Kokia
Akiko Yoshida ( Japanese 吉田 亜 紀 子 , Yoshida Akiko ; born July 22, 1976 in Tokyo Prefecture , Japan ) is a Japanese singer-songwriter who appears under the stage name Kokia . She became known through numerous music publications, a certain proportion of which was recorded for anime and computer games .
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Childhood and youth
Yoshida was born in Tokyo Prefecture in 1976 , where she was raised by her mother. She began playing the violin at the age of two and a half, but preferred the family piano that she preferred to other toys. According to her own statement, she can remember that she put picture books on the music stand and began to invent music that could fit the scene shown.
At the age of 10, she attended the Summer Music School in America with her sister Kyoko Yoshida, which she attended again at 14. In high school, she focused on singing and opera music. Whereupon she chose opera music at the Tōhō Gakuen Daigaku ( 桐 朋 学園 大学 ) as a major.
While she was in college, one of her friends passed a screen test of Yoshida to a Pony Canyon employee . She then managed to sign a contract with the company and made her debut in 1998 while she was still attending university. This was also the time when she gave herself her stage name Kokia , which she derived from the inverted syllables of her first name Akiko - a habit that she had adopted as a game from her childhood. Their first release was For Little Tail , although it never appeared on CD. Instead, it served as background music in the opening credits of the computer game Tail Concerto . However, her first titles were not written by herself. They came from the pen of Hinata Toshifumi and Yōko Kanno . After releasing four singles, she released her debut album Songbird in 1999 . In contrast to the previous singles, there was now a majority of tracks that were written by Yoshida himself.
As yet unknown, none of these publications reached a higher position in the charts. Nevertheless, the title Arigatō ... ( あ り が と う ... , Eng . "Thank you ...") was successful in Hong Kong . For example, the title took third place at the "International Grand Prize for Pop Music Hong Kong" ( Chinese 香港 國際 流行 音樂 大獎 / 香港国际流行 音乐 大奖 , Pinyin Xiānggǎng guójì liúxíng yīnyuè dà shǎng ) in 1999 and was finally won by Sammi Cheng in October of Year covered. Then the title became a hit in Hong Kong.
Victor Entertainment
After the release of their first album, the contract with Pony Canyon was terminated. This was followed by five tracks in collaboration with singer Ryūichi Kawamura from Luna Sea in the RKS (ЯKS) project in 2000. The album was released by Victor Entertainment , which resulted in Yoshida's relationship with the publisher. Starting in 2001, she released three singles with her new contract partner.
At the same time, Yoshida became known through various advertising campaigns in which her music was played. She also had her first appearances in front of a large audience. So she played at the anti-drug concert together with Four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong entertainment (consisting of Jacky Cheung , Andy Lau , Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai ) in front of 30,000 spectators in Hong Kong and in Taiwan at New Year 2001 even in front of 120,000 spectators. In January 2002 she released her second album Trip Trip , which was now produced entirely by herself. However, this time too, there was no great success and none of the albums could reach higher positions in the Japanese charts.
In 2003, however, she had her breakthrough. Her single Kawaranai Koto - Since 1976 was featured in the opening credits of the Itoshiki Mono e ( 愛 し き 者 者 ) series and reached the top 50 for the first time. The single The Power of Smile / Remember the Kiss was to be an even greater success Commercial for hair care by Kaō was used. Accompanied by a request to appear on the popular music show Music Station , the single reached the top 20 in Japan and achieved gold status with the Recording Industry Association of Japan . The following album, Remember Me , also reached the top 20 and sold more than 45,000 copies.
Meanwhile, their still recorded under Pony Canyon tracks I Catch a Cold and Shiroi Yuki ( 白 雪 ) made a debut in the soundtrack of the Chinese series Haitunwan Lianren ( Chinese 海豚湾恋人 , Pinyin hǎitúnwān liànrén ). At the same time, they also marked the end of Yoshida's active participation in the Chinese music market.
Her fourth album Uta ga Chikara was again less successful and sold 20,000 copies. However, the title and the single of the same name Yume ga Chikara was used to motivate the Japanese team to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In February 2006, Toshida released the Pearl: The Best Collection and Jewel: The Best Video Collection . The former reached the 19th place in the charts and is the last publication to be found in the top 20.
Anco & Co., France
In 2006, Yoshida began to break away from Victor Entertainment and entered the European music market. In January she held her first concert in Paris and performed at Midem . The album Pearl: The Best Collection was also available in France and Spain a month before its Japanese release. Finally, she broke off her relationship with Victor in June 2006 and founded the independent company Anco & Co. The reason she cited was the desire to have more control over her own creativity. Since November she has been working closely with the French reseller Wasabi Records , which specializes in anime , on which she released her 5th album Aigakikoeru: Listen for the Love . As a result, the album was released in Japan six months later.
However, she continued to publish music for Japanese productions. The single Follow the Nightingale for the franchise Tales of Innocence was released in November 2007 and reached number 30 in the Japanese charts. Since then she has released further albums, which thematically differed more from the original themes.
For her tenth stage anniversary, she released the two albums Kokia ∞ Akiko - Balance and Akiko ∞ Kokia - Balance on March 18, 2009 and went on her world tour KOKIA world tour 2009 「∞」 infinity , which began in Shibuya and she also went to France, Ireland , Poland, Belgium and Germany.
Discography
Albums
Studio albums
- 1999: Songbird
- 2002: Trip Trip
- 2003: Remember Me
- 2004: Uta ga Chikara ( 歌 が チ カ ラ )
- 2006: Aigakikoeru: Listen for the Love
- 2008: The Voice
- 2008: Fairy Dance: Kokia Meets Ireland
- 2008: Christmas Gift
- 2009: Kokia ∞ Akiko - Balance
- 2009: Akiko ∞ Kokia - Balance
- 2010: Real World
- 2011: moment
- 2013: Where to go my love?
- 2015 I found you
- 2018 Tokyo Mermaid
Other albums
- 2006: Pearl - The Best Collection
- 2008: KOKIA complete collection 1998–1999
- 2009: Coquillage - The Best Collection II
- 2016 Watching from Above
Singles
- 1998: Aishiteiru Kara ( 愛 し て い る か ら )
- 1998: Ai no Field ( 愛 の
輪 郭 ) Was in the credits of Brain Powerd used - 1998: Tears in Love
- 1999: Arigatō ... ( あ り が と う ... )
- 2001: Tomoni
- 2001: Say Hi !!
- 2001: Tenshi ( 天使 )
- 2002: Ningen te Sonna Mono ne ( 人間 っ て そ ん な も の ね )
- 2003: Kawaranai Koto - Since 1976 ( か わ ら な い こ と ～ ｓｉｎｃｅ１９７６ ～ )
- 2003: The Power of Smile / Remember the Kiss
- 2004: So Much Love for You
- 2004: Yume ga Chikara ( 夢 が チ カ ラ )
- 2005: Dandelion
- 2005: Time to Say Goodbye
- 2006: Ai no Melody / Chōwa Oto - With Reflection ( 愛 の メ ロ デ ィ ー ／ 調和 ｏｔｏ ～ ～ ｗｉｔｈ ｒｅｆｌｅｃｔｉｏｎ ～ )
- 2007: Watashi ni Dekiru Koto ( 私 に で き る こ と )
- 2007: Follow the Nightingale
- 2008: Tatta Hitotsu no Omoi ( た っ た １ つ の 想 い ) Used as the opening of the 2nd season of Gunslinger Girls
- 2008: Love Tears (download single)
- 2009: Karma , was in the opening credits of Phantom - Requiem for the Phantom used
- 2009: Kimi o Sagashite / Last Love Song ( 君 を さ が し て ／ last love song ) (download single)
- 2009: Transparent
- 2009: Single Mother / Christmas no Hibiki ( single mother ／ ク リ ス マ ス の 響 き ) (download single)
- 2010: Kodoku na Ikimono / Ano Hi no Watashi ni ( 孤独 な 生 き も の ／ あ の の 日 の 私 に ) (download single)
- 2010: Fate , used in the opening credits of the Break Blade series of films
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ ★ 配 信 限定 シ ン グ ル 第 2 弾 リ リ ー ス！ . (No longer available online.) Anco & co, archived from the original on November 30, 2009 ; Retrieved September 8, 2010 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d イ ン タ ビ ュ ー 第 ４ 回 . HABATAKI Welfare Project, archived from the original on September 11, 2005 ; Retrieved September 8, 2010 (Japanese).
- ↑ a b c KOKIA. (No longer available online.) Livedoor Co., archived from the original on May 2, 2012 ; Retrieved September 8, 2010 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d プ ロ フ ィ ー ル. (No longer available online.) Anco & co, archived from the original on February 5, 2010 ; Retrieved September 8, 2010 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d KOKIA. ONGAKUSHUPPANSHA Co., accessed September 8, 2010 (Japanese).
- ↑ Ayou, Laurent: Private Interview with KOKIA. Jame World, May 20, 2008, accessed September 8, 2010 .
- ↑ ゴ ー ル ド 等 認定 作品 一 覧 2003 年 10 月 . Recording Industry Association of Japan, accessed September 8, 2010 (Japanese).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kokia |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 吉田 亜 紀 子 (Japanese, real name); Yoshida Akiko (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | japanese singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 22, 1976 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tokyo prefecture |