Moana Wolfgramm Feinga: Family Over Fame

Morgan Jones 0:00

Okay, I have to tell you, I was really hoping to get this podcast out pre-Valentine's Day, because I'm now convinced The Jet's song, "You Got It All" is the perfect couples skate song and I've had it on repeat for the last three weeks.

The Jets started performing as a family band in 1977. And on the heels of acts like Jackson Five and the Osmond’s, the group enjoyed incredible success from 1985 to 1990. During that time, they performed three world tours and produced five top 10 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It seemed like The Jets were living the dream until they weren't.

Moana Wolfgramm Feinga is the youngest of The Jets and had just turned 12 years old when they released their debut album through MCA Records. Together with their siblings Moana performed the Star-Spangled Banner at the seventh game of the 1987 World Series. She also performed in two Olympic Games. She is now a wife and a mother but on occasion she still gets out on stage and remembers days that felt surreal–days she will never forget.

This is All In, an LDS Living podcast where we ask the question, what does it really mean to be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ? I'm Morgan Jones. And I am so excited to have Moana Feinga with me today. Molana. Welcome.

Moana Feinga 1:27

Thanks for having me.

Morgan Jones 1:29

So I want to tell you before we get into this, that I have been listening to The Jets on repeat for the last week. You guys were famous before my time, but I knew my dad was a big fan. And so Sunny Mahe gave me your name and she said, "You may not even know who The Jets are."

And I was like, “I do know," but I went back and like listened to the music on–like I said, I've had it on repeat for the last week. So it's been really fun for me, and I hope other people go and listen to you guys music. But before we get into kind of what ended up becoming The Jets, your parents came here to Utah, right? From Tonga. What has your Tongan culture meant to you?

Moana Feinga 2:16

Oh, I think it's the complete foundation of who we really are. My parents came in the 60s, I had a grandfather who–well, if you travel back a little bit further, three, four generations earlier, my great, great, great, great grandpa came with his brothers and some cousins to the islands from Germany. And they ended up as merchants just looking for a new place to settle.

They get to the islands and they settle on the little island of Vava'u. Then like three generations later, my grandpa Yohani is like, "I want to go on my own journey and I want to come to America." "I've got 19 children," and he was a builder for the Church, he built a lot of–he was a labor missionary and he wanted to bring his family to America to be sealed and to find more opportunities.

So a lot of people teased him, called him, "Mr. America," because he was very poor. "Oh, here he comes, Mr. America, he's never getting off this island." But he was so determined and had so much faith that there would be a way. And that's how he ended up here, is a few of his daughters went to New Zealand for school, and to Canada, and through them, they were able to sponsor the whole family.

So my parents coming to America was kind of a big dream. My mom and dad had one child, my mother was a convert, and they were just looking for new opportunities. So coming from the islands, if I didn't know my roots, I wouldn't be the person I am today. And I think everybody needs to remember their roots. So they're grateful for their opportunities.

Morgan Jones 3:47

Yeah. Well, I think so many of us have had Tonga in our prayers recently with the volcano. One of your sisters said, "We grew up in a very faith filled home. The reason we came to America was to serve God in whatever way that was." How do you think your parents–like when they set out to do that, how do you think they imagined that playing out? And how do you think it looked different than they may have expected?

Moana Feinga 4:16

I think they were–they were completely . . . I think that they didn't really know what course they were going to take. But my dad is a lot like his father, he was adventurous and he wasn't afraid to try new things. They came here and struggled. He was a Mr. America–Mr. Utah, a white weightlifter, and then she worked at the Beehive clothing just sewing clothes.

But after eight kids, I think they were just trying to figure out, "Where do we find our opportunity?" My dad didn't have an education, a proper education. So I think they stumbled on it because music was always a part of the Polynesian culture. And I think that was what my dad said after he watched The Jacksons and the Osmond’s, they were on like a variety show. They were inspired to say, "Wait a minute, we love music. Our family loves music. We should try this."

My dad has 12 sisters that were all Polynesian dancers. My mother was an entertainer and a musician. And he just thought, "I gotta use what I have, my strengths." And so that's how we started our family band, is we were in Rose Park and we had a little family home evening and they said, "We've got two choices. We've got a family run lawn mowing business, yard work business, or show business. We got to choose tonight what we're going to vote on."

And basically that's kind of what it came down to, it was unanimous. Everyone wanted to do music. And my dad just said, "Listen, if Nephi could build a ship we can build a band. We just need to find the right tools, and then we have to make it happen."

So yeah, I think they set out on a course without really knowing, and I think a lot of his own siblings thought he was crazy. Crazy man with eight kids. But I think when you have eight kids, I think you struggle, and you fight, and you think–I mean, with eight children, you got to feed, I know my parents thought long and hard, "What is the best possible way?"

So the music was what they thought, and everyone else might have thought differently. But my dad said, "Well, we'll find out. We'll go on the road." He ended up buying a whole bunch of instruments, setting them up in our living room, and nobody knew how to play a thing–they just learned along the way. One older brother learned off the radio learned from my mom, and then he learned pretty much by ear and then taught the other siblings how to–and then we created a band. And then my dad just said, "Okay. Let's go for it."

Morgan Jones 6:38

So how many of you ended up playing instruments?

Moana Feinga 6:43

I have three brothers, Roy, Haini, and Rudy that were the bass guitar and drummer, and then a sister Kathi played the keyboards. And so they were the band and they had their first song was, "You Ain't Nothing but a Hound Dog," by Elvis Presley. And that's kind of what they started with was a little–they went around doing elementary talent shows and whatever they could do–nursing homes, really society parties, luaus, eventually my sisters and I joined as little dancers and singers.

Morgan Jones 7:13

Okay. And initially, you all were doing kind of more Polynesian culture type performances, is that right? And then and then eventually, at some point, your dad came and was like, "That's it. We're doing top 40."

Moana Feinga 7:27

Yeah, we absolutely got stranded in Minnesota doing a bunch of shows for a Hawaiian Inn hotel. It was a chain of them people would go to the hotels "Experience Hawaii," like in North Dakota and Iowa. They couldn't afford Hawaii, they would come to the Hawaiian Inn and they would find the Wolfgramm family performing and doing a luau for them.

But the hotel chain went bankrupt, we were stranded in Minneapolis. And the very last hotel said, "Well, we're going to have to scrap the Polynesian show. But if your kids know how to play top 40 music, we'll keep them as long as we've got a parent there, we'll have them come and play a few shows a night." So that's kind of how we ended up doing top 40 music.

Morgan Jones 8:07

Okay, so and this was–this was, like you said, this is not long after and around the same time as the Jacksons and the Osmond’s. Talk to me a little bit about kind of–because I always imagine it–this is probably off, but I always imagine it kind of like the movie, "That Thing You Do," have you ever seen that?

Moana Feinga 8:25

Yes, I have.

Morgan Jones 8:26

Where it's like, "Somebody's playing our song on the radio!" and then all of a sudden–so talk to me a little bit about the rise to fame that your family experienced?

Moana Feinga 8:35

Well, we went from being a kind of a nightclub bar band in Minneapolis, we had been out for two years. And we started getting some notoriety in town. People were like, "You guys got to watch these kids, they're actually really good." And then we were discovered by a gentleman who happened to work for Motown Records.

He was not interested at all. But we kept bugging him and bugging him until he ran out of excuses and came to see us. And he noticed something that he thought would work. He was like, "You're a family, you're self contained. And you've got these beautiful voices. I think I could do something with it."

So the rise literally was from being a family that literally struggled, you know, just barely making our rent living in a three bedroom apartment, there's 12 of us. And we hadn't signed and then we got the record deal. And ended up having our first single out was number nine on the r&b charts. So yeah, we felt like that movie, "That Thing You Do," we heard it on a radio at a hotel in Detroit and we were like, "We're on! We're on! This is us!" So it was most definitely–they caught the emotion of what that looks like and we felt the same way.

Morgan Jones 9:45

So as you kind of–you guys start to gain some notoriety, you start charting, and I think that's the point at which fame can kind of start to go to people's heads a little bit but I watched this documentary about you all and I believe it was you that said that it was your religion that kept you grounded. And you talked about how you and your sisters would kind of keep an eye on your brothers and that that kind of kept them in line.

But when you're in a position like you all were, how do you think you see and understand–maybe more than ever–the importance of standards and values in a way that maybe we don't appreciate if we haven't been put in a situation like that?

Moana Feinga 10:29

Oh, you know, that is most definitely, probably the biggest challenge of being in the entertainment business is that it's all about image. It's about selling records. And everybody leans towards the physical and it was no different for us. The pressure we got for three of us girls in the group, there's five boys, was really tough.

The kind of music they would send us, at one time Prince had written a bunch of demos for us and his producer was our producer and he, we never even got to hear them, but he kind of sat down with Prince and said, "Now remember, this is a family. I don't know if you know this." And he was like, "Yeah, that's right. Oops." So we never used any of his material, because it wasn't in line with like, you know, just being a family, and also just our religious beliefs.

A lot of the artists on the road, it's easy to compromise. You're trying to make it in the business, you're trying to get famous, you're trying–everyone has a different intention and how they look at success. Our family, our intention was that we could perform in a world as a family and have other people know that families are important.

And so we struggled a lot with the pressure of the industry. The weight, a lot of our manager had us on diets, signed papers, we had to do aerobics every day, we always struggled with wardrobe people telling us, "You know, you girls, you should really let loose a little, it would be a lot better and sell more records." So I just think that it really does something to your self esteem. But the Young Women's program, the Church–I think it grounded us being a family actually protected us from all the wiles of the world, and just the temptation and the pressure.

Morgan Jones 12:20

Yeah. So you mentioned that your family's goal was to, you know, show people a family. And ultimately this family band ended up causing some contention. Your brothers ended up suing you and your sisters, and I just wondered like, what kind of toll did that take on you personally and on your family? And I wondered, like, what's the latest on that? Were you able to make amends there?

Moana Feinga 12:53

Yeah, well, it's interesting you say that, because, you know, we started off in 1986 is when we had our first hit. And we had eight top 10 hits throughout the next five, six years. And the struggle to be in the business is so tough. It's like king of the hill. You know, the industry wants to sign up the newest, latest and greatest artists.

But as soon as they got their hits, and they got what they want, they're on to the next big thing. And after five years, it was like our career was over. I mean, I'm 11 when we signed with MCA Records, and I'm like 17, when my career is washed up, we're like has-been's. So the struggle to stay relevant was really tough for our family, which is probably why we ended up with a lot of drama.

We've got one side of the family that's just trying to make a living and the only thing we know how to do is perform. On the other side of the family, just like, "Ah, I want to do something else. I've done this my whole life."

So there was a lot of siblings that just wanted to try. We never went to college, we were all tutored, you know, we all kind of live like gypsies on the road. And my parents–the kids were the breadwinners, my parents kind of looked after us, so we had a manager. And that's a full-time job because The Jets only made up the eight oldest but they were nine other siblings after. So the pressure to work was really tough.

People were not looking to hire the Jets anymore by the early 90s. And it's hard to reinvent yourself and compete with the new groups that come out. So that is probably what was the reason we had so much division. By the late 90s I was like 22, 23, I was just like, "I don't want to do this." We're stuck in casinos in Vegas just working like 12 midnight to six in the morning doing these crazy shifts for these like seedy hotels and they're not the big showrooms anymore, we're just trying to survive.

And there was just like a difference in opinion with the brothers and our parents and the way they led the group. You know, it got to a point where we were being replaced by other siblings if we didn't do what they wanted us to do. And the business took precedence over the family. And that's why the family ended up dividing.

There were some they were like, "I don't want to do this." Surprisingly, we all . . . we all have testimonies of the Savior and the Church, but we did not know how to fix the family. And I think the reason why was because we put the music industry and the business before the people that were in our family, and everyone just felt like we were being traded off, we were expendable. And we had to get back to reality, so we eventually split and a lot of us got married and started families of our own.

But about 10 years later we got back together and tried to do it again, there was like a surge for 80s music and people were hiring their favorite 80s groups again. And The Jets got work again. But when we got back to doing Jets shows there were people that had old bad habits of the way they manage.

And some of them forgot that like we grew up too. We're not 11 and 12. Like, I have a family with six children. Liz has seven children. Like when you ask us to work, everything has to be transparent. And in that struggle, that's how the lawsuit came about. They felt one way and they felt they were right and the rest of us felt like, "No, we've got to be this way."

And we ended up getting, you know, delivered a lawsuit summons at our door, kind of shocked a lot of us because Polynesians are so close. It seems like why would the people who come from the islands get to this point? No one sues their sisters. And one brother–but that's what happened.

The industry, I believe, can make people forget. You know, everyone's just trying to hustle and when that happened, we were severed for at least three or four years, we almost quit and said to our–said to our lawyer who was actually my stake president, "What happens if we don't fight this?"

"Like, my mom and dad have over 70 grandkids, and all of our kids are close. Like what happens if we don't fight this lawsuit?" And he said, "You don't have to fight it. But you'll have to give up your rights as a member of the Jets. You'll have to pay back close to half a million to your brothers." And so he said, "And you'll probably file for bankruptcy, all of you girls, and your brother Eddie."

But that took a big toll. We–all we tried to do was survive it. We tried to survive a lawsuit, and then eventually they came around. A few brothers came by and realized you know what? This was, this was not right. And we got together and had a few powwows where we sat and cried and talked.

And finally we just said, "We got to squash this. There's no reason why our family has to take it to this level. If we can't be a family, then the music isn't worth it." And eventually, we settled. And for the last three or four years, we've been in a really good place where we–

Morgan Jones 17:57

That's awesome.

Moana Feinga 17:57

Yeah, we're civil with each other. We respect each other, even though we may not agree with the way we want the group to go we can come to each other's baptisms, and baby blessings and be there for one another.

Morgan Jones 18:10

So I think that this is so interesting, because you have–there are different layers of it, right? There's–you mention like, Polynesian families like they're so close and then there's the gospel, and so many of these things I can see as a family you guys being like, "We just want to show people what Polynesian culture is like and what Latter-day Saint families are like," and all of these things, and then to feel like it was all falling apart for you personally, like, how heartbreaking was that?

Moana Feinga 18:43

Oh, it was horrible. I mean, I got married, and I lived in Hawaii for 10 years. I wanted to be as far as I could be from my family. And I get married to an Island boy, I mean, I grew up in Minnesota. So I get to the islands. And it was like therapy. I lived in the little town of Laie on the North Shore and it was, it was so nice to be in a small community and find myself again.

I missed my family, but I was so hurt. And I was trying to understand my parents and my brothers and why they would let the industry get this . . . just bad in our business, they would let our family go through this. But I realized today that they just–that was all they knew, like, you know, you're just struggling, you're trying to get work. You're desperate for whatever, you never change course.

I changed course and started a little family and that's the therapy that I needed was just to get away and breathe. My whole childhood was a gypsy kid traveling all over the country and I loved it, it was with my family, but there were a lot of things that I wish–that I needed to do. And so being on an island really was therapy for me, I loved it. And it let me be myself and my roots in the Church, it just strengthened my testimony, so that was really different.

Morgan Jones 19:56

Yeah, I was going to ask you, you mentioned that all of your siblings, you know, had testimonies. So what do you think it is that allows . . . even when you have been like a little girl growing up in the limelight, what do you think it is about the gospel that has the ability to ground us? And to get us through hard times and demanding times–like for you, what's the significance of that?

Moana Feinga 20:25

Oh, I think it's the peace. You know, we all want to be successful in the best way we can. But at the end of the day, you notice there's fleeting happiness. You know, we have a big home and lots of cars and things but we weren't quite a family. And now we've swapped it, and realize that if we put family first and we put the Lord first, then everything else kind of finds its place.

We don't determine our success on how well the next record did or if we've got enough shows, it's kind of like we're going to get through all of this together. The shows will be a plus, but it's the family that matters. I hope I answered that correctly for you or that it makes sense.

Morgan Jones 21:07

Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. So if you could go back, Moana, knowing what you know now, and again, knowing and acknowledging like, you were 11 years old in like this incredibly demanding spot. If you could go back, would you do anything differently?

Moana Feinga 21:27

I would have saved money. I would have learned how to save–I don't know if my parents knew how to save with so many kids. So I don't know if they knew how to save. We worked so hard for five years doing tour after tour. And I've never seen the fruit of that, you know. We just always never said anything. There was food in our fridge, we had clothes on our backs, we'd come home, the home was comfortable. But you feel the pressure of it when you get older, you get married and you go, "Wow, if I did anything different, it would have been to be smarter with money."

And to always remember that the happiness of each other is more important than that next show or this, or that. You know, let's be there for each other first, and then we'll work out anything else.

Morgan Jones 22:12

Yeah. What would you say is like your best memory from that time?

Moana Feinga 22:18

Oh, my gosh, that's a hard one. There's a lot-there's a lot of great memories, the traveling part, hands down. How does a 10, 11, 12-year-old girl get to fly to Japan, to England to Switzerland, and hear people singing your song in their–they don't even speak the language. Like, it still blows my mind that there are people in other countries that still sing our music.

We go to the Philippines probably more regularly, and these people know more of our songs than I can remember that they'll know our B-sides and all the songs off of every album we've done. That's been the highlight, is just meeting people all over the world.

The second highlight has been that we can connect with people on a human level. I like to break down the stereotypes that we're untouchable or that artists are untouchable. We're just regular Joe's working and the more we can connect with people, I think it's more genuine that way.

Morgan Jones 23:14

Absolutely. I agree with you completely. So, Moana, tell us a little bit about your life now. You're a mom, how many kids do you have?

Moana Feinga 23:22

I have six kids. My oldest just came off his mission in Ghana. He went to the Kumasi, Ghana mission. So my life pretty much is basically just being a mother. I have loved raising my kids. I have loved that I have music on the side.

For a little while I felt very upset that our life wasn't doing too well. And we're all struggling after everything we did to work for. In music, people would say, "Wow, you guys have done so much." and there was nothing to show for it.

But I realize now that there's more to look at if your perspective is different. And my family means everything to me. I'm actually writing a book, and it's almost done. It's kind of just a story of what it's been like to be in this business. Maybe it would help other families that love music or artists and hopefully ground them and help them look for the red flags and look for the detours and stay far away from those things.

But yeah, most of my time has been just raising my family. I just got released as a Young Women's President so I'm released of 30 girls that I loved a lot and yeah, just trying to find purpose for my family, my kids, and keep it simple.

Morgan Jones 24:37

Let me ask you this, Moana. I think, listening to you say that it's clear that like when you say, "I'm a mother," or "I just got released as Young Women's president," that there's like a pride associated with that. And I think that in the world that we live in, there's so much focus on, "Well, what are you doing outside of the home,” or, "What are you doing outside of your Church calling?" Because it's like it's not enough.

Moana Feinga 25:03

Right.

Morgan Jones 25:03

So for you, somebody that has had all those things that people deem important, what would you say you've learned about the value of what happens in your home and your service in the Church?

Moana Feinga 25:19

I would say it's all about people. My son goes to Africa and he comes home like a totally different kid. You know, he's just thankful for the running water in the bathroom. And the simple things and I think it boils down to me, too, are we connected with our brothers and sisters? Are we caring for each other enough to be a part of their lives?

Yeah, we have access to jobs and careers so that it helps us sustain our families, but the Lord wants us to love Him and love our fellow brothers and sisters. And that's kind of what we need to do is just be there for one another and be good stewards to one another so we find peace.

Morgan Jones 26:02

I agree completely. You mentioned that music is still an important part of your life. And I heard–and I'm very jealous of this if this is true–that you sang in Gladys Knight's choir, what was that like? And what are the biggest things that you learned from her? She's a legend.

Moana Feinga 26:21

Oh, she, yes, it was a tender mercy during the whole lawsuit. We went through the lawsuit and all of our shows got stripped away from us. We couldn't work as The Jets, and we were financially just drained. And I had a girlfriend, Tenma Hunkin, she calls me and she's like, "You got to come join choir." I'm like, "I don't have time. I've got six kids, I don't have time." "No, you have got to join this choir."

So she bugged me enough. And then I ended up joining. And the first day I got there. The first song that Gladys taught us, just put me in a place–I had never sung for the Lord this way. And I learned so much about singing from your soul. And you take the gift that God gives you and you literally save the fire for His work.

And so that's what I learned from Gladys, is that when she'd make us sing, I mean, we would come there with lyrics. And no one had notes. I don't read notes so that's fine, but people that were looking for notes, "Where's the notes?" were like–and she would say, "No, no, no, I'm going to teach you, my choir sings from their hearts."

"When I say go up, you follow me up. When I say go down, and if I switch it in the middle of the, you know, the song, you follow me." And it taught me to feel the spirit more in music. You know, and you're younger, you kind of–you have this, I don't know, maybe some people are more mature than I am. But you're so worried about your appearance and the way you deliver your music. But when you–the older I've gotten the more I learned that you've got to sing for something.

And it's got to come from deep down inside. And Gladys taught me to sing from your soul. And people will be pierced. And they will never forget it. And that's something I loved doing. I had a family of 100 and something plus choir members that we all became so close to because we did a lot of touring together and she's amazing, I mean, at her age, she still outperforms all of us in the choir, it was an honor.

Morgan Jones 28:25

Is that choir still going?

Moana Feinga 28:27

I think they disbanded the choir last year or the year before.

Morgan Jones 28:31

Okay.

Moana Feinga  28:32

Because she was almost hitting close to 80. And the woman was taking on such a huge task besides doing other things, you know, to cover 100 plus choir members, you constantly keep up with the arrangements and the traveling schedule, I'm sure it takes its toll and yet, she would come in like a pro. And just blow people away and her energy and her light really affected the rest of us. I'll never forget my experience with the choirs. It taught me to sing differently.

Morgan Jones 29:03

I felt like that's something that we could use a little bit more of in in our Church meetings.

Moana Feinga 29:09

Oh, yeah, for sure. And I love our Gospel. I think that now that the world is changing, it's been more diverse. You know, people praise the Lord in all kinds of ways. It's still the same God but we just praise to them differently. And our Church has very conservative customs and traditions. So it's nice to throw a little flavor in there and mix it up a little bit. I think people enjoy that.

Morgan Jones 29:34

Yeah, yeah. And I'm sure as you guys toured around, you saw the way that people respond.

Moana Feinga 29:39

Oh, yeah.

Morgan Jones 29:40

Because it moves you.

Moana Feinga 29:40

Oh, absolutely. Just–my husband and I just finished producing a new Tongan and sisters group called The Tonga Sisters.

Morgan Jones 29:48

Yeah, yeah.

Moana Feinga 29:49

And we were the producers on it. And we didn't want to do the same old thing. We were like, "Kay. I've been at other Churches, and I've heard them sing and we can do a little more," and mostly because I can feel the spirit when they sing. So when we produced the Tonga Sisters project we had that in mind and the girls are amazing. And my husband and I got to do some, you know, kind of off the cuff, a little bit different from what all the Church music has been like for the last 30-40 years. So that was fun.

Morgan Jones 30:21

That's awesome. I had no idea that you've worked on that. That's really cool. They are so talented

Moana Feinga 30:26

They are. We had fun producing them, and we're still finishing their hymns project.

Morgan Jones 30:32

So cool.

Moana Feinga 30:33

Yeah.

Morgan Jones 30:33

Well, I am so appreciative–Moana, you have a light about you and I appreciate you sharing it with me. My last question for you is what does it mean to you to be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Moana Feinga 30:49

It means every day all day, anywhere you go, you are basically His instrument no matter what you do. If you're in the grocery store, you have a moment you look over and there's someone just, someone might need a smile, someone might need a hand–all in the Gospel means it's an everyday thing. It's not just set aside for Sunday. There are things I have to do at home for my kids so that I'm a better person. But it's the pure love of Christ that we need to have in our lives, constantly.

Morgan Jones 31:24

Beautiful. Thank you so much Moana. I appreciate you taking the time to be with me.

Moana Feinga 31:29

You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

Morgan Jones 31:33

We are so grateful to Moana Feinga for joining us on today's episode. Your homework assignment between now and next week's episode is to listen to, “You Got It All,” and Crush on You.” You won't regret it, I promise. Big thanks to Derek Campbell for his help with this episode. And thank you so much for listening. We'll be with you again next week.