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Mariya Takeuchi竹内 まりや
Background information
Birth name	Takeuchi Mariya
Also known as	Miyabi, MAKO (as a lyricist)
Born	(1955-03-20) 20 March 1955 (age 69) Kizukiminami, Taisha-machi, Hikawa-gun (Current: Izumo-shi), Shimane Prefecture, Japan
Genres	J-pop Kayōkyoku city pop funk soul disco
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, record producer
Years active	1978–present
Labels	RCA (1978–1982) Alfa Moon (1984–1987) Moon / MMG (1987–1993) Moon / East/West Japan (1994–1997) Moon / Warner Music Japan (1998–present)
Spouse	Tatsuro Yamashita ​(m. 1982)​
Children	1
Website	mariyat.co.jp
Signature

Mariya Takeuchi (竹内 まりや, Takeuchi Mariya, born 20 March 1955) is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Regarded as an influential figure in the city pop genre, she is one of the best-selling music artists in Japan, having sold over 16 million records, and has received several accolades. Her husband is Tatsuro Yamashita, a singer-songwriter and record producer.

Takeuchi was born in Taisha, Hikawa district, now the city of Izumo, Shimane, and attended Keio University. She made her singing debut after signing with the RCA record label in 1978, with whom she released her debut album Beginning [ja], which peaked at No. 17 on Oricon Charts. She then released four albums between 1979 and 1981, all of which obtained commercial success, including the 1980 album Love Songs [ja], which became her first work to peak at No. 1 on Oricon Charts. Takeuchi then announced she would go on a temporary hiatus in 1981, terminating her contract with RCA records. Three years later, Takeuchi and her husband Tatsuro Yamashita signed with Moon Records, and she made her comeback with her sixth studio album Variety in 1984, which was released internationally and shot her to mainstream success, and peaked at No. 1 on Oricon Charts. The track "Plastic Love" was released in 1985 as a single, and became a surprise hit outside of Japan in 2017, after a YouTube upload of the song went viral. The song has since attained a cult following and is seen as the staple in a revival of interest in city pop in the late 2010s.

Following the success of her ventures throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, Takeuchi began releasing albums less frequently, her latest release being in 2014 as she shifted her focus to work and releasing standalone singles. Since 1981, every single she has released has charted on the Oricon Charts. She has stayed with the Moon record label, working with the different branches since signing in 1984 and since 1998 has been signed with Warner Music Japan, with whom she released the single "Inochi no Uta" (いのちの歌, Song of Life) in 2012, for which she re-recorded in 2020; the latter of which charted at No. 1 on Oricon Charts, making her the oldest Japanese singer to achieve a No. 1 single.

Early life

Takeuchi was born in Taisha in the Hikawa district of Shimane Prefecture in Japan. She grew up in the family Shinise Ryokan (Japanese long-established inn) business by the name of Takenoya, that her paternal great grandfather Shigezo Takeuchi (竹内繁蔵) founded in 1877. Her family always played records from all over the world. She had already learned to play piano and guitar by third grade, but the Beatles left an impression that inspired her to travel.

In 1972, for her third year of high school, she studied in Rock Falls, Illinois, United States, as an international exchange student through the AFS Intercultural Programs. Her nickname was Mako, as one of the AFS yearbooks has a caption that reads Mariya "Mako" Takeuchi. She entered the Japanese Keio University in 1974, majoring in English literature and won a nationwide English recitation contest by The Japan Times in the spring of that year. She married fellow musician Tatsuro Yamashita in April 1982. They have one daughter.

Career

Takeuchi joined the music club of her university and there she was invited to participate in Masamichi Sugi (杉真理)'s recordings and in March 1978 so-called the omnibus album Loft Sessions (ロフト・セッションズ) recordings. In August that year she signed up with the RCA recording label, and in November her debut single "Modotte oide, Watashi no Jikan" (戻っておいで・私の時間, Please come back, my time), and her debut album Beginning [ja] were released. The 1979 singles "Dream of You: Lemon Lime no Aoi Kaze" (ドリーム・オブ・ユー〜レモンライムの青い風〜, Dream of You: Blue Breeze of Lemon Lime) and "September" [ja] were hits, and with that she won the 1979 Japan Record Awards, Tokyo Music Festival, Japan Music Awards, Shinjuku Music Festival, and Ginza Music Festival best new artist awards as a singer. The 1980 single "Fushigi na Peach Pie" (不思議なピーチパイ, Mysterious Peach Pie) was also another hit. Takeuchi has had one song "Apple Papple Princess" (アップル・パップル・プリンセス) (1981) that appear on the NHK program Minna no Uta.

From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, she recorded five albums and several singles. Those recordings featured dozens of prominent Japanese and North American songwriters, instrumentalists and producers, including Kazuhiko Katō, Tetsuji Hayashi, Shigeru Suzuki, Masamichi Sugi, Takashi Matsumoto, Al Capps, Peter Allen, David Lasley, Alan O'Day, David Foster, Jim Keltner, Jay Graydon, Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate, and a fellow RCA artist and her future partner and husband, Tatsuro Yamashita. One of her songs from the 1980 album Miss M (Miss M), "Heart to Heart" (music by Roger Nichols), was given English lyrics and a new title, "Now". It was recorded by the Carpenters, released in 1983, and was the last recording by Karen Carpenter before her death. At the end of 1981, after the release of her fifth album Portrait (PORTRAIT), she announced she was going to take a break for a while and paused holding concerts and new releases, and got married six months later. While taking a break she continued composing for numerous different idols and singers such as Naoko Kawai, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Yukiko Okada, Akina Nakamori, Miho Nakayama, Hiromi Iwasaki, Masahiko Kondo, among many others.

Several of these songs scored top-ten on the Oricon, such as "Kenka wo Yamete" (けんかをやめて, Stop the Fighting) and "Invitation" [ja] performed by Naoko Kawai, "Dreaming Girl: Koi, Hajimemashite" (-Dreaming Girl- 恋、はじめまして, Dreaming Girl: Love, Nice to Meet You) performed by Yukiko Okada, and "Iro: White Blend" (色・ホワイトブレンド, Color: White Blend) performed by Miho Nakayama. Takeuchi has often re-recorded those songs for her own album. "Eki" (駅, Station), a song originally written for the album by Akina Nakamori, became known by the composer's recorded version, and had been covered by many artists. "Genki wo Dashite", a song first recorded by Hiroko Yakushimaru, is recognized as one of Takeuchi's notable compositions. The song was later covered by Hitomi Shimatani in 2003, and became a moderate hit.

Since her return to the Japanese music industry in 1984, she has recorded seven successful studio albums that mainly consist of her self-written songs, and all of them had reached No. 1 on the Japanese Oricon chart. As a singer-songwriter, she has produced eight top-ten hit singles on the Oricon chart, including "Single Again" (シングル・アゲイン), "Kokuhaku" (告白, Confession), "Junai Rhapsody" (純愛ラプソディ, Pure Love Rhapsody), "Kon'ya wa Hearty Party" (今夜はHearty Party, Hearty Party Tonight), and her only No. 1 hit "Camouflage" (カムフラージュ). In addition to her work as a performer, she has continued writing songs and lyrics for other singers, including Ryōko Hirosue, Takako Matsu, Riho Makise, Seiko Matsuda, Masayuki Suzuki and Tackey & Tsubasa.

Several of these songs scored top-ten on the Oricon, such as "Maji de Koi suru 5 byō mae" (MajiでKoiする5秒前, 5 Seconds Before I Fall in Love Seriously) performed by Ryōko Hirosue, "Miracle Love" performed by Riho Makise, "Minna Hitori" (みんなひとり, Everybody is Alone) performed by Takako Matsu, and "Minna no Happy Birthday" (みんなのハッピーバースデイ, Everyone's Happy Birthday) performed by Mana Ashida.

Up to September 2014, Takeuchi had released 12 studio albums, 42 singles, several compilations and a live album which was recorded in 2000. Her total sales have been estimated at more than 16 million units by 2009. Her 1994 compilation, Impressions, sold more than 3 million copies in Japan alone, and became her best-selling album. In addition to her musical career, she has also managed her family's Ryokan Takenoya since May 2018 "until the next generation can take over".

Outside of Japan, she is best known for the city pop song "Plastic Love" from her number-one album Variety (1984). At the time of the song's release, Takeuchi had not considered attempting to release her music in the Western world, stating in a 2018 interview, "Considering that was mostly performed in Japanese, we figured it would be impossible to go abroad." The song went viral after it was uploaded to YouTube during the mid-late 2010s. Popularized overseas via the vaporwave and future funk scenes, the song has received more than 67 million views on YouTube as of June 2021. It has received critical acclaim, with Noisey calling it "the best pop song in the world" and Gorillaz calling it "a wonder woman slab of Japanese funk". K-pop singer Yubin's "City Love" is also based on this song. The Blessed Madonna closed a Resident Advisor November 2017 mix with a rendition of this song as well. Chai released a cover of the song in 2020. "Plastic Love" has also inspired numerous fan art and videos. On 17 May 2019, Warner Music Japan released on YouTube a short version of a music video for the song, 35 years after its initial release. A longer, five minute version was subsequently released on 11 November 2021.

In 2021, Takeuchi formed a new duo called Peach & Apricot with Anri, a Japanese pop singer-songwriter. "Peach" refers to Takeuchi 's popular hit "Fushigi na Peach Pie" (不思議なピーチパイ, Mysterious Peach Pie), while "Apricot" comes from Anri’s debut album title Apricot Jam. On November 3, 2021, they released their first song together, "Watching Over You". The lyrics were written by Takeuchi, while the music was composed and arranged by Tetsuji Hayashi. The song marks the first collaboration between Hayashi and Takeuchi in 40 years since "Ichigo no Yuuwaku", and Hayashi's first with Anri in 38 years since "You Are Not Alone".

Controversy

Kiyoshi Matsuo [ja], a Japanese record producer, who had mentioned Johnny Kitagawa's sexual harassment allegations in various media, had his management contract terminated in the middle of the period by Smile Company [ja], to which he had belonged. He stated that Takeuchi and her husband Tatsuro Yamashita, who also belong to the company, agreed with the company's policy.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Singles

Songs written for other singers

References

1. ^ "竹内まりや Official Web Site : PROFILE". mariyat.co.jp. Smile Company Ltd. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
2. ^ "Mariya Takeuchi: The pop genius behind 2018's surprise online smash hit from Japan". Japan Times. 17 November 2018. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
3. "Takeuchi yearbook photos from 1973– via Imgur". Imgur. 17 August 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
4. "竹内まりや、『ダンボ』日本版エンドソング担当 山下達郎もコーラスで参加". Oricon. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
5. ^ "アーティスト詳細 – 竹内まりや". tower.jp. Tower. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
6. Hitoshi, Kurimoto (30 January 2019). "A Guide to City Pop, the Soundtrack for Japan's Bubble-Era Generation". nippon.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
7. "竹内まりや、11年ぶりTV番組出演 音楽制作現場を初公開". ORICON NEWS (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 March 2019.
8. "Japanese West Coast Music Releases (List of the Japanese albums recorded by West Coast studio musicians in the 1980s)". Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
9. ^ "List of Mariya Takeuchi compositions for other performers (1984–1995)". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
10. ^ Yamachan Land | Album Chart Daijiten | Mariya Takeuchi (Archives of the chart positions and sales of the albums) Archived 19 June 2007 at archive.today
11. Yamachan Land | Single Chart Daijiten | Mariya Takeuchi (Archives of the chart positions and sales of the singles) Archived 15 October 2007 at archive.today
12. Redacción EC (25 August 2018). "YouTube: 'Plastic Love', la canción japonesa que superó las 17 millones de reproducciones y está 'hechizando' a todos los usuarios que la escuchan". El Comercio (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
13. Markowitz, Douglas (10 October 2018). "5 Vaporwave and Future Funk Tracks to Get You Ready for YUNG BAE". Phoenix New Times. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
14. "An 80s Japanese Track Is the Best Pop Song in the World". Noisey. 13 June 2018. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
15. "Gorillaz to premiere new album at Tokyo show". Japan Times. 14 June 2018. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
16. "Yubin cancels release of new song amid plagiarism dispute". Yonhap News Agency. 7 June 2018. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
17. "CHAI Cover Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love"". Pitchfork. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
18. Dennison, Kara (18 May 2019). "City Pop Hit 'Plastic Love' Gets a Music Video After 35 Years". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
19. "Peach&Apricot - Watching Over You". YouTube. 10 April 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
20. "相葉雅紀主演ドラマ『和田家の男たち』主題歌を手掛ける謎のユニット・Peach＆Apricotの正体は竹内まりや×杏里". SPICE (in Japanese). 3 November 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
21. "音楽プロデューサー松尾潔氏がジャニーズ〝性加害〟言及で契約終了 山下達郎も同意" [Record Producer Kiyoshi Matsuo's contract with Johnny's was terminated due to references to "sexual assault," and Tatsuro Yamashita agreed.]. Tokyo Sports Web (in Japanese). Tokyo Sports. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
22. Kurosaki, Satoshi (2 July 2023). "ジャニーズ批判で事務所クビ、山下達郎氏に飛び火のワケ" [Why a record producer was fired from his office for criticizing Johnny's, and why Tatsuro Yamashita was involved in the incident.]. Dairy Cyzo (in Japanese). Cyzo [ja]. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
23. Takizawa, Bunna; Hiraoka, Haruto (6 July 2023). "ジャニーズ問題で発言 松尾潔さん、達郎さん所属の事務所と契約解除" [Kiyoshi Matsuo, who spoke out on the Johnny's issue, was terminated from his contract with Tatsuro's office.]. The Asahi Shimbun Digital [ja] (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun Company. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
24. ^ "竹内まりや". oricon.jp. Oricon. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
25. "Japanese album certifications – Takeuchi Mariya – Quiet Life" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 1993年1月 on the drop-down menu
26. "Japanese album certifications – Takeuchi Mariya – Souvenir" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2000年11月 on the drop-down menu
27. "Japanese album certifications – Takeuchi Mariya – Bon Appetit!" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2001年08月 on the drop-down menu
28. "Japanese album certifications – Takeuchi Mariya – Longtime Favorites" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2003年10月 on the drop-down menu
29. "Japanese album certifications – Takeuchi Mariya – Denim" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2007年06月 on the drop-down menu
30. "Japanese album certifications – Takeuchi Mariya – Trad" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2014年09月 on the drop-down menu
31. オリコン週間 アルバムランキング 2024年10月21日～2024年10月27日 [Oricon Weekly Album Ranking October 21, 2024 – October 27, 2024] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
32. "Japanese album certifications – Takeuchi Mariya – Impressions" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 1995年02月 on the drop-down menu
33. "Japanese album certifications – Takeuchi Mariya – Expressions" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2013年05月 on the drop-down menu
34. 週間 CDアルバムランキング 2019年09月23日付 [Weekly CD Album Ranking on September 23, 2019] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
35. "Japanese album certifications – Takeuchi Mariya – Turntable" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2019年09月 on the drop-down menu
36. 岡田有希子さん×竹内まりやコンピ盤10・16発売「心から嬉しく思います」

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Mariya Takeuchi discography at Discogs
• Warner Music Japan | Mariya Takeuchi (Japanese)
• History of Takeuchi family on the Takenoya roykan site

• 1955 births
• Living people
• 20th-century Japanese women singers
• 20th-century Japanese singers
• 21st-century Japanese women singers
• 21st-century Japanese singer-songwriters
• Keio University alumni
• Japanese women pop singers
• Japanese women singer-songwriters
• Singers from Shimane Prefecture
• Japanese disco musicians
• English-language singers from Japan
• People from Izumo, Shimane