Tributes have started pouring in for Daniel Rae Costello, a Fijian and Pacific music legend, who died of cancer at the age of 58 at his home in Cairns, Australia.

Music Career

Mr Costello was born in Suva in 1961 and moved to Lautoka with his family and lived at Esivo Estate near Viseisei.

In 1966 his father, the late Daniel Rae Costello Snr, a tourism pioneer, started the Beachcomber Day Cruise, the first for the country.

Mr Costello’s music career began as a young child on Beachcomber Island Resort.

This partnership provided him the opportunity that became the breeding ground for his interest in music.

The Beachcomber Boys (band) gifted him his first ukulele and would encourage him to hang around them.

Mr Costello also attended St Thomas Primary before high school in Whangarei, New Zealand.

In his last year in Marist Brothers High School he won the school’s talent quest as well as other talent quests around Suva.

While on Beachcomber Island in 1979, he released his first solo album, Tropical Sunset. In 1980, his album Lania was a runaway success.

His mum, Jessie, died in 1985. Bill Natewa wrote that iconic song “Na loloma nei Nau” and he sang it with special dedication to his mum.

Mr Costello wrote Samba and Take me to the Island. He recorded 30 albums. He also recorded an album with Toni Wille from the world-renown group Pussycat, called Let the World Sing.

Among the first to pay tribute was Fiji’s Vude Queen, Laisa Vulakoro, who said Mr Costello was among those who shaped Fiji’s music industry to where it is today.

Another renowned musician, Seru Serevi, said memories of Mr Costello would live on.

He bought a house at Mendhi Place in the Sugar City, which also became his recording studio.

Mr Costello is survived by his wife, Corrinna, and their four children.

Edited by Epineri Vula