"Being away from home is hard but who wouldn't want to work with Babyface?" she asks.
Little more than a year after winning the Oceanic "Road To Fame" talent search and signing a management contract with Matt Young, Tenderoni is going to Los Angeles with a national recording contract. Local industry observers have known for months that Young was working out the final details of an agreement with Yab Yum/Epic Records and Sony Music.
Now it's official. Tenderoni -- sisters Dee Williams, 22, Jay Williams, 18, Max Williams, 15, and cousin Tee Kaleiopu, 13, all of Waianae -- leaves Hawaii this month for artist development training at the Edmonds Entertainment facilities in Los Angeles.
Tracey Edmonds is CEO of the label. Her husband is none other than Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, the multi-Grammy-winning producer and recording artist.
Already far ahead of any other Hawaii "girl group," Tenderoni will be working with world-class choreographers, personal trainers, vocal coaches, stylists and consultants who'll provide tips and training on everything from stage presence and interview skills to maintaining good relations with the media. It's the same type of big-budget artist development program that Motown Records used more than 30 years ago to launch such acts as the Supremes.
Tenderoni will play a Hawaii farewell performance as special guests at Brown Bags to Stardom XVII next weekend.
Babyface will write Tenderoni's first nationally released single. The group will join En Vogue and Boyz II Men on his LaFace Records soundtrack for "Soul Food," a film starring Vanessa Williams.
"We're hoping for 'Let It Go' or 'Precious Moments,' but the song Babyface writes for the soundtrack will set the tone for the album," Young says.
"We'd like to do something Hawaiian, too," Max adds.
Young, who has extensive credits in the local recording industry, will write and produce at least one new song for the album. He and his partner, Timmy Gatling, produced "West Side Harmony," a classy combination of inspired remakes and appealing new music.
And so Tenderoni joins a short but growing list of Hawaii artists with national credentials. Exactly who's on the list depends on the categories included.
Originally From Here: Dave Guard (Kingston Trio), Yvonne Elliman, Bette Midler and Poi Dog Pondering lived here, left and eventually recorded elsewhere. Call them historical footnotes.
Island Resident Signed by Mainland Label: Robin Luke (Dot), Dick Jensen (Philadelphia International), Liz Damon's Orient Express (White Whale), Cecilio & Kapono (Columbia), Sheila Tilton (Con Brio), Mike Furlong (Atlantic), Glenn Medeiros (Amherst/MCA), New Generation (Warner Brothers).
Signed While on the Mainland: The Surfers (High Fidelity and Decca).
Signed Here/Based Here: Alfred Apaka (Decca), Arthur Lyman (HiFi), Don Ho & The Aliis (Reprise), Kui Lee (Columbia), Society Of Seven (Network).
The Growing Roster of Hawaiian Masters Who've Signed with George Winston's Dancing Cat label: Keola Beamer, Sonny Chillingworth, Barney Isaacs, Ledward Kaapana, George Kahumoku Jr., Moses Kahumoku, Ray Kane, Dennis Kamakahi, Ozzie Kotani, George Kuo, Leonard Kwan, Cyril Pahinui and Bla Pahinui.
Winston founded Dancing Cat in 1983 and began work on the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters Series five years later. His label is distributed by Windham Hill Records/BMG Music. BMG Music distributes Dancing Cat nationwide and in 65 foreign markets, and will release four new slack key albums this week. (See accompanying story.)
Dancing Cat spokesman Ben Churchill said BMG is working hard to promote the new albums.
As the local music industry has come on line with the outside world, local labels have achieved national and international visibility through the marketing efforts of companies like Mountain Apple Co. Mountain Apple CEO Jon de Mello sees increasing interest in all types of music from Hawaii around the world. He says this encourages island artists to think in national and global terms as well.
"They see the impact aggressive people are having with Hawaiian music," he says.
De Mello contributed to that impact last year with the release of "Pick a Hit Hawaii," a 16-song collection of recordings by artists as diverse as Don Ho and Brother Noland and Gabby Pahinui.
The big news in terms of national distribution came with the signing of a deal between Keali'i Reichel and Atlantic Records. Reichel already had national distribution through Mountain Apple, which will continue to represent him in Hawaii, and Reichel and his Punahele Productions ohana will continue to record and produce albums here.
"We explained that they had to sanctify his culture, his lifestyle, and the fact that we cannot expect him to change that much. . . . If you keep him but he's not able to recenter and recharge himself on his home island and work with his halau, you lose the music, " Punahele principal Jim Linker says.
While Reichel has good deal, signing with a mainland label can simply mean moving to a bigger pond with way-bigger predators.
C&K sold out Aloha Stadium and were popular for years on the West Coast, but Columbia somehow failed to launch them nationally. Warner Bros. bobbled New Generation, the biggest recording act out of Hawaii since Glenn Medeiros, who hit No. 1 with "She Ain't Worth It."
The Pahinui Brothers' self-titled debut album was produced here by Panini Records but licensed to a national label. The trio broke up before the record was launched nationally.
More recent and successful was the lease deal involving Na Leo Pilimehana and Sony Japan.
And, in something of a reverse lease project, Michael Cord of HanaOla Records has leased Kui Lee's 1966 album from Sony. "The Extraordinary Kui Lee" should be available on CD by summer.
Meanwhile, Tenderoni journeys forth with help on all sides. Tracey Edmonds' personal interest assures the Waianae women will get the training, commitment and money to back them up.
And their home ties remain strong. At a Washington Place ceremony in their honor this week they mingled with government dignitaries and entertainment bigwigs, but they were surrounded primarily by friends and family who've supported them this far.