Akiko Yano is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s.
12 Facts About Akiko Yano
1.
2.
Akiko Yano has been called "one of the major musical talents of the Japanese popular music world", and her vocals and singing style have been compared to English singer Kate Bush.
3.
Akiko Yano grew up in Aomori, Japan, and learned to play the piano when she was three.
4.
Akiko Yano dropped out of high school and moved to Tokyo at the age of fifteen to become a professional musician, quickly became involved in the jazz scene, and by seventeen was working as a studio recording artist for hire.
5.
Around this time, Akiko Yano started collaborating with Yellow Magic Orchestra and joined them on two world tours.
6.
The record company asked for an album that would be a commercial success, so Akiko Yano gave them what they wanted on side one, but took side two in a different avant-garde direction, composed around nine short stories that were written by children.
7.
Akiko Yano was introduced to British band, Japan, by Ryuichi Sakamoto of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and in 1982 they met at the AIR Studios in London to record an album, Ai Ga Nakucha Ne.
8.
Akiko Yano was showcased by Japanese animation film company Studio Ghibli, which is known for works such as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.
9.
Akiko Yano composed the music for the film My Neighbors the Yamadas and created and performed the sound effects using only her voice for two short films Yadosagashi and Mizugumo Monmon by animation director Hayao Miyazaki.
10.
Akiko Yano married and soon after divorced Makoto Akiko Yano, the producer of her first recording.
11.
Akiko Yano later married fellow musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, with whom she had a daughter, Miu Sakamoto.
12.
Akiko Yano separated from him in 1992, and they divorced in August 2006.