Ide Mariko

Ide Mariko's interest in music awakened as she was listening to Minnie Riperton's Lovin’ You in the room of her elder sister when she was 15 years old.

In 1997 she won an audition with a demo tape and debuted with her single CRAWL the same year. At regular intervals the singles Kaze to tomo ni nagarete and ~Seek~sore ga ai kamoshirenai kara followed, which made the FM Kakukyoku charts and attracted much attention. In 1999, Mariko was the only Japanese participating artist in the JUMP’N SPLASH reggae event. She performed alongside Aswad, Janet Kay and Freddie McGregor. Her fifth single There must be an angel playing with my heart, a cover of Euryhtmics, became a huge hit.

She entered the top ten of the Oricon album charts with her second album zeal in 2000; the album charted on place nine. In the same year, she traveled to New York, Memphis, New Orleans and Cuba where she searched for her musical roots. Besides that, she took the chance and performed at Open Mic, a talent competition for singers and dancers. After her return in 2003 she released her album HIGH LIFE and experimented with the rock genre.

After a period of inactivity, Ide Mariko released a new album, THE CLOWN, in May 2005 and in 2007 her first best-of album. The same year saw her singing together with Grammy Award winner Peabo Bryson, an American R&B and soul singer who sang the title songs of Disney’s “Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast.” She also performed alongside actor and singer Yamamoto Koji, starring together in the musical The Last Five Years in summer.

Since then, Ide Mariko has appeared at various festivals, charity concerts, coupling lives and performed her own small lives.