Mignonne is the third studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Taeko Onuki (spelled "Ohnuki" at the time of release), released on 21 September 1978 by RCA/RVC. The album features the song "4:00 A.M.", which has become Onuki's most popular song, with over 147 million streams on Spotify as of May 2026.
Background Onuki expressed feeling a lack of control working with Eji Ogura on the production of Mignonne. As it was her first album with RCA/RVC, Onuki felt that the label wanted the album to sell well and therefore did not allow her as much creative freedom as she had had in the past.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.Mignonne (Media notes). Taeko Onuki. RCA/RVC. 21 September 1978.
Musicians
Taeko Onuki — vocals Ichizô Seo — chorus (track 1) Michiru Maki — chorus (track 1) Michiko Ogata — chorus (track 1) Tatsushi Umegaki — chorus (tracks 1, 7, 10) Hide Kotaro — chorus (tracks 7, 10) Kayoko Iju — chorus (tracks 6, 7, 9, 10) Natsuko Wada — chorus (tracks 6, 7, 9, 10) Hiroko Suzuki — chorus (tracks 6, 7, 9, 10) Chuei Yoshikawa — guitar (tracks 3–5, 10) Kimio Mizutani — guitar (tracks 1) Kiyoshi Sugimoto — guitar (tracks 2, 4) Masaki Matsubara — guitar (tracks 6, 9) Masayoshi Takanaka — guitar (track 10) Shigeru Suzuki — guitar (tracks 1–5, 9, 10) Tsunehide Matsuki — guitar (tracks 1, 7, 8) Tsugutoshi Gotō — bass (tracks 1, 4, 5) Kenji Takamizu — bass (track 2) Haruomi Hosono — bass (tracks 3, 6–10) Tatsuo Hayashi — drums (tracks 1, 4) Kiyoshi Tanaka — drums (tracks 2, 5) Yukihiro Takahashi — drums (tracks 3, 9, 10) Shuichi "Ponta" Murakami — drums (track 6) Yuichi Togashiki — drums (tracks 7, 8) Hideo Ichikawa — keyboards (track 2) Hiroshi Shibui — keyboards (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5) Ryuichi Sakamoto — keyboards (tracks 6–9), piano (tracks 3, 10) Keiko Yamakawa — harp (track 5) Matsue Yamahata — harp (tracks 6, 8) Kiyoshi Saito — horns (track 1) Shunzo Sunahara — horns (track 1) Jake H. Concepcion — flute (track 7), saxophone (track 1) Mitsuru Soma — flute (track 4) Yukio Eto — flute (track 4) Yasuaki Shimizu — tenor saxophone (track 6) Shigeharu Mukai — trombone (track 3) Eiji Arai — trombone (tracks 6, 7) Harumi Mita — trombone (tracks 6, 7) Sumio Okada — trombone (tracks 6, 7) Yasuo Hirauchi — trombone (tracks 6, 7) Michio Kagiwada — trombone (track 7) Mamoru Otake — trumpet (tracks 6, 7) Shin Kazuhara — trumpet (tracks 6, 7) Kumiyama Tokiichi— trumpet (tracks 6, 7) Ohno Group — strings (tracks 3, 8–10) Tomato Strings Ensemble — strings (tracks 1, 5) Motoya Hamaguchi — percussion (tracks 3, 6–10) Masahito "Pecker" Hashida — percussion (tracks 1, 4, 5)
Technical and design
Eji Ogura — producer Ichizô Seo — arrangements (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 10) Ryuichi Sakamoto — arrangements (tracks 3, 6–9) Shigeki Miyata — recording supervisor Eiji Uchinuma — recording engineer Tamotsu Yoshida — recording engineer Kōchū Onishi — photographer Kenichi Makimura — director Yoshio Sugiyama — hair and make-up Minoru Maeda — stylist
Charts On 23 May 2018, a vinyl version of Mignonne, remastered by Bernie Grundman, was released. The 2018 remastered vinyl version charted on the Oricon music charts with a peak position of 30.
See also 1978 in Japanese music
References