Ceslie-Ann Kamakawiwo’ole spent most of her life trying to stay invisible. The only daughter of legendary Hawaiian musician Israel “Bruddah IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole, she was raised deliberately away from her father’s fame, and for nearly two decades after his death in 1997, the general public had no reason to know her name. That changed in 2016 when KHON2 broadcast footage of her driving a stolen vehicle through Honolulu, and she landed on Hawaii’s Most Wanted list.
This is her full story.
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Who Is Ceslie-Ann Kamakawiwo’ole?
Her full legal name is Ceslianne Wehekealake’alekupuna Ah Lo Kamakawiwo’ole. She goes by “Wehi.” Born around 1983 in Hawaii, she is the only child of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole and Marlene Kamakawiwo’ole, née Ah Lo.
Her father is one of the most recognized voices in modern music history. Israel, known as Bruddah IZ, was a Native Hawaiian musician, ukulele player, and sovereignty activist whose medley of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” was recorded in a single take at 3:00 a.m. in 1988. It has spent 371 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s World Digital Songs chart, the longest run in that chart’s history, and crossed 1.83 billion YouTube views as of May 2025. The Library of Congress added the recording to the National Recording Registry in 2021.
Israel married Marlene Ah Lo in 1982, the same year his older brother and bandmate Skippy died of a heart attack at 28. Ceslie-Ann was born the following year. From the beginning, both parents kept her away from press attention and public appearances.
Growing Up as IZ’s Daughter
Those who knew the family described Israel as a devoted and present father. He and Wehi spent long hours together at home, with him playing music and encouraging her to follow along.
“He would say, ‘Mimic me,’ and I would do my best,” Wehi later recalled in an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
But Israel’s health cast a shadow over Wehi’s entire childhood. He battled severe obesity throughout his adult life, reaching approximately 757 pounds (343 kg) at his heaviest. Chronic respiratory and cardiac complications kept him hospitalized repeatedly. By 1997, he was watching the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards ceremony from a hospital bed, the night he received four honors, including Male Vocalist of the Year and Favorite Entertainer of the Year.
On June 26, 1997, at 12:18 a.m., Israel died of respiratory failure at Queen’s Medical Centre in Honolulu. He was 38 years old. Wehi was 14.
The Funeral Hawaii Has Never Forgotten
What followed was unlike almost anything the state had seen before or since.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Funeral Date | July 10, 1997 |
| Location | Hawaii State Capitol Building |
| Attendance | Over 10,000 people |
| Casket | Custom koa wood, built by 50 family members |
| State Honor | Hawaii State flag flew at half-mast |
| Ash Scattering | July 12, 1997 — Makua Beach, Waianae coast |
Israel was only the third person in Hawaiian history to lie in state at the Capitol, after Governor John A. Burns and Senator Spark Matsunaga. He was the only non-politician ever given that distinction.
Marlene and Ceslie-Ann sat beside his casket, beneath a 50-foot Hawaiian flag and a large portrait of IZ. Mourners passed for hours, handing flowers and photographs to ushers. A celebratory concert followed and ran through the night.
Two days later, Israel’s ashes were carried by traditional voyaging canoe to Makua Beach on the Waianae coast. Hundreds lined the shoreline or paddled out on surfboards to watch. The highway nearby backed up for miles around the island. Israel’s friend Bezley told NPR what he believed IZ would have made of the scene:
“All the big semi-trucks on the island of Oahu had their air horns blowing. And from the ocean we could hear the echo, the bounce off the mountain ranges. This whole island came together just to say goodbye to this one Hawaiian. But I tell you, he would have been laughing.”
For Wehi, the grief was something she carried quietly and alone for years. She told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that for a long time after her father died, she could not bring herself to listen to his music at all.
“After he passed, I didn’t want to hear that. It was too close to the heart,” she said.
The Moment She Found His Music Again
Years later, a childhood friend’s daughter was fighting leukemia. Wehi decided to create a tribute video on YouTube and chose her father’s “Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” as the soundtrack.
“For two weeks, I listened to my father’s music and that ukulele, and that ‘oooh’ in the beginning brought me an amazing peace I have not felt,” she told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in July 2010. “Once I started hearing the lyrics, that is when the bitterness and the hardships started to subside.”
Around that time, two of her five children were learning the ukulele. Kiara Parker-Kamakawiwo’ole (then 10) and Elijah Parker-Kamakawiwo’ole (then 8), the two oldest of Wehi’s children, were taking lessons from Kathy Sakuma, wife of Roy Sakuma, the founder of the Ukulele Festival in Waikiki. By July 2010, Kiara and Elijah performed at the 40th Annual Ukulele Festival at Kapiolani Park Bandstand.
Years before that, at their first festival appearance, they had played “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” — a song their grandfather had also recorded. Their teacher Kathy Sakuma said: “It is quite evident that something was passed on to them, and I believe it is just in their blood.”
Mountain Apple Company producer Jon de Mello, the man who added “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to Facing Future in 1993 and one of Israel’s closest collaborators, watched the grandchildren play and offered four words: “They have musical DNA. Wow.”
Wehi put it in her own terms:
“Instruments aren’t my thing, but to see this reflected in my kids is really bittersweet. It’s untouchable in terms of how to describe it and how it causes me to feel. But it is very comforting to see there is a reflection of him in front of me, every day, through my children.”
— Wehi Kamakawiwo’ole, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, July 16, 2010
The Stolen Car and the Most Wanted List
On February 25, 2015, a Mercedes SUV parked on Ala Wai Boulevard in Honolulu was reported stolen. The owner returned around 7:00 a.m. to find it gone and reported the theft at approximately 3:20 p.m. that day.
A public tip led Honolulu Police to a matching vehicle on Kamalo Street in Waipahu. Officers confirmed the plate and set up surveillance. At around 4:00 p.m., cameras captured a woman walk up to the SUV, get in, and drive away. She was identified as Ceslie-Ann Kamakawiwo’ole.
She was stopped and arrested for auto theft. Authorities issued a $20,000 arrest warrant.
It also emerged she had been placed on Hawaii’s HOPE Probation program and had violated its terms, which sharply escalated the situation.
What Is HOPE Probation?
HOPE stands for Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement, a program launched in 2004 by First Circuit Court Judge Steven Alm. It was the first high-intensity probation supervision program of its kind in the country and has since been adopted across more than 31 states.
The program operates on strict, non-negotiable rules:
- Frequent random drug testing throughout the probation period
- Mandatory scheduled check-ins with probation officers and court appearances
- Immediate bench warrant issued for any missed appointment or failed drug test
- Swift jail sanctions per violation, typically two to three days, increasing with each repeat offense
- Harsher consequences for anyone who absconds from supervision entirely
Ceslie-Ann failed to appear for required check-ins and did not show up when called. Under HOPE’s structure, that immediately triggered an active warrant and an intensified search.
On August 7, 2016, KHON2 broadcast the surveillance footage of the Ala Wai Boulevard theft publicly. Her name was formally placed on Hawaii’s Most Wanted list. She was subsequently apprehended. The final legal outcome of the case was never publicly disclosed by the Honolulu Police Department or the courts.
Where Is Ceslie-Ann Kamakawiwo’ole Now?
As of March 2026, she is 43 years old. By all available reports, she is living privately in Hawaii, raising her children away from public attention. She has no confirmed social media accounts and has made no public statements since the legal case ended.
Her mother, Marlene Kamakawiwo’ole, who never remarried after Israel’s death and was only 33 when she was widowed, is also reported to be living quietly, reportedly in the Pearl City area of Oahu.
Israel’s music keeps reaching new audiences decades after his death. His “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is requested nearly 500 times per week through Sony Music licensing, with most requests asking specifically for IZ’s version. Facing Future remains the best-selling Hawaiian album of all time.
Wehi Kamakawiwo’ole carries a surname the world associates with one of the most widely heard recordings ever made. She grew up in the presence of the man behind it, lost him at 14, spent years unable to hear a single note, and found her way back through her own children playing his instrument in a Waikiki park. The legal chapter of her life is closed, the public chapter even more so. Ceslie-Ann Kamakawiwo’ole, by every sign, has chosen exactly the life her parents once tried to give her: a private one.
Sources: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (“Bittersweet Music,” Mike Gordon, July 16, 2010); Wikipedia; IMDB; Vice; NPR; Hawaii State Judiciary; Library of Congress; KHON2.
