AIDAN JAMES

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Aidan James Laprete Powell seemed to have a calling for the entertainment world. With his classic “hapa-haole” looks, he modeled for print campaigns, acted in TV shows and commercials since he was a baby. He picked up music naturally at the age of 2 and started taking ukulele lessons at 4 years old at the Roy Sakuma Ukulele Studios in Honolulu.

At just 8 years old, Aidan became a “youtube sensation.”  His youtube videos of Train’s “Hey Soul Sister” are viral hits and has earned over 20 million views which continues to grow daily.  When Train came to Honolulu for a concert, lead singer Pat Monahan brought Aidan up on stage to perform with them.  Pat was quoted in a national radio interview for ABC stating his favorite cover of “Hey Soul Sister” is by “an eight year old kid from Hawaii named Aidan…he’s like a virtuoso ukulele player, a prodigy.  It’s incredible, he can wail on it!”

Aidan opened up the Keiki Stage at Jack Johnson’s 2010 Kokua Festival and has performed with HAPA, Jake Shimabukuro, Jack Johnson, and Mick Fleetwood, to name a few. He’s been featured as himself on an episode of “Hawaii Five-0” and has performed on major news affiliates, at various charity and private events, ukulele festivals, Japanese Radio, NPR and in Italy’s Elle Magazine.

2013 has been a busy year so far!  Aidan performed at the Pro Bowl and was featured on the February cover of Hawaii’s weekly newspaper, Midweek, with legendary Concert Promoter, Tom Moffatt.  He shot a music video for a national bullying campaign called IM4U and crossed paths again with his idol, Pat Monahan of Train who asked him to be in their new music video, “Mermaid.”

Aidan has traveled to California, Oregon, New York and Japan to perform and plays at Hard Rock Café Honolulu once a month. He connects with his fans from all over the world via twitter, facebook and youtube.

Aidan studies ukulele under the tutelage of ukulele master Roy Sakuma.