Rachael Yamagata

Rachael Yamagata is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She was born on September 23, 1977, in Arlington, Virginia. She started her career as the singer for the group Bumpus, with whom she spent 6 years touring and recording. She finally left the group in 2001 to pursue a solo career, landing a two-record year with the Arista offshoot Private Music. Her debut EP, titled Rachael Yamagata, was released in October 2003. The EP was produced by Chris Holmes and earned attention in the music world; her first full-length album Happenstance (2004) would follow soon after. Happenstance was produced by John Alagia, and the single “Worn Me Down” made it to Number 33 on the Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 chart. It also includes a re-recorded version of “The Reasons Why,” from her debut EP. Rachael Yamagata appeared on the 2004 album True Love by Toots and the Maytals, as one of several guest vocalists such as Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, and Bonnie Raitt. Her EP Loose Ends was released in 2008, followed shortly by her second full-length album Elephants… Teeth Sinking Into Heart (2008). Over the course of the next few years, Rachael Yamagata collaborated with artists such as Jason Mraz, Ray Lamontagne, and Ryan Adams. Her third album Chesapeake was released in 2011. In 2016, Rachael Yamagata had two album releases: an acoustic re-recording of the songs from Happenstance, titled Acoustic Happenstance (2016), and a new album of original music titled Tightrope Walker (2016). In 2018, she released a new EP titled Porch Songs.