Overview

• Polynesian Music announced on July 24 that George ‘Fiji’ Veikoso, 55, died in Tailevu, Fiji, on July 23 surrounded by family, with no cause disclosed.
• Peers and protégés remembered him as a cultural beacon whose mentorship shaped a generation of Pacific musicians.
• After starting with Fiji’s Rootstrata and moving to Hawaii in 1987, he pioneered the “Lost Coast Sound” that redefined Polynesian reggae.
• He won Male Vocalist and Favorite Entertainer at the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards in 1998 and earned a Grammy nomination in 2002 for the Island Warriors compilation.
• His catalog—from 1994’s Evolution to 2019’s Love & Roots—surpassed 500 million streams by 2023, and he also co-wrote the Baywatch Hawaii theme song and appeared in Blue Crush.