Updated: Family Man and Musician Gregg Wiles to Be Remembered at Foothill Ranch Concert Tonight

Originally posted Feb. 14 at 1:02 a.m. Rewritten and updated around 11:30 a.m., based on interviews.

Kanoa Watt remembers taking a vacation to Catalina with his then-wife, his best friend, Gregg Wiles, and Wiles’ wife, Lori. There, the two couples squared off against one another in a name-that-song party game.

It didn’t take long before Gregg and Lori had racked up 25 points to Watt’s zero.

At a concert tonight organized by Watt, friends and family will pay tribute to Gregg, a 51-year-old Foothill Ranch resident . Wiles had a passion for music and fierce intelligence, Watt said, as he saw that night in Catalina.

“He was a funny guy, he was kind of a character, where he just had some funny lines,” Watt said. “But on the other side, he was the smartest guy you'd ever meet your life. Definitely a genius.”

Wiles grew up in Anaheim and met Lori, his eventual wife, when her family moved in next door to Gregg’s family when Lori was in sixth grade.

He went on to play keyboard, saxophone and guitar professionally in a number of bands. Eventually, music became a hobby that he revived in March of every year to play with Watt and other friend in Irish band Lads of the Pub. The group built a tradition of playing St. Patrick’s Day at the Ranch Sports Grill in Ladera Ranch, and Wiles was the guy manning the pennywhistle and mandolin, with plans to take up the banjo this year, Watt said.

Gregg and Lori moved into Foothill Ranch 17 years ago and raised four kids, all of whom have a passion for music, Lori said.

“He really was a great family man,” said Lori. “His family was everything. All the comments from everybody who worked with him—‘Every day he went in and had a story about the family, and he was really proud of his kids.’ Everything he did, he did for us.”

At Peppino’s in Foothill Ranch tonight, Lads of the Pub and Parallels, Wiles’ old band from the 1980s, will play. So will Watt’s band, Third Rail Blue. Twenty percent of all proceeds will go to the Wiles family. The event will happen from 5 to 9:30 p.m.

Watt, who had known Wiles since the two were 20 years old, said a concert seemed like a fitting tribute. Up until the end, music was part of Wiles’ life: Watt and his friends had been expecting Wiles at band practice when the call came that he had been in an accident.

“He's sorely missed on a lot of fronts,” Watt said, “as a father, as a friend, as a musician comrade and just as a nice guy.”

Lori, who works part time at Foothill Ranch Elementary, said the support from the community following Wiles’ death has been tremendous.

“We have an awesome community,” she said.  “Everything people have done for us is just amazing and supportive and overwhelming.”

Wiles was a computer programmer for the city of Santa Ana, which has set up a fund benefit the Wiles family, Lori said. Checks can be made out to the Gregg Wiles Memorial Fund and sent to Santa Ana Federal Credit Union, 800 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana, 92701.