, known by her stage name Bonnie Pink, is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

singer-songwriter and musician. She writes and composes all her songs, and plays guitar and piano. Asada has said that the name Bonnie Pink is random and has no special meaning; she chose it because it was easy to remember and because she thought the words were cute together. Aside from her native

, she is also fluent in speaking

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

and Chinese.

History

Bonnie Pink debuted in 1995 with the single " Orenji", under her real name, Asada Kaori. Her first album, '' Blue Jam'', was released that same year under the

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affi ...

record label. She described it as a "mixture of bitter honey, blues music, momentary silence, irresistible madness, teardrops, sour grapes, hopeful bombs, big big love, and a few green apples" in the jacket. It introduced her unique style of music that has been defined as an off-beat mix between

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, blues, pop, and rock. The next year she met Tore Johansson, Swedish producer for

The Cardigans The Cardigans is a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1992 by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Post-hiatus shows sin ...

, who became her good friend and produced much of her work. The song "

It's Gonna Rain! "It's Gonna Rain!" is Bonnie Pink's sixth single from the album '' Heaven's Kitchen''. The single was released under the Pony Canyon label on June 18, 1997. It was used as the fifth ending theme for the anime series ''Rurouni Kenshin ...

" was the fifth ending of the popular ''

Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his wor ...

'' anime. She wrote her third album, '' Evil & Flowers'' (1998), while in isolation in the Swedish countryside. She hoped to find inspiration there, but became depressed. She put her feelings of frustration into the songs. She went to New York alone to take a vacation and to study music after having released her third album in 1998. She went back in 1999 and contracted with

Warner Music Japan Warner Music Group's labels include the following. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records * Elektra Records *Parlophone Records * Warner Records Atlantic Records Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * All Money In * Artist Partners Group * Asylum ...

Let Go

On her fourth album, '' Let Go'', she worked with

Mitchell Froom Mitchell Froom (born June 29, 1953) is an American musician and record producer. He was a member of the bands Gamma and Latin Playboys, and is currently the keyboardist for Crowded House. He has produced albums for several artists, including R ...

, New York producer of Elvis Costello,

Cibo Matto Cibo Matto (, Italian for "crazy food") was an American alternative rock band formed by Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori in New York City in 1994. Initially, the band's lyrics were primarily concerned with food, before expanding into broader subject ...

, and Suzanne Vega. He gave her co-production credit for the album because he was so impressed with her. Her fifth album, ''

Just a Girl "Just a Girl" is a song by American band No Doubt for their third studio album, ''Tragic Kingdom'' (1995). Released as the record's lead single in the United States on September 21, 1995, it was written by Gwen Stefani and Tom Dumont, and prod ...

'', came out in 2001. The next year she collaborated with other artists and released '' Re-Pink'', a remix album. '' Present'' came out in 2003 and '' Even So'' in 2004. '' Golden Tears'', which features the single "So Wonderful", came out in 2005, and she performed at SXSW that same year as part of

Japan Nite Japan Nite is an annual music event in North America which began in 1996, featuring Japanese rock, pop, and alternative music artists. Originally centered around South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, the event expanded in later years to include mu ...

Love is Bubble

Bonnie Pink released a new single " Love is Bubble" in May 2006. Her June 2006 single " A Perfect Sky", featured in an Anessa makeup commercial with popular model Yuri Ebihara, reached number 2 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

singles charts, making it the most successful single in Bonnie Pink's career. Her "best of" album sold out quickly on Amazon Japan and reached number two on the Oricon charts and continued to chart in the top 30 becoming one of the top selling albums of the year. In November 2006, she was featured in

M-Flo is a Japanese hip hop group consisting of record producer DJ Taku Takahashi, Verbal and Lisa. Lisa left the group in 2002 to pursue a solo career and the remaining members then started the M-Flo Loves... project working different vocalists ...

's single "Love Song". The single was a hit for both M-Flo and Bonnie Pink, and debuted at number 7 on the Oricon charts, which is a big leap from M-Flo's previous singles and gained Bonnie Pink another top 10 single.

So Wonderful

Her song "Cotton Candy" was used as the ending theme for the

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

'' Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor'' in 2005, and " Love is Bubble" was the theme song for the Japanese movie ''

Memories of Matsuko is a 2006 Japanese musical film written and directed by Tetsuya Nakashima. It is based on a Japanese novel by Muneki Yamada. It has not yet received North American distribution, though in its North American premiere at the 2007 New York Asian Fi ...

'', in which she also featured. Her single "Last Kiss", which appears as the last song on her

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

, was the ending theme to the popular ''

Gantz ''Gantz'' (stylized as ''GANTZ'') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from June 2000 to June 2013, with its chapters collected i ...

'' anime.

Anything for you

Bonnie Pink's single " Anything for You", although not as successful as " A Perfect Sky", still reached number 9 on the Oricon charts, achieving moderate success. Bonnie Pink, shortly after releasing her previous single, began performing on popular TV music shows and promoting her latest single, " Water Me", which was the theme song for the popular TV drama ''

Watashitachi no Kyōkasho is a Japanese television drama that began airing on April 12, 2007 on Fuji TV. The series stars Miho Kanno and Atsushi Itoh. In the United States, it aired on AZN Television AZN Television (formerly called International Channel) was a cable TV ...

'' ("Our Textbooks") a dark, melancholy drama about a young girl's suicide and the effect on her school. The single " Water Me" reached number 6 on Oricon on its release date and number 8 on the weekly charts. On 7 July 2007, Bonnie Pink performed at

Live Earth Live Earth was an event developed to increase environmental awareness through entertainment. Background Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, ''Live Earth'' was built upon the be ...

in Kyoto.

Thinking Out Loud

Bonnie Pink's album ''

Thinking Out Loud "Thinking Out Loud" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, recorded for his second studio album, '' ×'' (2014). It was written by Sheeran and Amy Wadge, and produced by frequent collaborator Jake Gosling. It was released in the ...

'' was released on 25 July 2007, her first album to be sold in both CD and CD+DVD formats. The first press of both editions came with an access ticket containing the AD/Password to reserve tickets for her tour, "Bonnie Pink Tour 2007 'Thinking Out Loud' Final at Nippon Budokan" on a special designated website. The CD pre-orders made the album number 1 on the Amazon.com Japan Top Sellers. The album debuted at number 4 on the Oricon Daily Charts and number 5 on the weekly charts selling approximately 53,605 copies. As of 5 September 2007, her album had sold approximately 90,000 copies. Bonnie Pink was on her "Thinking Out Loud Tour" from late 2007 to early 2008.

I and Ai

In April 2008, Bonnie Pink made a guest performances for Domoto Tsuyoshi's solo project

244 Endli-x is a Japanese idol, singer, songwriter, actor, and television personality. Along with Koichi Domoto (with whom he has no blood-relation), he is a member of KinKi Kids, which is a Japanese duo under the management of Johnny & Associates and the r ...

album '' I and Ai''. She was featured on the last track, "Say Anything", which she wrote the lyrics to with Domoto.

Ring a Bell

The English version of Bonnie Pink's single " Ring a Bell" is only available through digital download. "Ring a Bell" was used as the theme song for the American release of the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

game ''

Tales of Vesperia is an action role-playing game developed by Namco Tales Studio. The tenth mainline entry in the '' Tales'' series, it was released for the Xbox 360 and published in Japan and North America by Namco Bandai Games in 2008, and in European territor ...

''. The single was released in Japan and America on iTunes to celebrate Bonnie Pink's 35th birthday. Its Japanese counterpart, " Kane o Narashite", was released on 6 August 2008. Bonnie Pink's thirtieth single, "Joy / Happy Ending", was released on 8 April 2009. '' One'', her 10th studio album, followed on 13 May 2009.

Discography

* '' Blue Jam'' (1995) * '' Heaven's Kitchen'' (1997) * '' Evil and Flowers'' (1998) * '' Let Go'' (2000) * ''

'' (2001) * '' Present'' (2003) * '' Even So'' (2004) * '' Golden Tears'' (2005) * ''

'' (2007) * '' One'' (2009) * '' Dear Diary'' (2010) * '' Chasing Hope'' (2012)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pink, Bonnie 1973 births Living people Anime composers Anime musicians English-language singers from Japan Korean-language singers of Japan Japanese expatriates in Sweden Japanese women pop singers Japanese women singer-songwriters Japanese-language singers Mandarin-language singers of Japan Musicians from Kyoto Prefecture People from Kyoto Prefecture Pony Canyon artists Video game musicians Warner Music Japan artists 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers