is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician who achieved success and popularity during the 1970s and 80s in the city pop music scene.
Early life and career
Taeko Onuki was born in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, in 1953. Her father was Kenichiro Onuki, a member of the Japanese Special Attack Units during the Second World War.
In 1973, she formed the group Sugar Babe with Tatsuro Yamashita and Kunio Muramatsu. Audiences did not respond very warmly, and the group disbanded three years later. In 1976, Onuki began her solo career by releasing the album Grey Skies, which carried the same sound as Sugar Babe. Her second landmark album, Sunshower was released the following year in 1977 and had a much different style, mixing pop music and jazz. In 1978 she released her third album, Mignonne, in which she worked with producer Eji Ogura, but the album didn't sell as well as hoped. She took a two year break from music afterwards. Beginning from 1980, she released her "Europe" trilogy of albums: Romantique, Aventure and Cliché, taking on a more electronic sound.
Later career In 1998, she won the 21st Japan Academy Award for Best Music Award in the movie Tokyo Biyori. She sung the theme song for the Japanese dub of Kirikou and the Sorceress, "Hadaka no Kiriku".
From October 5, 2005, she served as Wednesday navigator (DJ) of the program "Night Stories / The Universe" of FM radio station J-WAVE in Tokyo. On November 2, 2006, the soundtrack for the Game Boy Advance game Mother 3 was released, featuring the song "We miss you ~ The theme of love ~", which Onuki sang. She also sang the theme song for Animal Crossing: The Movie based on Nintendo's Animal Crossing video game series.
In 2009, Onuki covered Eiichi Ohtaki's song "Kimi wa Tennen Shoku" for the album A Long Vacation. In 2020, the movie Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop was released, for which Onuki sang the insert song "Yamazakura".
On March 11, 2022, Onuki participated in the Shuichi "Ponta" Murakami tribute concert "One Last Live", performing "Tokai" and "Mon doux Soleil".
On February 7, 2026, Onuki performed live at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, marking the first time she had performed outside of Japan.
Discography
Albums +Studio albumsTitleYearLabelSongs (with Sugar Babe)1975NiagaraGrey Skies (グレイ-スカイス)1976 PANAM/CrownSunshower (サンシャワー)1977Mignonne (ミニヨン)1978 RCA/RVCRomantique (ロマンテイク)1980Aventure (アファチュ-ル)1981Cliche (クリシェ)1982Signifie (シニフェ)1983 Dear Heart/RVCCahier (カイエ)1984Copine (こピン) 1985Dear Heart/MIDIComin' Soon (カミング・ス-ン)1986A Slice of Life (スライス・オブ・ライフ)1987Purissima (プリッシマ)1988New Moon1990Drawing1992 Eastworld/Toshiba EMIShooting Star in the Blue Sky1993Tchou! (チャオ！1995Lucy (ル -シ-)1997Attraction (アトラクシオン)1999Ensemble (アンサンブル) 2000Note (ノ-ト)2002One Fine Day (ワン・ファイン・デイ)2005UTAU (ウタウ; with Ryuichi Sakamoto)2010Tint (テイント; with Ryota Komatsu)2015Universal Music Japan +Self-cover albumsTitleYearLabelPure Acoustic (ピュア・アコースティック)1996Eastworld/Toshiba EMIBoucles d'Oreilles (ブックル・ドレイユ) 2007SMDR GT Music +Live albumsTitleYearLabelLive '93 Shooting Star in the Blue Sky1996Eastworld/Toshiba EMITaeko Onuki Meets Akira Senju: Symphonic Concert 20162016Pony CanyonPure Acoustic 20182018Columbia +SoundtracksTitleYearLabelAfrica Animal Puzzle1985Dear Heart/RVCTokyo Biyori1997Eastworld/Toshiba EMITokyo Oasis2011VAP
References
External links