Taeko Onuki

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.{{cite news |title=鴻上尚史さんのベストセラー『不死身の特攻兵』が生まれたワケ |url=https://books.j-cast.com/2018/08/26007840.html |accessdate=2 December 2019 |publisher=J-CAST BOOKウォッチ |date=6 August 2018}}

In 1973, she formed Sugar Babe with Tatsuro Yamashita and Kunio Muramatsu. Because the dominant music style at the time was hard rock, audiences did not respond too warmly, and the group disbanded three years later.{{cite news |last1=St. Michel |first1=Patrick |title=Taeko Onuki of Sugar Babe on Her Journey in Japanese Music |url=https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/12/taeko-onuki-interview |accessdate=20 November 2019 |publisher=Red Bull Music Academy |date=22 December 2017}} 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 sales-focused process was difficult for her and the album didn't sell as expected. 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.

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".{{Cite web |title=「キリクと魔女」 |url=https://onukitaeko.jp/project/kirikou/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=大貫妙子 Taeko Onuki |language=ja}}

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.{{cite web |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070122221250/http://www.doubutsunomori-movie.jp/themesong/index.html |url=http://www.doubutsunomori-movie.jp/themesong/index.html |archivedate=January 22, 2007 |script-title=ja:劇場版 「どうぶつの森」 / 主題歌 |publisher=doubutsunomori-movie.jp |accessdate=December 10, 2018|language=Japanese }}

In 2009, Onuki covered Eiichi Ohtaki's song "Kimi wa Tennen Shoku" for the album A Long Vacation.{{cite web |title=大滝詠一の歴史的名盤『A LONG VACATION』、女性が歌って"秋サウンドに" |url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/70033/full/ |work=Oricon |language=Japanese |date=October 23, 2009 |accessdate=April 15, 2018}}

In 2020, the movie Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop was released, for which Onuki sang the insert song "YAMAZAKURA".{{cite web |title=サイダーのように言葉が湧き上がる / MUSIC / ARTIST |url=http://cider-kotoba.jp/music/artist.html|language=Japanese |accessdate=December 28, 2021}}

On March 11, 2022, Onuki participated in the Shuichi "Ponta" Murakami tribute concert "One Last Live", performing "Tokai" and "Mon doux Soleil".{{cite web |url=https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/177202 |title= 村上"ポンタ"秀一トリビュート ～One Last LIVE～ |publisher=Wowow |access-date=2022-06-05}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Discogs artist|556509-Taeko-Ohnuki}}
• {{official|http://onukitaeko.jp}}

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Category:Living people

Category:People from Suginami

Category:Singers from Tokyo

Category:Japanese women singer-songwriters

Category:1953 births

Category:20th-century Japanese women singers

Category:20th-century Japanese singer-songwriters

Category:21st-century Japanese women singers

Category:21st-century Japanese singer-songwriters

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