Akiko Yano

is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s. She has been called "one of the major musical talents of the Japanese popular music world", and her vocals and singing style have been compared to English singer Kate Bush. She has recorded with Yellow Magic Orchestra and its members Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, as well as with Swing Out Sister, Pat Metheny, The Chieftains, Lyle Mays, members of Little Feat, David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Kenji Omura, Gil Goldstein, Toninho Horta, Mino Cinelu, Jeff Bova, Charlie Haden, Peter Erskine, Anthony Jackson, David Rhodes, Bill Frisell, Thomas Dolby, the band Quruli, Rei Harakami as Yanokami and her daughter Miu Sakamoto. Biography Early life Akiko Yano was born Akiko Suzuki in Tokyo in 1955. She grew up in Aomori, Japan, and learned to play the piano when she was three. She dropped out of high school and moved to Tokyo at the age of fifteen to become a professional musician, quickly became involved in the jazz scene, and by seventeen was working as a studio recording artist for hire. She also performed with the band Tin Pan Alley.