About 浅川マキ

浅川マキ (Maki Asakawa, born January 27, 1942 in Mikawa, Ishikawa, Japan, died in January 17, 2010 in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan) was a Japanese female jazz and blues singer, lyricist and composer. Born in Mikawa, Ishikawa Prefecture (now Hakusan), after graduating high school she worked as a civil servant for a short time before moving to Tokyo. Particularly influenced by the styles of Mahalia Jackson and Billie Holiday, she began her career singing at US Army bases and at cabarets. Asakawa made her debut recording, "Tokyo Banka/Amen Jiro" with Victor in 1967. After appearing in a series of concerts organized by underground playwright Shuji Terayama in 1968, she signed with Toshiba, presently EMI Music Japan, and released the popular songs, "Yo ga Aketara" and "Kamome" in 1969. Her debut album, "Asakawa Maki no Sekai", was released in 1970. In addition to writing and composing, she also released cover versions of US traditional folk and blues, translated to Japanese, such as "Asahi no ataru ie (朝日のあたる家)" (The House of the Rising Sun). She became popular in the 1970s and had made more than 30 releases by the end of the 1990s, after which she was mostly known for performing live. Asakawa collaborated with musicians such as Yosuke Yamashita and Ryuichi Sakamoto. She continued performing live until the time of her death. Scheduled to perform in Nagoya January 15-17, 2010, she died before her show on the 17th, at the age of 67, of heart failure.