Hawaiian music legend Palani Vaughan, inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 2008, is best known for albums honoring King David Kalakaua. He formed the “King’s Own” and began to study, compose, publish, record, and perform tributes to Kalakaua and Hawaii’s monarchy, recording four albums in the 1970s and early 1980s in honor of Kalakaua. Vaughan’s first solo album, “Hawaiian Love Songs,” released in 1970, “positioned him as the likely successor to the late Alfred Apaka as the romantic golden voice of Hawaii, Honolulu Star-Bulletin entertainment writer John Berger wrote in 2007 when the album was re-released. “But Vaughan chose to put his personal commitment to honoring the legacy of King Kalakaua ahead of commercial success,” Berger wrote. Touted for his golden voice, Frank Palani Vaughan Jr. was born May 27, 1944, and graduated from Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawaii. He passed away Dec. 10, 2016 to the great sorrow of his ohana and fans.