Miki Matsubara

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Miki Matsubara was born in 1959 in Kishiwada, Osaka, the daughter of a jazz singer. She learned to play piano at the age of three and became interested in rock as a teenager. In 1977, at seventeen, she went alone to Tokyo to become a singer. There she was discovered by the pianist Yuzuru Sera, who saw her playing in clubs such as Birdland in Roppongi.

Music and breakthrough

In 1979 her debut single Mayonaka no Door (Stay With Me) was released. It was an immediate hit and reached number twenty-eight on the Oricon chart. Other well-known songs were Neat na gogo san-ji, which was heard in a Shiseido advertisement, and The Winner. For the albums ―CUPID― (1981) and Myself (1982) she worked in Los Angeles with the fusion group Dr. Strut, who accompanied her. Later she also made a jazz album, Blue Eyes, with, among others, Love for Sale and You've Got a Friend. Matsubara had a mezzo-soprano voice.

Influence

In 2000 she stopped making music after being diagnosed with cancer, and she died in 2004 at the age of 44. Since 2020, Mayonaka no Door has become popular worldwide via TikTok and the revival of city pop. City pop is smooth Japanese pop music with jazz, funk and soul. In this way the singer, who during her lifetime was known mainly in Japan, found a new audience.

Listening

• 
  Mayonaka no Door (Stay With Me) · Miki Matsubara, 1979
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1980POCKET PARK
• 1980Who Are You?
• 1981―CUPID―
• 1982Myself
• 1982彩
• 1983Revue
• 1984BLUE EYES
• 1984Cool Cut
• 1985LADY BOUNCE
• 1988WiNK