Kūikawā’s youngest member, Lukela Kanae was born in Wailuku, Maui, and spend his whole life growing up there. An alumni from Kamehameha Schools Maui Campus, he was always surrounded by Hawaiian singing and hula. During his transition from middle school to high school, he joined the school band and picked up the bass guitar. Urged by his classmates, he joined the Kamehameha Schools Hawaiian Ensemble, a Hawaiian singing and performing group. With no interest in singing, he played bass for the group, and picked up the stand up bass by request of his teacher. Throughout his senior year of highschool, he began singing, and through to college and joining the Institute for Hawaiian Music, he started developing his singing voice.