Tokyo born
Akiko (Japanese: あきこ) started playing piano at age of 4. She started to listen to
rock /
punk music, when she was a junior high school student, & then began to take her interest in various kinds of music, including
70s disco music,
60s oldies,
50s rock +
country and western. Above all those music, she was especially inspired by old black music like
jive,
jump blues &
doo wop. At age of 18, she happened to listen to
Sarah Vaughan &
Ella Fitzgerald - thus, discovering
jazz. Afterward, she started to sing as a professional at Jazz Club in Tokyo, when she was a un…
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