just be happy be good and be happy and make other people happy because that's what my name means you know one who loves people jenai is mandarin chinese or one who loves people and I really do I love them a lot I try not to love them too little but I uh that that's the best word of advice that I give my kids and that I that I give to anyone I see just be happy and and be good to people help out you have service that's what I do now well jenai I thank you so much for being on the hawaii smooth jazz connection and I hope that I've let everybody know a little bit about you because I've learned some new things about you than I did not know thanks sweetie so hawaii smooth jazz connection connection I did have that right right I because I have different because I have different things going on you know hawaii smooth jazz connection with gwendol and harris oh hawaii smooth jazz connection hawaii smooth jazz connection started you can't stop but I love it I love it I love it but thank you again jenai for being here with us my pleasure I know why you choose um smooth jazz connection and thank you everyone for being here until next week aloha