Angela Aki

Overview

Angela Aki (born Kiyomi Angela Aki on September 15, 1977) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and jazz pianist from Itano, Tokushima Prefecture. Born to a Japanese father and an Italian American mother, she rose to fame as a piano-playing singer-songwriter. She made her major debut with the single "HOME" in 2005, became the first solo artist to perform at Nippon Budokan with just a piano in 2006, and appeared at NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen six years in a row beginning that year.

Career

Early life and beginnings

Aki began piano lessons at age three, lived in Tokushima through sixth grade and spent her junior high years in Okayama. She has spoken of being bullied in rural Japan and turning to the piano as an escape. At fifteen she moved to Hawaii, attended high school there, and later studied political science at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Seeing a Sarah McLachlan concert convinced her to pursue music. In 2000 she released the indie album These Words in the United States. She worked as a secretary after graduating, singing in bars and clubs at night, before quitting to focus on music. In 2002 she wrote two tracks for Philippine teen singer Dianne Eclar.

In February 2003 her song was chosen for a Yakult commercial, and she returned to Japan to pursue a singing career. After seeing Shiina Ringo at Nippon Budokan on September 27, 2003, she vowed to play there within three years. She performed in small venues, worked in a Chinese restaurant and wrote many demos. In 2005 she released the piano mini-album ONE independently, which became a top-selling indie album, and signed with Epic Records.

2005–2009

She made her major debut with "HOME" on September 14, 2005. In March 2006 she released "Kiss Me Good-Bye", written at the request of Nobuo Uematsu as a theme song for Final Fantasy XII. That May she signed with Tofu Records to release English-language work and performed the song with her own English lyrics at PLAY! A Video Game Symphony in Chicago. Her album Home (June 14, 2006) became a long seller of over 600,000 copies. On December 26, 2006 she held her historic solo piano concert at Nippon Budokan, which became an annual event, and appeared at the 57th Kōhaku Uta Gassen with "HOME".

In 2007 she announced her remarriage, and her second album TODAY (September 19) reached No. 1 on the Oricon weekly chart, followed by a 41-date tour. In 2008 she wrote "Tegami Haikei Jūgo no Kimi e" for the NHK National School Music Competition and released it as a single on September 17; it became a long-running hit. She also held the first solo piano concert at Osaka-jo Hall. Her third album ANSWER (February 25, 2009), which she produced herself, debuted at No. 1, and she co-wrote "Black Glasses" with Ben Folds. On September 16, 2009 she released "Ai no Kisetsu", the theme of the NHK morning drama Tsubasa.

2010–2014

For her fifth anniversary in 2010 she released the single "Kagayaku Hito" (an answer song to "Tegami") and the album LIFE (September 8), and held a commemorative concert in Tokushima. In 2011 she released her first double A-side single "Hajimari no Ballad / I Have a Dream" and the album WHITE (September 28), and performed in Sendai for those affected by the Tohoku earthquake. On January 11, 2012 she released the cover album SONGBOOK and hosted the NHK program Angela Aki's SONG BOOK in English. After giving birth to a son in February, she returned in June, releasing the single "Kokuhaku" ("Confession"), the theme of the anime Space Brothers, on July 11 and the album BLUE on July 18. "Yume no Owari Ai no Hajimari" followed on July 3, 2013.

In November 2013 she announced an indefinite hiatus in Japan to study at a music college in the United States. The best-of album TAPESTRY OF SONGS - THE BEST OF ANGELA AKI was released on March 5, 2014, and her final tour ended at Nippon Budokan on August 4, 2014.

2014–2023

Aki studied at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, returning to Japan in May 2016. She wrote lyrics for Tokyo DisneySea's show "Out of Shadowland" and contributed "Ashita o Kudasai" to Masayuki Suzuki's album dolce, restarting her musical activity. In 2022 she provided "Canary no Uta" to Emiko Suzuki. She later took classes at Berklee College of Music, and on November 22, 2023 she announced she would resume activities in Japan after ten years.

2024 onward

In 2024 she contributed music to the Toho musical In This Corner of the World, rearranging and singing "Kono Sekai no Achikochi ni" (released February 7), followed by the album Angela Aki sings 'Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni' on April 24. On May 21, 2025 she released "Pledge", her first new song in twelve years, and began her first national tour in eleven years, "Tour 2025 -Eleven-", on July 21 in Tokushima. "Floating Planets" followed on November 26, 2025, and the album SHADOW WORK, her first original album in about fourteen years, was released on February 11, 2026. After emergency surgery for peritonitis from a perforated appendix in April 2026, some tour dates were postponed or cancelled, and she returned at the Sapporo show on May 29. She has also announced her divorce from Taro Hamano on October 1, 2025.

Musical style

Aki is centered on piano-playing singer-songwriting; studio recordings typically add drums, bass and strings. Her dynamic, percussive piano playing uses her whole body. She cites Fiona Apple, Ben Folds, Macy Gray, Sarah McLachlan, Shiina Ringo, Joni Mitchell, The Smashing Pumpkins, Alanis Morissette and Coldplay among her influences, and grew up listening to enka, The Carpenters and The Bee Gees. Having written in English while living in the US, she committed to Japanese lyrics after hearing Chihiro Onitsuka's "Gekkō". Janis Ian is her mentor and friend, and she has published many piano scores she supervised.