Yoshida Minako

Singer, song writer and music producer Yoshida Minako was born on April 7, 1953 in Saitama. In 1969, whilst attending senior high school, she met Hosono Haruomi, later known for his work as the bassist of Yellow Magic Orchestra, and songwriter Matsumoto Taka who encouraged her to write a song for the first time. A few months later she founded the duo Puff with Noji Toshiyuki (Blues Creation), in which she played piano. The duo later appeared in a school festival and delivered a great performance.

The duo held a few concerts the following year, although they disbanded soon after. Yoshida married for the first time in 1972, but her marriage only lasted a year. A few months later, the record label Torio Records produced the song Kaze toshi, which was followed by Yoshida’s first solo album Tobira no fuyu soon after. Through the remainder of the seventies, Yoshida Minako released a number of albums and held several tours, which included supporting her band member Yamashita Tatsurou with his solo projects. In 1976, she founded the band FLYIN’ KID SCREW and toured with them as well.

The following decade ran in a similar manner: she released albums such as MONSTERS IN TOWN, which had a strong funk sound and was released worldwide in 1982, and the limited edition BELLS, which was limited to 3,000 copies. As well as holding several tours, she worked together with other artists to produce their work. She also married her long-term partner Seita Akira in 1984.

The nineties was a productive decade for Yoshida Minako. Even during the spring of 1990 she was producing her drummer Yamaki Hideo's album TENTELLETSQUE before recording her own, titled gazer, in New York. On December 5 of the same year, she gave a Christmas concert at Tokyo GLOBE. In the next few years she focused once again on the production of other artists and, in July 1993, performed at the MEET THE WORLD event organized by Osaka FM802. This marked the revival of her own solo activities and she began holding lives in Tokyo and Osaka in December. The year 1995 saw a number of concerts around Tokyo, the release of her single Koe wo kikasete, three albums, including some re-issues, and the release of her first live VHS. The next few years leading up to the turn of the millennium were marked by outside productions and tours, such as the BEWITCH~Club Circuit Tour 1997. Furthermore, she increased her activities with the jazz project PONTA BOX, which included a number of concerts and an album release.

The years 2000 and 2001 were filled with more tours and events, including a live in the US in July 2000. In addition to her activities with PONTA BOX, she became involved in collaborations such as YOSHIDA MINAKO & THE BAND and YOSHIDA MINAKO & THE 4 GIFTS. In the summer of 2002, she released her first single under avex io, after her long-standing releases via MGM, Victor and Universal. The release of TEMPTATION followed a number of radio appearances, and October saw a promotional campaign for her new album, Stable. She went on tour with THE BAND again in November and continued holding concerts.

The following years followed in the same fashion as the previous with several jazz and blues events, releases and a number of tours taking place. In the meantime she continued to produce and support other artists, which included working on the coupling track Nocturne -RAIN SONG- from BUCK-TICK’s maxi-single Gensou no hana in 2003.

In March 2012, Yoshida visited Paris, France, with composer and guitarist Watanabe Kazumi, where they performed songs from their 2008 album NOWADAYS at the JAZZ IN JAPAN festival.

Between March and June 2013, Yoshida went on tour with drummer Numazawa Takashi and organist Kawai Daisuke, with the programme ~TRIM~ CARAVAN TOUR 2013 Yoshida Minako & Kawai Daisuke meets Numazawa Takashi.

Yoshida Minako hasn't shown any signs of tiring and is sure to keep the music world on its toes with her own work, collaborations and concerts.