Taimane Gardner was born on February 13th 1989 in Honolulu Hawaii and was performing by the time she could walk. Taimane has always loved attention and would sing and dance anytime, anywhere. At the age of 5, her father gave her an ukulele which gave her the perfect opportunity to add to her performances. “I remember the day I got it.” Taimane says. “It was lying on the table and the first thing that popped into my head was ‘rock star’. I picked it up and played in front of the mirror until I broke a string.”

Taimane’s dad, Jack, saw her interest in the instrument and quickly put her into two different ukulele classes in Kaimuki with Mike Basques and the Roy Sakuma Ukulele School. She blew her family away when she came home after her first lesson and could play a complete song. Taimane quickly picked up new songs and enjoyed playing them to her family. Her teacher Mike started taking her to small gigs at coffee shops and birthday parties. Her first performance by herself was at her grandmother’s senior citizen club in Waikiki. Her father was afraid she’d be too scared to play in front of strangers but was shocked when Taimane, with total confidence, walked on stage playing her ukulele with a big smile on her face. Her father says, “It was like she had been there, and donethat before. She wasn’t the least bit intimidated. She seemed to know exactly what to do and was totally comfortable.”

At the age of six, Taimane entered her first ukulele contest for KCCN FM 100, a local radio station at Ala Moana Mall‘s Center Stage. She competed against boys twice her age and won.

Taimane attended Punahou School K through 5 and continued entering local ukulele contests and taking lessons from other teachers to learn different styles and genres of music. One influential ukulele teacher she met at the age of 11 was Jake Shimabukuro, the young and upcoming superstar of modern ukulele. Jake’s fast and electric guitar style rekindled Taimane’s passion of speed and she quickly learned many of his skills. By the end of 5th grade, her family decided to live in New Zealand for a year to explore the country and to envelope themselves in a different environment and culture. They traveled around New Zealand until they found Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, on the North Island and decided to rent a house on 17 acres in the country, surrounded by horses, cows, sheep, pigs, and goats. Taimane was home schooled by her dad for a couple of months and she explored the outdoors and found a love for horses.

At home, her dad would put Jake Shimaburkuro’s CD on for practice while Taimane would try to imitate Jake’s style and songs ….blindfolded. “The blindfolds have helped tremendously.” Taimane says. “It teaches me to rely on muscle memory and confidence which gives me the opportunity to keep eye contact with the audience.” While Taimane attended St. Mary’s school in New Zealand (for 6th grade), she took her ukulele on a camping trip and introduced the Hawaiian instrument to the kids and teachers who loved it and would asked her to play at every prayer. Taimane also wrote a song in NZ called “Keep it Clean” which she derived from an old local Hawaiian favorite, “Moloka’ii Slide”. She changed the lyrics to represent the beautiful Bay of Plenty. The song caught on and the rest of Taimane’s class learned the song and were rewarded with an article in the local newspaper.

Taimane continued to play but she and her family missed Hawaii very much. After one year, they decided to move back to their home in Aina Haina, Hawaii. Taimane went to Niu Valley Middle school and then to an internet home school called Myron B. Thompson which gave her the flexibility to travel and balance her music and school. Taimane became a little lonely and decided she wanted to go back to a regular school for the social interaction.

At the age of 13 she met the legendary Don Ho who heard about her playing on the streets of Waikiki helping to raise money for the homeless. Taimane was invited to play a few songs on Don’s stage and became a part of his show and his O’hana.

Taimane decided to attend the Honolulu Waldorf High school of Arts and Music where she discovered she was a very good academic student. Taimane was surrounded by other creative kids who were also musicians and artists and decided she wanted to pursue her music on a serious basis.

She graduated from Waldorf and is now attending Kapiolani Community College as a sophomore working on her liberal arts degree. She often travels around the mainland and Japan promoting her music and performs with Hawaii’s largest entertainment company, Tihati Productions. Taimane has just finished her second album LIFE, The Art & Beauty of Being Human, which can be purchased in most music stores. She is twenty years old and is keeping busy with music, the business side of music and college.