Angela Aki

Angela Aki
Birth name	Kiyomi Aki 安芸 聖世美
Also known as	Angie, Lina
Born	September 15, 1977 (1977-09-15) (age 31)
Origin	Itano, Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku, Japan
Genre(s)	J-pop
Years active	2000–present
Label(s)	Sony Music Japan, Tofu Records
Website	Official site (Japanese) Tofu Records: Angela Aki (English)

In this Japanese name, the family name is Aki.

Angela Aki (アンジェラ・アキ, Anjera Aki^?), born on September 15, 1977, in Itano, Tokushima Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan, to a Japanese father and an Italian-American mother^[1], is a Japanese singer-songwriter. Her birth name was Kiyomi Aki (安芸 聖世美 Aki Kiyomi).

Angela Aki speaks English and Japanese as she was raised in Japan, but moved to Hawaii at the age of fifteen where she graduated from 'Iolani School. From there she moved on to George Washington University where she graduated with majors in politics and music.

She originally released an indie album in the United States in 2000, called These Words, which received much critical acclaim. In 2002, she composed two tracks for "Let It Fall" by Dianne Eclar, a teenage pop singer from the Philippines. In 2005, in Japan, she released an indie mini-album under Virgo Music entitled One, which alerted Nobuo Uematsu to her music. Angela Aki is now signed under Sony Japan. In 2006, she sang the theme song for Final Fantasy XII, "Kiss Me Good-Bye".

She is good friends with JPOP star Yuna Ito. Both singers attended the same Japanese language school.

Angela Aki is the daughter of Kiyoshi Aki, the owner and co-founder of AEON Institute of Language Education. This is one of the "Big Four" Eikaiwa (English conversation) schools in Japan.

Reaching an English audience

In May 2006, Angela signed with Tofu Records in order to release English singles and albums. Her first release with Tofu was releasing "Kiss Me Good-Bye" as a digital single in the USA, with a slightly altered track list. Later that month she performed the Final Fantasy XII theme song, "Kiss Me Good-Bye" at the premiere PLAY! A Video Game Symphony concert in Chicago on May 27, 2006. With orchestral backup, she played piano and sang the English lyrics, which she had written herself. She also performed a cover version of "Eyes On Me", the theme song of Final Fantasy VIII, with a piano accompaniment.