[ KING OF THE MOUNTAIN ]
To say the renown of the Mountain Apple Co. is growing would be an understatement. "It's Iz-sized," states company President Leah Bernstein, pointing to Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's 2001 release, "Alone in Iz World," as a brilliant example. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Chart, just the 12th album to accomplish such a feat. Mountain Apple
puts island music
in the world’s handsThe company is so successful,
it has staging areas on the mainlandBy Shawn "Speedy" Lopes
slopes@starbulletin.comWith the music of the Hawaiian recording giant turning up in motion pictures such as "Finding Forrester," "Meet Joe Black," "In God's Hands" and "Race the Sun" as well as the TV shows "Party of Five," "Gideon's Crossing" and the season finale of "E.R.," visibility for Mountain Apple has never been higher.
"Israel has reached over 200 million people over the last 10 weeks through 'E.R.,' People Magazine and Parade Magazine alone," she attests. "And that's without any radio factored in."
"He's changing history," adds Mountain Apple Co. founder Jon de Mello, whose celebrated roster of artists (Hawaiian Style Band, Kekuhi Kanahele, Sean Na'auao, Three Plus, Na Leo, Typical Hawaiians, etc.) could conceivably produce more homegrown blockbusters in the near future. "The Cazimeros are steady sellers; Hapa, steady sellers; Amy (Gilliom) and Willie (K), steady sellers -- everyone's doing well."
Demand for Mountain Apple products abroad is such that de Mello has created several staging areas, or warehouses, on the mainland to eliminate unnecessary shipping costs to and from the islands. In addition, brisk sales have afforded Mountain Apple the distinction as a top-10 independent record label worldwide.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Jon de Mello has built his company, Mountain Apple, into a tour de force.
"We're aggressive," he explains. "I've got 18 employees and 30 reps around the world and the largest library in the Pacific Basin, 90 percent of it Hawaiian. We're a very diversified music company, but my love is Hawaiian music."
Life, as de Mello remembers it, always revolved around music. "I grew up in the studio," he says. As a child, de Mello accompanied his father most everywhere, including recording sessions as far away as Los Angeles and London. Even when he went away to college in Berkeley in the late '60s, fate seemed to keep de Mello surrounded with music. "Every weekend, I would drive to San Francisco to see Janis Joplin, the Doors, Cream -- you name 'em, I saw 'em," he says, recalling the wide-open era with wonder. "In the Golden Gate Park, there were love-ins, flower-ins, nude-ins, free love, free everything. We were happy campers."
De Mello's father, Jack, the esteemed musician and composer who once played with John Philip Sousa and trained with Igor Stravinsky, came to Hawaii in 1936 at the age of 19 and made a name for himself locally as an arranger and producer. Under a variety of label names -- most notably Music of Polynesia -- the senior de Mello put out records by Emma Veary, Kamokila Campbell, Marlene Sai and Keola Beamer, and in 1965 released the first of the historic "Music of Hawaii" LP box sets.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
The staff of The Mountain Apple Company, from left: Leah Bernstein (president), Davin Pasion, Dean Hoofnagle, Suzi Mechler, (vice president), Wendy Fuchigami, Kira O'Connor, Lisa Soong, Joyce Uyeda, Roz Moore, Milan Bertosa, Martha Ortiz, Pat Trazo, Matt Schmidt and Jon de Mello (chief executive officer/owner).
Not long after returning to Honolulu, Jon created management company MOP (Music of Polynesia) Artists, which he later incorporated into the Mountain Apple Co. It was a memorable decade for the younger de Mello, who found himself in the middle of the Hawaiian cultural renaissance of the 1970s, recording and managing such artists as Keola and Kapono Beamer, the Brothers Cazimero, Jon and Randy, Rap Reiplinger, Toma/Natto and Booga Booga, among others.
Music, he says, has been a lifelong passion. "I play my piano at least one hour every night," he reveals. "It's a blood thing; if you take that away, I would die. There's a blessing in that, and I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way."
Founded: 1947 as Aloha Records, then became Music of Polynesia and, finally, the Mountain Apple Co. The Mountain Apple Co.
Number of employees: 48
