Nicholas Tremulis, Naiwi Teruya and Bernard Fowler pose for a photo at the Ocean Vodka Organic Farm. Photo courtesy Jon Woodhouse

Lahaina-born musician Naiwi Teruya will make his Chicago debut Oct. 7 at a “Maui Music & Food Experience” concert supporting the mission of the Hua Momona Foundation’s work on Maui.

Teruya will perform with Nicholas Tremulis & the Prodigals featuring Rolling Stones backing vocalist Bernard Fowler. The concert also includes Maui’s John Cruz, former Stones vocalist Lisa Fischer, and soul legend Bettye LaVette.

Presented at Chicago’s Copernicus Center’s Gateway Theatre, the show will help to support Lahaina fire recovery efforts by providing meals, housing and mental health resources.

In a press release, the Hua Momona Foundation’s founder Gary Grube, who grew up in the Chicago area, said, “Chicago’s amazing connection to Maui really matters since the island continues to struggle on a long road to recovery. We hope that the generosity of Chicago will envelop this benefit concert as the theater is filled with aloha from Hawaii.”

A brilliant ukulele player, Teruya previously played with Tremulis and Fowler in the band Mongoose at the Ocean Vodka Organic Farm and the Foundation’s Maui Music & Food Experience show at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa in August, which raised $200,000.

Chicago-based Tremulis had been blown away when he first heard Teruya playing at a Monkeypod Kitchen gig last year.

“He saw me playing with my cousin and told me after the set, ‘I couldn’t stop watching you,'” Teruya recalled. “He came back to Maui with Bernard (Fowler) and he was like, ‘We want you to play with us for the next fundraiser.’ He told Bernard, ‘You’ve got to hear this kid play the ukulele.’ It just worked out, and we quickly became friends and bandmates. When you play with people on that level, it’s nerve-wracking in the beginning, but then when it starts sounding really good, it just becomes really easy.”

With John Cruz on the Chicago bill, does he think they might jam together?

“I don’t know,” Teruya said. “We’ll see what Uncle John wants. I played with him once before, right after the fire at the hub that we were running at Honokowai Beach Park. I got to jump on with him. Just after the fire, we needed music. A lot of us musicians weren’t ready to play music. We were super devastated. Being a chef, I only focused on feeding everyone after the fire.”

A chef with the Hua Momona Foundation, Teruya had cooked at prestigious San Francisco establishments including the Westin St. Francis and The City Club before returning to Maui.

This creative path began in his teens, living with Willie K.

“His influence on me was making sure I knew how to take care of myself,” Teruya explained. “So I started cooking at a really young age. He took me in because I was struggling having a home when I was about 13. Drugs really hit my house hard. Mom had to go to rehab, and dad and I were pretty homeless. Uncle Willie is cousins with my mom. He heard about my situation and took me in. I spent about three years with him.”

In time, Willie K bought him his first guitar and amp. “He would hear me play his instruments around the house, and one day he heard me playing one of his ukuleles. He’s like, ‘Was that you playing just now?’ He said, ‘Wow, I thought it was Jake (Shimabukuro) playing.'”

Skilled in both culinary arts and music, playing is therapeutic for him. “I always needed it,” he said. “It was my therapy, and I knew no matter what, I will always have to play music at least once or twice a week.”

Currently, his music gigs include two nights at the Hula Grill Kaanapali (Sunday and Wednesday), the Monkeypod Kitchen in Kaanapali (Saturday and Monday), plus Leilani’s on the Beach’s happy hour on Wednesday with his band, 3 Pounds of Kalo.

Wishing to help West Maui youth, he is heading the Maui Music Youth Program, which will teach kids how to play instruments.

“I’ve been wanting to teach,” he said. “We were brainstorming how we can keep giving back, not just with food, but more so with the music side. Going through a little homeless phase, we always had to move because we couldn’t pay the bills, and music was the only thing that took my mind off all that as a kid. Playing ‘ukulele took me away from all the drama. I just want the kids today to have resources, something to help them that no matter what’s going on in their life. I know local kids today; they’re living a similar situation that I did. It’s such a struggle out here. My main focus is to help these local kids. We’re trying to shoot for the end of the year for this thing to start really kicking off.”

Teruya will perform in Chicago on Oct. 7 at the “Maui Music & Food Experience” concert supporting the mission of the Hua Momona Foundation’s work.