Aoi Teshima
Japanese singer and voice actress for Studio Ghibli films.
Aoi Teshima is a Japanese singer and voice actress from Kasuga, Fukuoka. She is known for singing and acting in several Goro Miyazaki movies including Tales from Earthsea and From Up on Poppy Hill.
Quick Facts
- Born
- 21 June 1987
- Birthplace
- Kasuga, Fukuoka, Japan
- Genre
- J-pop
- Occupation
- Singer, voice actress
- Instrument
- Vocals
- Years active
- 2006–present
- Label
- Rendezvous, Yamaha
Facts from the source article.
Early life
Born on June 21, 1987, in Kasuga, Fukuoka, Teshima was shaped by her parents' fondness for classic musical films such as The Wizard of Oz and Breakfast at Tiffany's. She credits "Moon River" and the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday as foundations for her love of jazz. In junior high, Bette Midler's "The Rose" moved her, and her amateur cover of that song led to her debut as a singer.
Career
After junior high, Teshima attended the C&S Music School in Fukuoka, where she earned high school and junior college qualifications while honing her singing. She began an amateur music career in 2003, participating in the DIVA musical event in Fukuoka as part of the Yamaha Music-sponsored Teen's Music Festival in 2003 and 2004. In March 2005, she performed at the Japan-Korea Slow Music World event in South Korea, where her performance was well received and caught the attention of anime director Gorō Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli music producer Toshio Suzuki was reportedly impressed after hearing her demo of "The Rose" at Miyazaki's recommendation. Her major debut came on June 7, 2006, with the release of a song that served as the theme for Miyazaki's film Tales from Earthsea, in which she also voiced the character Theru. That single debuted at number five on the Oricon charts, with about 300,000 CD shipments and roughly 650,000 music downloads, then the largest for a Studio Ghibli theme song. She sang two songs for the Nintendo Wii game Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon. In 2006, her song "Miracle Star" became the theme for the Japanese version of Arctic Tale. In 2011, she again worked with Gorō Miyazaki on From up on Poppy Hill, singing the main theme "Summer of Goodbye" and other songs, and voicing the character Yuko. On September 30, 2012, she received the Citizens Cultural Award of Kasuga City. On February 10, 2016, she released the first single from her tenth album, Ren'dez-vous, which was used in the Japanese drama Love That Makes You Cry and topped the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart.
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