Angela Aki

Angela Aki (アンジェラ・アキ) is a bilingual Japanese/American singer-songwriter who debuted in 2005 under Sony Records. As she was picked by Uematsu Nobuo to perform the theme song to the game Final Fantasy XII entitled Kiss Me Good-Bye, her career kick-started. Aki previously went to university in Washington D.C. where she released an indies album there in 2000. She is most recognised for her signature black glasses, as well as the T-shirts and jeans that she wears for all of her concerts. Almost all of Aki's material is composed solely by herself. As well as Kiss Me Good-Bye, Aki is famous for the songs This Love (BLOOD+ third ending theme song) and Sakurairo.

Profile

• Stage Name: Angela Aki (アンジェラ・アキ)
• Birth Name: Aki Kiyomi (安芸聖世美)
• Birthday: 15 September , 1977
• Birth Place: Tokushima, Shikoku
• Family: Angela has a sister, Kyla Aki, who is a year younger than her and also attended GWU.
• Ethnicity: Half Japanese from her father and half Italian-American from her mother.
• Favourite Food: Tofu
• Favourite Songs in Karaoke: Georgia on My Mind, Tsugaru Kaikyou Fuyu Geshiki
• Favourite Artists: Alanis Morissette, Ani DiFranco, Ben Folds, Coldplay, Fiona Apple, Janis Ian, Joni Mitchell, Kanye West, Macy Gray, Sarah McLachlan, Shiina Ringo, The Smashing Pumpkins, TLC

Information

Early Life

Angela Aki was born in Tokushima, Japan. Her heritage is extremely mixed: her mother is half Italian and half American, and her father is Japanese. Her father, Aki Kiyoshi (安藝清), is the founder/president of Aeon, a large Eikaiwa (English conversation) company in Japan. She also has a sister, Kyla Aki, who is one year younger than her.

Aki was a very musical child. Apparently when she was small she shocked her mother when she was very young by humming a tune that her mother had just sung in perfect tune. She began by learning classical piano at three years old, but also learned how to play the violin, guitar later and drums later on. In late 1992 when Aki was 15, she moved away from Japan and set up residence in Hawaii, where she went to high school. She adopted the name Angela and relegated Kiyomi to be her middle-name. Aki won a $2,500US scholarship from her high school (Iolani School) in 1996.

Aki went on to study at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and combined International Affairs and Jazz Studies as some of her subjects. After watching Sarah McLachlan in concert, Aki was inspired to become a singer-songwriter like her. While studying she was musically active, frequently performing at a coffee house called Jam'n Java. It was here that music producer Tony Alany worked, and collaborated with Aki by producing and recording an indies album entitled These Words that was released in January 2000. The album is comprised of all English songs, and features much more guitar than her later works. Alany and Aki eventually got married after his production work.

During her stay in Washington, Aki was the opening act for artists such as Ricky Martin, Judy Collins and Sixpence None the Richer. She even performed at Al Gore's Christmas party. Angela Aki graduated from George Washington in May 2000.

Aki held her showcase live at the Luna Park Grille in Arlington, Virginia, on 2001.11.29 and was officially credited as 'Angela Aki and her band'. Later on in 2001, she also held a live in Washington D.C., and happened to be overheard by a Japanese CM producer K, who asked her if she were able to sing for a commercial. She accepted, and in early 2002 released a cover of Jimmy Scott's song New Day for the Yakult 400 CM.

Japanese Debut

Angela Aki performing Kiss Me Good-Bye (July 2005) In 2005, Aki started to release music again. By this time her marriage to Tony Alany had ended in divorce as the pair had drifted apart. She re-debuted in Japan under the indies label Virgo Music, with a mini-album entitled ONE. This time, however, it was sung mostly in Japanese and released in the Japanese market. The album reached #2 on the HMV Indies Chart. This album is what caught composer Uematsu Nobuo's attention and made him offer Aki the chance to perform the theme song for the up and coming Final Fantasy XII game. Aki's appearance as the theme song artist was announced at the Square Enix 2005 Stage Show in late July, 2005. The title was announced as Kiss Me Good-Bye, and was performed solo by Aki at the Stage Show. She was shown singing and playing the piano solo on stage. Aki wrote the lyrics for both versions of this song; the Japanese version for the regional release as well as the English version for the international release. However, Uematsu Nobuo himself composed the song.

Home era

In the last half of in 2005, Aki debuted with her first major single under Sony, entitled HOME (and released one day before her birthday). Despite the single reaching a low position at #38, it charted for a surprisingly long 15 weeks. After the release of this single, nothing was heard from her until late November in which her next single, Kokoro no Senshi, was announced and would be released in late January. Kokoro no Senshi was released as in two pressings; a first press limited edition which came with an exclusive DVD that contained the music video for Kokoro no Senshi as well as the premiere showcase for Final Fantasy XII (backed by Angela Aki singing the English version of Kiss Me Good-Bye). This exclusive showcase fuelled sales for the single, landing it at a much higher position of #13.

Her third single, Kiss Me Good-Bye, was released on March 15, 2006. The single, due to the increased hype from its Final Fantasy tie-up, debuted at #6 on Oricon charts. This position is higher than previous theme songs for Final Fantasy games such as Faye Wong's Eyes on Me and Rikki's Suteki da ne, however were not as high as Koda Kumi's Real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba.

On 2006.05.01 it was formally announced that Angela Aki was signed to Tofu Records in the US (a firm to expose Japanese Sony artists in the US, mostly featuring on Sony artists that make theme songs for anime). Her first Tofu records release was a modified version of her Kiss Me Good-Bye single released on the 16th of May (it featured Eyes On Me instead of Aoi Kage. This release was to tie in with Angela's feature at the Chicago concert of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony on May the 27th.

Despite rumours that Angela's debut album would be released after Kiss Me Good-Bye, a fourth single was announced that, This Love. It replaced Nakashima Mika's single CRY NO MORE as the third ending theme to the anime BLOOD+. The single reached the same level of success as her former single, Kiss Me Good-Bye, as it reached #6 on the charts and sold roughly 60,000 copies.

Two weeks after the release of the This Love single, Angela's debut album Home was released. The album's recording finished on the 19th of April. The album reached an astounding #2 on Oricon charts (under Utada Hikaru's Ultra Blue), selling 120,000 units in its first week. The album had sold enough copies that it would have reached #1 if released 1-2 weeks before.

TODAY era

In August 2006 JFL announced their fifth campaign song, a re-arrangement of Aki's song Music from her debut album, Home, titled "Power of MUSIC". The song featured an upbeat, dance arrangement and brand new lyrics/vocals from Aki. In previous years this campaign song has been sung by artists such as Def Tech and MISIA. Yet another new song, On & On, was announced in November, the CM song for the 2006 remake of the movie Inugami-ke no Ichizoku. This song was an upbeat 'piano rock'-style song, unlike much of the material from Home.

In December Aki held a special live, titled "My Keys" at Budokan. Holding a live at Budokan was one of her goals as a musician, and to commemorate the occasion she wrote a special song, Sakurairo, as well as recording the occasion on DVD. Shortly after, on New Year's Eve Aki performed for the first time at the renounced Kouhaku Uta Gassen music concert with a solo piano version of Home.

These four songs were collected together for Aki's fifth single, Sakurairo. It featured On & On and Power of MUSIC as B-sides, and featured a solo piano version of Home as a bonus track. This single is currently her most commercially successful, selling in excess of 100,000 copies. Two days after Sakurairo's official release, Aki posted a blog entry announcing her recent second marriage. Her newly betrothed is an unnamed music director who is 12 years her senior.

Aki's first drama tie-up single was released in May, titled Kodoku no Kakera. It was used in and inspired by the Ito Hideaki-starring drama Kodoku no Kake ~Itoshiki Hito yo~. However, sadly the drama did not receive high ratings, and Aki's theme song only gained moderate success. Around about the same time as the single was promoted, Aki performed a separate song Again on Mezamashi Terebi after it became the show's theme song.

Aki plans to release her second album in September with the preceding single before it, Tashika ni, being used as the highly publicised au "LISMO!" CM song. TODAY debuted at #1 in its first week of sales.

Setlist Tracks

Angela Aki has held a great number of concerts; though many of the songs that she has played during these concerts have been tracks that do not appear yet on any release of hers. She also has mentioned several songs that have not surfaced in physical form. These tracks are:

• 32 Flavors (Ani DiFranco cover)
• Ai no Hana (愛の花; Flower of Love)
• Angel (Sarah McLachlan cover)
• Black Bird (The Beatles cover)
• Christmas Song
• Constantly (English; performed 2000)
• Diamonds (Princess Princess cover)
• Dragonflies (English; performed 2000)
• Dream
• Feels Like Angels (English; performed 2000)
• Higher (English; performed 2000)
• Ichido Dake (一度だけ; Only Once)
• Let's Get Naked (English; performed 2000)
• Like a Virgin (Madonna cover)
• Livin' on a Prayer (Bon Jovi cover)
• Louisiana 1927 (Randy Newman cover)
• Kirei na Uso (きれいな嘘; A Beautiful Lie)
• M (Princess Princess cover)
• Nakeba Ii (泣けばいい; It's Okay to Cry)
• New Day (2002 Yakult 400 CM song, Jimmy Scott cover)
• Not fine
• Ocean's Blue (English; performed 2000)
• Parting Gift (Fiona Apple cover)
• Perfect Day (English; performed 2000)
• Pick Me Up (English; performed March 2002)
• Poughkeepsie
• Say Goodbye (Eva Cassidy cover)
• Soul For Sale
• Teach the Boy a Lesson (English; performed 2000)
• Train-Train (The Blue Hearts cover)
• When the Lights are Low
• White Lie
• Yah Yah Yah (CHAGE&ASKA cover)
• You're Not Coming Back (English; performed 2000)

Discography

Albums

• [2000.01.04] These Words (US Indies)
• [2006.06.14] Home
• [2007.09.19] TODAY
• [2009.02.25] ANSWER

Mini-Albums

• [2005.03.09] ONE (JP Indies)

Singles

• [2005.09.14] HOME
• [2006.01.18] Kokoro no Senshi (心の戦士; The Warrior Within)
• [2006.03.15] Kiss Me Good-Bye
• [2006.05.31] This Love
• [2007.03.07] Sakurairo (サクラ色; Sakura Colour)
• [2007.05.23] Kodoku no Kakera (孤独のカケラ; Fragments of Solitude)
• [2007.07.11] Tashika ni (たしかに; Surely)
• [2008.09.10] Tegami ~Haikei Jyuugo no Kimi e~ (手紙〜背景十五の君へ〜; Letter ~To Your Fifteen-Year-Old Self~)

DVD / VHS

• [2007.03.28] Angela Aki MY KEYS 2006 in Budokan

Compilation / Other

• [2003.06.18] SOB-A-MBIENT Music for your favorite soba shop (Oshinagaki ~Konishi no Osobayasan~ (Konishi Kouyou feat. Angela Aki))
• [2003.11.19] SOB-A-MBIENT SUPER DELUXE (Oshinagaki ~Konishi no Osobayasan~ (Konishi Kouyou feat. Angela Aki))
• [2006.05.10] Yusa Mimori - "Kyuuka Koya" (#8 Fuyu no Hi no W. (冬の日のＷ.; "Wishing "W" in the Winter Sky"))
• [2006.05.31] FINAL FANTASY XII Original Soundtrack (ファイナルファンタジーXII オリジナル・サウンドトラック) (Kiss Me Good-Bye (featured in FINAL FANTASY XII))
• [2006.06.21] Voices Music from Final Fantasy: Final Fantasy Premium Orchestra Concert (Eyes On Me, Kiss Me Good-Bye)
• [2006.12.13] Inugami-ke no Ichizoku Original Soundtrack (#1-47 On & On (Soundtrack Version))

Trivia

• Aki appeared as an interviewee in a documentary entitled, Doubles: Japan and America's Intercultural Children in 1995.
• Aki went to the same high school in Hawaii as Shen of Def Tech did.
• Aki's sister Kyla is also a pianist, and was apart of the same a cappella group as her.
• Aki and Ito Yuna attended the same Japanese language school.

External links

• Official Website (Japanese)
• Official Tofu Records Website (English)
• Angela's Exblog Blog (Japanese)