When akko met guitarist Fujii Kenji in 1995, her career was set on track. They debuted on May 1st with their first single Man&Woman/My Painting as My Little Lover. Before the year ended, another three singles and her debut album evergreen were released. Later in December they were joined by producer and keyboardist Kobayashi Takeshi.
The years 1996 and 1997 were productive and promising. In January 1996 akko dedicated herself to a monthly magazine, where she wrote her thoughts. Over the year three singles were released—all of them used for different products, in dramas, or as theme songs in movies. In 1997, her discography lengthened by reaching a total of nine singles and a photo book released. My Little Lover's first live was at Shinjuku Liquid Room; Sign of Thursday didn’t take place until November of that year.
After the release of two more albums and several new singles, akko took a short break in 1998 and focused on her first translation. The result, a book titled “Babe tokai e iku,” was released on April 20, 1999, shortly before the trio took a small break.
My Little Lover returned with the release of their single shooting star in 2001, and from that point onward, they stepped up their game by releasing another single and two albums: an original full-length and a singles collection with a PV collection on DVD. Her singles collection, titled Topics, hit first place on the Oricon album charts.
In January 2002, they performed at LIVE ZIP FM/beatrip via live stream. Unfortunately, that same year, guitarist Fujii decided to leave My Little Lover, making akko and Kobayashi a duo. This did not slow them down, however, and the release of organic at the end of the year led to a stream of concerts in 2003, with the group being seen on stages all over Japan. They ended 2003 with their participation in Act Against AIDS 2003 LIVE IN OSAKA. 2004 continued in the same fashion with more releases and performances, however at the end of the year, My Little Lover suspended activities for the next two and a half years.
In 2006, Kobayashi left the band, and during this time vocalist akko switched from TOY'S FACTORY to Avex Entertainment, where she started a solo project under the same name by the end of the year. Her very first single release under Avex was Ri-bon on November 8, 2006 and this marked the start of many busy and successful years. To this day, she has performed numerous concerts and events all over Japan and has a slew of releases, including a best-of to commemorate her 15th anniversary.
A special internet site was opened in 2010 to commemorate her 15th anniversary, with the above-mentioned best-of album released in May, and akko embarking on her My Little Lover 15th anniversary tour. Best Akko! to celebrate the event with her fans in Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo. More performances followed, with My Little Lover participating in α-MO’COOL FESTA2010 and MTV ZUSHI FES10.
In 2011 she made the charity song, Love Will Find A Way, for the tsunami victims. The song was available as download on iTunes from May. And akko kept the charity spirit. That's why she participated at the three-day festival ap bank fes '11 Funds for Japan in July. A few months later in October, she released her 24th single, titled hikoukigumo. To promote the single she held the very short two-live tour My Little Lover Live#8 acoakko party - Little☆Prince night!. The final of the tour took place at Akasaka BLITZ on December 22.
On February 29, 2012 the live DVD of ap bank fes '11 Funds for Japan was eventually released in Japan. The three-disc box set featured live recordings and various documentaries. Shortly after release the set peaked at rank 3 on the Oricon music DVD charts. After a break of a few months akko closed the year with some lives.
March of the following year saw the launch of My Little Lover's official facebook page. Moreover, the artist performed at Karada FES. 2013 ~jibun no karada, shirutte tanoshii~ at Ebisu Garden Hall on April 28th.
Considering the continuous activity from My Little Lover, we will definitely hear even more from this talented artist and her future projects.
