Emiko Shiratori ( ''Shiratori Emiko''; born March 16, 1950) is a Japanese singer and songwriter. In 1969, the record label Toshiba EMI (now

EMI Music Japan , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. Wh ...

) paired her with Sumio Akutagawa, and they formed the folk group Toi et Moi. They achieved great success in Japan, and from 1969 to 1973 released an average of two albums and four singles a year. In 1973, Shiratori released her first solo album and continued as a solo artist throughout the 1970s. She performed at the 1972

Sapporo is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

and the 1998 Nagano

. As a vocalist for the video game ''

Final Fantasy IX is a 2000 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. It is the ninth game in the main ''Final Fantasy'' series. The plot focuses on a wa ...

'', she performed the main theme " Melodies of Life" in both Japanese and English. Due to the English version's popularity, a special single was released, '' "Final Fantasy IX" Original Soundtrack''. In 2006, she was asked by

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Joh ...

to perform a "defining version" of the song at the Final Fantasy Voices Concert; she sang a version that combined the Japanese and English lyrics. Shiratori also performed a vocal arrangement of "Epona's Song" for '' The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Re-Arranged Album'', and narrated, as well as performed, the opening and ending themes to the 1990-1992 ''

Moomin The Moomins (, ) are the central characters in a series of novels, short stories, picture books, and a comic strip by the Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Finnish publisher Schildts. They are a ...

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series. She also performed "Do-Re-Mi-Fa Lullaby", the ending theme to the second

Unico is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Sanrio's manga magazine ' from November 1976 to March 1979 and collected in two volumes. The series follows the titular unicorn as he uses his magi ...

movie, '' Unico in the Island of Magic'', although the song was changed to an instrumental in the film's English version. Shiratori has had at least one song on the

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

program ''

Minna no Uta , literally ''Everyone's Songs'' ( English title: ''Songs for Everyone''), is a five-minute NHK TV and radio program which is broadcast several times daily in Japan. The program started on April 3, 1961. It is one of NHK's long-running program ...

''. She is the wife of composer and music producer

Sumio Shiratori Sumio Shiratori (白鳥澄夫 ''Shiratori Sumio'') is a Japanese composer and music producer. He is best known for composing the soundtrack to the 1990-1992 ''Moomin'' anime television series, based on the Moomin books and comic strips by illustr ...

, and mother of singer Maika Shirator

External links

Emiko Shiratori's official websiteEmiko Shiratori
at Square Enix Music Online * 1950 births Japanese women singers Japanese folk singers Living people Video game musicians {{Japan-singer-stub