Angela Aki

Kiyomi Angela Aki (安藝 聖世美 アンジェラ) known professionally as Angela Aki (アンジェラ・アキ), is a Japanese pop singer, songwriter and pianist.

Aki was born in the small town of Itano in Tokushima Prefecture, in the mostly rural island of Shikoku.

Her mother is Italian American and her father is Japanese.

Aki began to take piano lessons when she was three years old.

She lived in Tokushima through sixth grade and spent her junior high school days in Okayama.

She has admitted that growing up in rural Japan proved very difficult, as she was bullied and she turned to the piano as an escape from the isolation she felt.

She grew up listening to a mix of enka, The Carpenters and The Bee Gees.

Aki moved to Hawaii when she was fifteen years old and attended the Hawaii Preparatory Academy, but transferred to and graduated from Iolani School.

She speaks English and Japanese.

She was immersed in music there for four years.

She graduated from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and majored in political science.

Angela's first marriage was to an engineer, producer and artist Tony Alany, who co-produced her first album These Words in Vienna, Virginia, USA.

In 1997 Aki, aged 20, went to a Sarah McLachlan concert, and felt that she wanted to go into the music world, deciding to become a singer-songwriter.

In 2000, she released an indie album in the United States, called These Words.

After graduation from university, she found a job in Washington, D.C. and worked as a secretary.

She could not give up her dream of being a singer, however, and quit her job in 2001.

She worked as a waitress for 2 dollars 13 cents during the day, and she played songs at night at a nightclub.

Aki briefly married her first album's engineer in Vienna, Virginia, USA.

In 2002, she composed two tracks for "Let It Fall" by Dianne Eclar, a teenage pop singer from the Philippines.

After producing commercial music for several Japanese companies, including one for milk product Yakult which was sung by US Jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott, she decided to move back to Japan.

On September 27, 2003, Aki saw Shiina Ringo's concert in Nippon Budokan Hall, and promised herself she would perform at the same place within three years, even though she was unheard of, had not yet been offered a contract with any record label, nor had she made an album or major debut.

She performed live in many small venues and bars in Tokyo while working as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant, wrote 100 or more songs, and also made several demo CDs.

In 2005, she released an independent mini-album under Virgo Music entitled "One," which was the #1 selling indie album of 2005.

This alerted Nobuo Uematsu to her music, and he asked her to write lyrics and perform the theme song for Final Fantasy XII, "Kiss Me Good-Bye".

She contracted with Epic Records and made her major debut with the single "HOME" in September, 2005.

The album sold over half a million copies and reached #2 on the Oricon charts.

On December 26, 2006, she held a concert in Nippon Budokan Hall, making history there as the first artist to ever perform in the famous venue solo (with just her piano) -- no backup singers, band or opening act.

In May 2006, Angela signed with Tofu Records in order to release English singles and albums.

Her first release with Tofu was "Kiss Me Good-Bye" as a digital single in the US, with a slightly altered track list.

Later that month she performed the Final Fantasy XII theme song, "Kiss Me Good-Bye" at the premiere PLAY! A Video Game Symphony concert in Chicago on May 27, 2006.

With orchestral backup, she played piano and sang the English lyrics, which she had written herself.

She also performed a cover version of Faye Wong's "Eyes On Me", the theme song of Final Fantasy VIII, with her piano accompaniment.

On March 9, 2007, Aki announced that she had married Japanese A&R director and publisher Taro Hamano, and made public that she had been briefly married previously and got divorced.

In 2007 Aki's second major label album, Today, reached #1.

In September 2011, she announced that she was pregnant.

In February 2012, she announced that she had given birth to her first child, a baby boy.

She is good friends with J-Pop star Yuna Ito.

The singers attended the same Japanese language school.

Janis Ian is her mentor and friend.

Aki currently resides with her husband and son in Nashville, Tennessee.