Maon Kurosaki

Maon Kurosaki (黒崎 真音) was a Japanese singer and songwriter signed to NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan.

Kurosaki was born in Tokyo on January 13, 1988.

She originally became interested in becoming a performer during her elementary years.

During this time, she wanted to become a theater artist, and she participated in an audition in her school during her sixth grade.

She did not pass the audition as she lacked talent in performing, but her singing was praised.

This event would leave an impression on her, and as her parents were not interested in her taking up performance arts, she decided that she wanted to become a singer.

Kurosaki began her singing career in Akihabara at the performance venue and bar Dear Stage, where she had been singing since at least January 2008.

Music producer Akihiro Tomita noticed her singing talent, and he subsequently became her producer when she made her major debut signed to Geneon Universal Entertainment (now NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan).

After being discovered while working as a performer in Akihabara, Tokyo, she made her major debut in 2010, performing ending themes to the anime television series Highschool of the Dead.

She released her debut album H.O.T.D. in September 2010, which features the ending themes from Highschool of the Dead.

Her first two singles were used as ending themes to the anime television series A Certain Magical Index II.

Kurosaki's music was influenced by her love of anime and lolita fashion.

Her songs have been featured in various anime series such as Jormungand, Tokyo Ravens, and The Fruit of Grisaia.

She collaborated with artists such as Mami Kawada, Kotoko, and Trustrick for her music releases.

She first announced her major debut to her fans in January 2010.

Before she had her major debut, she posed as a gravure model for the cover of Yūsaku Kitano's novel Maid Road Reload sold on April 26, 2010, by ASCII Media Works under their Media Works Bunko imprint.

Kurosaki's first music release was her debut album H.O.T.D. on September 22, 2010, which contains the ending theme songs used in the 2010 anime series Highschool of the Dead.

She also made a voice acting cameo during the series' twelfth episode.

To commemorate the album and the broadcast of the anime, she performed songs from the album once a week at Dear Stage from July 7 to September 22, 2010.

Another event to commemorate the album was held at Animate in Yokohama on October 16, 2010.

Kurosaki became the regular host for the Thursday broadcast of the radio program A&G Artist Zone 2h on October 7, 2010; she would host the show until 2011.

Her debut single "Magic World" was released on November 24, 2010, and she performed at Dear Stage on that day to commemorate the release.

Both "Magic∞World" and "Memories Last" were used as ending theme songs to the 2010 anime series A Certain Magical Index II.

She performed twice at Anime Expo 2011 in Los Angeles, California, and was a regular performer at Japanese anime events such as LisAni, Animelo Summer Live, and Animax Musix.

She also appeared at Anime Festival Asia, Bangkok Comic Con, and CharaExpo.

From 2011 to 2016, she was singer of the synthpop band Altima, together with Motsu of the band Move.

In September 2021, Kurosaki collapsed in the middle of a livestreamed concert, which was soon suspended thereafter.

She was then rushed to a hospital where she was diagnosed with an epidural hematoma.

She died in February 2023 after a period of declining health.

Kurosaki's second single "Memories Last" (メモリーズ・ラスト) was released on March 2, 2011.

Kurosaki had her first solo live event titled "Maon Kurosaki Live 2011 Spring: Memories First" on March 4–5, 2011, in Harajuku.

She made her North American debut at Anime Expo 2011 in Los Angeles, California where she performed on July 1 and 3.

She released the mini-album Goshiki Uta: Immortal Lovers on August 10, 2011, which contains the ending theme songs used in the 2011 original video animation series Hakuōki Sekkaroku.

She made her first appearance at Animelo Summer Live on during its 2011 iteration on August 28.

Kurosaki released her second studio album Butterfly Effect on November 30, 2011, containing the song "Scars", the ending theme for the ninth episode of Hellsing Ultimate.

In 2011, Kurosaki formed the band Altima with Move's Mototaka "Motsu" Segawa and fripSide's Satoshi "Sat" Yaginuma.

Kurosaki released three more singles in 2012: "Hell:ium" on May 9, "Reimei" (黎鳴) on August 8, and "Under / Shaft" on October 17.

"Reimei" is used as the opening theme for the 2012 Hakuōki Reimeiroku anime series, and "Under / Shaft" is used as the opening theme for the 2012 Jormungand: Perfect Order anime series.

She was a guest at Anime Festival Asia Malaysia in 2012.

Her third studio album Vertical Horizon was released on April 10, 2013.