Biography
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Born
13 January 1988
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Born In
Tokyo, Japan
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Died
16 February 2023 (aged 35)
Maon Kurosaki (黒崎 真音 Kurosaki Maon, January 13, 1988 - February 16, 2023) is a female Japanese singer-songwriter from Tokyo signed to Geneon Universal Entertainment.
Maon Kurosaki began her singing career in Akihabara at the performance venue and bar Dear Stage, where she had been singing since at least January 2008. Music producer Akihiro Tomita noticed her singing talent, and he subsequently became her producer when she made her major debut signed to Geneon Universal Entertainment. Kurosaki first announced her major debut to her fans in January 2010. Her first music release was her debut album H.O.T.D. on September 22, 2010, which contains the ending theme songs used in the 2010 anime series Highschool of the Dead. To commemorate the album and the broadcast of the anime, she performed songs from the album once a week at Deer Stage from July 7 to September 22, 2010. Another event to commemorate the album was held at Animate in Yokohama on October 16, 2010.
Her debut single "Magic∞World" was released on November 24, 2010, and she performed at Deer Stage on that day to commemorate the release. Kurosaki's second single "Memories Last" (メモリーズ・ラスト?) was released on March 2, 2011. Both "Magic∞World" and "Memories Last" were used as ending theme songs to the 2010 anime series Toaru Majutsu no Index II. Kurosaki had her first solo live event called "Maon Kurosaki Live 2011 Spring: Memories First" on March 4–5, 2011 in Harajuku. She made her North American debut at Anime Expo 2011 in Los Angeles, California where she performed on July 1 and July 3. She released the mini-album Goshiki Uta: Immortal Lovers on August 10, 2011, which contains the ending theme songs used in the 2011 original video animation series Hakuōki Sekkaroku. She made her first appearance at the 2011 Animelo Summer Live on August 28. Kurosaki released her second studio album Butterfly Effect on November 30, 2011. In 2011, Kurosaki formed the band Altima with Move's Mototaka "Motsu" Segawa and fripSide's Satoshi "Sat" Yaginuma. Kurosaki released three more singles in 2012: "Hell:ium" on May 9, "Reimei" (黎鳴?) on August 8, and "Under / Shaft" on October 17. "Reimei" is used as the opening theme for the 2012 Hakuōki Reimeiroku anime series, and "Under / Shaft" is used as the opening theme for the 2012 Jormungand: Perfect Order anime series.
Before she had her major debut, Kurosaki posed as a gravure model for the cover of Yūsaku Kitano's novel Maid Road Reload sold on April 26, 2010 by ASCII Media Works under their Media Works Bunko imprint. Kurosaki has been a regular host for the Thursday broadcast of the radio program A&G Artist Zone 2h since October 7, 2010.
Kurosaki's music was influenced by her love of anime and lolita fashion. Her songs have been featured in various anime series such as Jormungand, Tokyo Ravens, and The Fruit of Grisaia. She collaborated with artists such as Mami Kawada, Kotoko, and Trustrick for her music releases. She performed twice at Anime Expo 2011 in Los Angeles, California, and was a regular performer at Japanese anime events such as LisAni, Animelo Summer Live, and Animax Musix. She also appeared at Anime Festival Asia, Bangkok Comic Con, and CharaExpo. From 2011 to 2016, she was singer of the synthpop band Altima, together with Motsu of the band Move.
She died on February 16, 2023 following a period of declining health, after being diagnosed with an epidural hematoma in 2021.
On September 22, 2023, the day Kurosaki had debuted, a memorial event had been held with the name Maon Kurosaki Memorial Days Event "Future & Past", at Shirokane Takanawa Selene.
On September 30, 2023, a crowdfunding project was launched by Art One Entertainment to finish the documentary Maon Kurosaki: The Movie "If You Become Me That Day", which was scheduled to be released in Q2 2023, but was left in a state of uncertainty after Kurosaki's death. The documentary was aiming to follow the artist's path from the collapse in 2021, to the reemergence with the live event in July 31, 2022. To provide an insight into the film, a trailer was also released with the crowdfunding announcement, which was originally suggested by Kurosaki herself during a production meeting for the documentary.
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