Musician Mahi Beamer Dies at Age 88

Hawaiian singer, pianist and organist Edwin Mahi‘ai “Mahi” Copp Beamer died on Friday, July 14, at Kuakini Medical Center at age 88.

News sources report that he collapsed Wednesday, July 12,  shortly after playing piano at his brother Milton “Sonny”  Beamer’s funeral. Sonny died July 5 at the age of 91.

Mahi recorded his first album, The Remarkable Voice of Hawaii’s Mahi Beamer in Authentic Hawaiian Songs, in 1959.

Beamer received the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991 and was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

Mahi earned a Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.

He was also inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

I’m saddened that Hawaiʻi has lost two of our state’s beloved musicians, brothers Sonny and Mahi Beamer, in recent days. My condolences to the Beamer ʻOhana. All of Hawaiʻi mourns with you, said Gov. David Y. Ige.

Mahi’s survivors include his sister, Helen Ka‘aloehukaiopuaena “Sunbeam” Desha Beamer.