Angela Aki

Kiyomi Angela Aki (known as Angela Aki), born on September 15, 1977, in Itano, Tokushima, Japan, is a Japanese pop singer, songwriter, and pianist. Starting piano lessons at three years old, she moved with her family to Hawaii at fifteen. Inspired by a Sarah McLachlan concert in 1997, she decided pursued music as a career, releasing an indie album called These Words in 2000 in the US, performing at nightclubs while working as a waitress during the day. Returning to Japan soon after, Aki performed at small venues and releasing demo CDs and her 2005 mini-album One caught the attention of Nobuo Uematsu, leading her to compose and perform "Kiss Me Good-Bye" for the game Final Fantasy XII. She signed with Epic Records, making her major label debut with Home in 2005 which went to number 2 on the Oricon charts, following this with Today (2007) and Answer (2009) which both shot to Number 1. Aki continued to release successful albums like Life (2010) and White (2011), releasing cover album Songbook and her seventh album Blue in the same year. After taking some time to write and direct musical theatre projects, in April 2024, she returned with "Here and There in This World," the lead single for the musical adaptation of Fumiyo Kouno's In This Corner of the World, titled Angela Aki Sings Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni (アンジェラ・アキ sings 『この世界の片隅に』). The album went to number 17.