Yuki Kadokura (real name Mitsue Kaneda) was a Japanese singer born on December 1, 1973, in Sukagawa, Fukushima. Influenced by her grandfather, she started singing at age three and later joined a Second Harumi Miyako audition. After working as a high school baseball team manager, she pursued a music career at 17. Spotted by producer Hirokuni Sakai and trained by composer Keisuke Hama, Kadokura debuted in 1994 with the single "Kamome". She gained national fame in 1996 after winning the NHK Newcomer Song Contest with “Onna no Isobushi” which led to her appearance at the NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, making her the first woman to appear at both Kōhaku and Koshien. Her biggest hit came in 1998 with “Nora” a cover that sold over 800,000 copies. Later works include "Koibito-tachi" (2006), and her collaboration with Ryuuji Miyamoto in 2016 on “Koineko.” Kadokura also supported disaster relief efforts and performed overseas. In 2019, she was diagnosed with breast cancer but continued to perform, even marrying that year. She passed away on June 6, 2024, at age 50. A year later, her acoustic single “Ranunculus – RememVer –” was posthumously released. One of her signature songs was “Oniyuri”(2009).
