Angela Aki

Angela Aki (アンジェラ・アキ Anjera Aki), born on 15 September 1977 in Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku, Japan, to a Japanese father and an Italian-American mother, is a Japanese singer-songwriter. Her former Japanese real name is 安芸 アンジェラ (Aki Angela). She was born Aki Kiyomi (安芸聖世美) Angela Aki is completely bilingual in 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 indies album in the United States in 2000, called These Words, which received much critical acclaim. In 2005 in Japan, she released an indies mini-album under Virgo Music entitled ONE, which is what alerted Nobuo Uematsu to her music. Angela Aki is now signed under Sony Japan. In 2005 she was announced as the singer of the Final Fantasy XII theme song, "Kiss Me Good-Bye". 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 her own version of "Eyes On Me", the theme song of Final Fantasy VIII, unaccompanied, with only the piano and her voice.