Angela Aki, born as Aki Kiyomi Angela (安藝 聖世美 アンジェラ) in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, is a singer-songwriter and pianist. She has a Japanese father and an Italian-American mother. She moved from Japan to Hawaii at age 15, continuing on to study Political Science at George Washington University in Washington D.C.
Angela's music started to materialize as a career while she was still in university. In 2003, Angela Aki returned to Japan, and the 2005 release of her single
Home marked her major label debut. Her first album
Home has become a classic since its release in 2006, with cumulative sales counting over 600,000 units. Angela and
Uematsu Nobuo, the composer renowned for the music in the Final Fantasy game series, co-wrote the single
Kiss Me Good-Bye for the international game
Final Fantasy XII on PlayStation 2.
Within the year of her debut album, Angela successfully made her dream of playing at
The Budokan a reality in December 2006. Not only that, she became the very first singer at the grand Budokan, celebrating a half-century as a concert venue starting with its performance of
The Beatles, to play a full solo concert with just a piano. Angela was fast growing into a talented entertainer able to create a special experience with her skilled live performances.
Angela's 2007 sophomore album
Today marked her first #1 on Oricon album charts. She composed
Tegami: Haikei 15 no Kimi e (A letter: Dear the 15-year-old You) as the compulsory piece for the junior high category of NHK's country-wide music competition. The track acquired Platinum Disc status in 2008 and has since become a favorite for audiences of all ages.
Her third album
Answer released in 2009 also topped Oricon album charts. She had earned the following of her female contemporaries, who strongly identified with her honest, true-to-life lyrics. This album also includes
Black Glasses, a track co-written and performed with singer-songwriter/producer Ben Folds for whom she always had much respect.
For her following and fourth album
Life, she ventured to Nashville to record with Grammy artist Janis Ian. This album features an equal number of English and Japanese tracks, which in a sense embodies her bicultural identity drawing from both Japan and the United States.
She has since continued to evolve and recorded
White (5th album),
Songbook (6th album), and
Blue (7th album).
In 2013, Angela announced to her fans that she will be indefinitely taking time off from the music business in Japan starting in Fall 2014.
The following year, 2014, her very first greatest hits album
Tapestry of Songs - The Best of Angela Aki was released, featuring hits from her 10 year career to present. Her concert at
The Budokan on August 4, 2014 marked the last of her public appearances in Japan.
Angela currently resides in the United States with her family (husband Hamano Tarou, and her 02.2012 born son) and is studying for a university degree in music, in her efforts to continuously evolve and strive towards new dreams. She has also started working on a Broadway musical project.
