is a Japanese singer and songwriter. She is influential in the city pop genre.

Early life and career

Taeko Onuki was born in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, in 1953. Her father was Kenichiro Onuki, a member of the

Japanese Special Attack Units During World War II, , also called ''shimbu-tai'', were specialized units of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army normally used for suicide missions. They included ''kamikaze'' aircraft, '' fukuryu'' frogmen, and several types o ...

during the Second World War. In 1973, she formed ''Sugar Babe'' with musicians

Tatsuro Yamashita , occasionally credited as Tatsu Yamashita or Tats Yamashita, is a Japanese singer-songwriter and record producer, who is known for pioneering the style of Japanese adult-oriented rock/soft rock music. His most well-known song is "Christmas E ...

and Kunio Muramatsu. Because the dominant music style at the time was hard rock, audiences did not respond too warmly, and the group ended up splitting only three years later. In 1976, Onuki began her solo career by releasing the album ''Grey Skies,'' which carried the same sound as Sugar Babe. Her second, landmark album ''Sunshower'' was released the following year in 1977 and had a much different style, mixing pop music and jazz. In 1978 she released her third album, ''Mignonne'', in which she worked with producer Eji Ogura, but the sales-focused process was difficult for her and the album didn't sell as expected. She took a two year break from music afterwards. Beginning from 1980, she released her “Europe” trilogy of albums: ''Romantique'', ''Aventure'' and ''Cliché'', taking on a more electronic sound.

Later career

In 1998, she won the 21st Japan Academy Award for Best Music Award in the movie "Tokyo biyori". From October 5, 2005, she is served as Wednesday navigator (DJ) of the program " NIGHT STORIES " " THE UNIVERSE " of FM radio station J-WAVE in Tokyo. On November 2, 2006, the soundtrack for the Game Boy Advance game ''

Mother 3 is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the third entry in the ''Mother'' series. The game follows Lucas, a young boy with psychic abilitie ...

'' was released, featuring the song "We miss you ~ The theme of love ~", which Onuki sang. She also sang the theme song for '' Animal Crossing: The Movie'' based on Nintendo's ''

Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo. The series was conceptualized and created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. In ''Animal Crossing'', the player character is a human who lives in a village inh ...

'' video game series. In 2009, Onuki covered

Eiichi Ohtaki Eiichi Ohtaki (July 28, 1948 – December 30, 2013) was a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He first became known as a member of the rock band Happy End, but was better known for his solo work which began in 1972. ...

's song "Kimi wa Tennen Shoku" for the album '' A Long Vacation''. In 2020, the movie '' Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop'' was released, for which Onuki sang the insert song "YAMAZAKURA". On March 11, 2022, Onuki participated in the Shuichi "Ponta" Murakami tribute concert "One Last Live", performing "Tokai" and "Mon doux Soleil".

Discography

Albums

References

External links

* * Living people Japanese women singer-songwriters 1953 births 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers {{Japan-singer-stub