Amano Tsukiko

Not much is known about Amano Tsukiko. Her Birth year, real name and birthplace have all been kept private. What is known is that she started piano at 5 (she dropped it 6 years later), and at primary school/middle she was in the music club (although at high school she switched to the drama club). In the spring of her first year of university (as a theatre major) she decided to buy a guitar, and begun singing in clubs, bars and on streets. At one point she even got a job making TV commercial background music for her local area, but had to stop for half a year due to tonsillitis. After her throat recovered, she decided to audition to become a singer. Just at this time, music producer Tokura Hirotomo heard her demo tape that she had lent to a friend, and wanted to produce her music.

Amano debuted under Otokura Record (Tokura Hirotomo's indies label) in April 2001. At the time she was also competing in the TOYOTA MUSIC NATION competition, and in the third stage (a live concert held on 2001.06.02) she won the grand prize with her song B.G. ~BlackGuitar+BerryGarden~ (KUMACHI also won with their song Master Key). The prize was to record the new CM song for Toyota's gazoo.com website, as well as starring in this commercial. While the single did not chart on Oricon charts, it gained enough exposure for Amano to be noticed by major label Pony Canyon. She debuted with her first major single, Bodaiju, in November: three months after the commercials started airing. Bodaiju reached #66 on Oricon charts. After several other singles, she released her debut album Sharon Stones, which reached #33 on Oricon charts.

Amano was quick to keep releasing music: her second full album MEG & LiON was released 6 months later. She slowly continued to gain more fans, and got her biggest break by singing the theme song for the game Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly in 2003, Chou. Chou was released just prior to Amano's third album Tenryuu.

Amano Tsukiko promoting A MOON CHILD IN THE SKY (2005)

Tenryuu was followed by WINONA RIDERS ~Tsuki no Uragawa~, a collection of Amano's B-sides (some re-arranged) two months later. After a year more of singles (Tsuki, Idea, Hisui), Amano once again released a Fatal Frame theme song: this time for Fatal Frame III: The Tormented with the song Koe. Again, Amano released the single just prior to her next album A MOON CHILD IN THE SKY to ensure better sales for the album.

On the fifth anniversary of her debut (2006.05.31), Amano released five singles simultaneously: Karasu, Fukurou, Utakata, Fuusen and chaos. This was followed by a best album Catalog/Deluxe Catalog and a DVD 5 -five-. The DVD featured all the music videos for those five singles (which had scenes that synced together). None of the singles were present on the best album. This anniversary release marked the end of Amano's contract with Pony Canyon, and she returned to being an indies artist again.

Throughout 2007 and 2008 Amano released a myriad of things: she formed a band called A LUNCH and released their debut mini-album First Food in January. This was followed by a single in April (Howling), and later a B-side compilation album in July in the vein of WINONA RIDERS: Uma Salmon. She finished the year with an A LUNCH single (MISTY), which was followed a month later by a solo single (HEAVEN'S GATE). In April 2008 she released a live album, Amafes Report 2007 (previously she only released live concerts to DVD/VHS). None of the singles did not chart very highly (around the #120 mark) and the albums were only released through her official website. Amano was chosen once again to sing the new Fatal Frame game theme song (Fatal Frame IV: The Mask of the Lunar Eclipse), Zero no Chouritsu. This single was followed by her fourth original album, ZERO. The album features a song called ZERO, which is the English version of Zero no Chouritsu and presumably will be used for the Western release of the game.

A day after the release of Zero no Chouritsu, Amano announced on her blog that after ZERO and her planned post-album tour, she would retire from being a solo artist, as she feels she has fully completed 'Amano Tsukiko'. She still plans to write songs for other artists, and the fate of her band A LUNCH is unknown.

Categories: Artists | J-Pop | J-Rock | Indie | Blood Type A