AAPI Heritage Month Featured Artists: The Jets and Lyrics Born

  • May 9, 2025
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May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and we are digging into music made by some incredible artists. Today we feature two artists with Utah connections The Jets and Lyrics Born.  

The Jets is a Tongan-American family band known for their 1980s pop and R&B hits. Composed of eight brothers and sisters LeRoy, Eddie, Eugene, Haini, Rudy, Kathi, Elizabeth, and Moana Wolfgramm, the band gained global recognition with five top-10 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100, including "Crush on You", "You Got It All", and "Make It Real". 

Their parents originally emigrated to the U.S. and specifically Salt Lake City from Tonga, in 1965, and their children were raised in Minneapolis. They started performing as a family band in 1977 and the group enjoyed worldwide success in 1985–1990, performing three world tours, and producing five top-10 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Japanese-American rapper, singer and producer Lyrics Born was born in Tokyo. His family moved to the US and he was raised in Salt Lake City, before moving to Berkeley California. Lyrics Born weaves funk, soul and Hip Hop and along with his solo career he is one half of the duo Latryx with Lateef the TruthSpeaker. He's the only Asian-American MC to release 10 studio albums and the first to play major music festivals liek Coachella and Lollapalooza. 

Let's celebrate the musical and artistic contributions of Asian and Pacific Islanders artists who enrich the lives of music fans around the world.

And follow along with the @KRCLradio AAPI Playlist on Spotify which includes music from Utah's own The Jets to Kilby Block Party artists Toro y Moi and Jay Som.

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