is a Japanese female singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in 1992 when she won the grand prix of the 16th annual ''Nagasaki Singing Festival'' at the age of 16, which resulted in her receiving a recording contract with

Toshiba EMI , 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. When ...

. After she graduated from high school, Ishimine traveled to Los Angeles, California, to receive voice training and dancing lessons. In November 1994, she released her first single ''Doyōbi to Pen to Udedokei (Saturday, Pen and Wristwatch)''. In March 1995, Ishimine won first prize at the 5th ''

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 ...

's Newcomer Singing Contest''. In May, she released a cover version of the renowned song ''Hana'', originally recorded by

Shoukichi Kina , is a Japanese rock musician and politician. He, along with his band Champloose, played a large role in the Okinawan home-grown "folk rock" scene in the 1970s and 1980s. His first big hit was " Haisai Ojisan" ("Hey, old man") in 1972, which he wr ...

, for the film ''Himeyuri no Tō (The Tower of Himeyuri)''. This, her third single, sold over 500,000 copies. She was selected to participate in the 46th annual ''

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

'' with the song at the end of the year.

Life and career

Early life

Satoko Ishimine was born the third girl of three sisters in

Naha City is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 people per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area is ...

Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of three main island groups—the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands, and the Daitō Islands—spread across a maritime zone approximately 1,000 kilometers east to west an ...

, Japan. Her family loved listening to such legendary foreign musicians as

The Carpenters The Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter, Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinctive soft musical style, combining ...

and

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

. She started dreaming of becoming a professional singer when she was ten-year-old.

Success and struggle

Through the initiating years of her career, Ishimine established her popularity for the public as an Okinawan singer, especially due to the hit of her third single ''Hana''. Nevertheless, she did not want to be regarded as such a matured vocalist with modest and magnificent songs as people liked her to perform those days. After five years since the debut, she started writing lyrics as she strongly desired to express herself with her own words. Around 2000, she began to play acoustic guitars to build her own style of an independent musical performer within herself.

Independence for change

In January 2001, Ishimine released her last original album for

''Closet'', in which she was committed to writing the lyrics of more than a half of the entire songs. In 2003, she ended the contract with EMI and transferred her label to PRHYTHM. The first album for the new label ''Bloomy Balloon'' was one of the most motivated records in her career that she produced all the lyrics and most of the melodies for all the tracks. She cooperated in the whole creation of the album with the male guitarist and composer Hikaru Ishizaki, who resulted in getting married with Ishimine in March 2006.

Exploring another vista

After the ten years since she encountered her first spouse and the seven years of their marriage, Ishimine announced that she divorced Ishizaki in May 2013. Eventually for the first time in ten years, she released three songs on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

in the end of June. With the help of a musical director Ayami Matsuo,�
ディレクターの松尾さんも誘って。
��. Official blog. February 3, 2015. Ishimine produced the first cover album in her career that contains no original songs, which was released for the label Tokuma Japan in September 2014.

Discography

Singles

Original albums

Cover albums

Compilation albums

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishimine, Satoko 1975 births 20th-century Japanese actresses 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singer-songwriters EMI Records artists Japanese classical musicians Japanese folk singers Japanese rhythm and blues singers Japanese television actresses Japanese women pop singers Japanese women rock singers Japanese women singer-songwriters Japanese women writers Living people Singers from Okinawa Prefecture Ryukyuan people Singers from Tokyo Tokuma Japan Communications artists World Music Awards winners