Yoko Blaqstone | |
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Also known as |
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Origin | Osaka Prefecture, Japan |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, record producer, lecturer, entrepreneur |
Years active | 1997–present |
Labels |
Yoko Ishiguro, known professionally as Yoko Blaqstone, is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, lecturer, and the owner of Japanese independent record label Piza Studio. Based in Osaka, Japan, she has worked with a range of popular Japanese artists, including Mai Kuraki, Zard and Yumi Shizukusa. Ishiguro signed with Styling Records in 1997 and released her first extended play 's All Right (1997), which has sold approximately 15,000 copies nationwide.
In 1997, Ishiguro signed with an independent record label Styling Records and released her first extended play 's All Right under the stage name Yoko Black. Stone. The extended play has sold more than 15,000 copies, attracting a big attention from the audience especially in Osaka, Japan.
In 1998, she released the lead single from her second extended play Long Fore-Play, "No Need 2 Worry". [1] Ishiguro signed with a major label Giza Studio in 1999, and released "'s All Right" as the lead single from her first compilation album, The One About Me. The single peaked at number 74 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. [2]
In 1999, Japanese singer-songwriter Mai Kuraki covered Ishiguro's song "Baby I Like" and released it as her debut single in American market. [3]
After launching a career in Japan with "Love, Day After Tomorrow", Kuraki became one of the most successful singers in Japan in 2000's. Ishiguro wrote three songs for her debut album Delicious Way , which sold over 3,500,000 copies nationwide. After the success as a songwriter, Ishiguro started to launch the career as a songwriter for the artists including Zard, Yumi Shizukusa and Garnet Crow.
In 2005, Ishiguro released her first studio album Back to My Base [4] under the name Yoko Blaqstone. This was her first release in six years, and remains as her last release as of June, 2020.
In 2014, she founded an independent record label Piza Studio and produced the debut extended play by Jam Flavor. [5]
Title | Album details |
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Back to My Base |
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Title | Album details |
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The One About Me |
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Title | Album details |
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's All Right |
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Long Fore-Play |
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Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
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JPN | |||
"'s All Right" | 1998 | — | 's All Right |
"No Need 2 Worry" | — | The One About Me | |
"Calling U" | — | 's All Right | |
"'s All Right" (1999 re-release) | 1999 | 73 | The One About Me |
Title | Year | Album | Artist(s) |
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"Baby I Like" | 1999 | Secret of My Heart | Mai Kuraki |
"'s All Right | |||
"Stepping ∞ Out" | 2000 | Delicious Way | |
"Baby Tonight (You and Me)" | |||
"Can't Get Enough (Gimme Your Love)" | |||
"Get U're Dream" (Third version) | Non-album song | Zard | |
"Think About" | Perfect Crime | Mai Kuraki | |
Mai Kuraki is a Japanese pop and R&B singer-songwriter and record producer. After releasing her US debut single "Baby I Like" in 1999, Kuraki signed with Giza Studio and released her Japanese debut single "Love, Day After Tomorrow" in 1999. In 2000, she released her debut album, Delicious Way, which debuted at number-one and sold over 2.2 million copies in its first week. The album has spawned four top-three singles, "Love, Day After Tomorrow", "Stay by My Side", "Secret of My Heart", and "Never Gonna Give You Up". Eventually, the album sold over 3.5 million copies nationwide and became the best-selling album in Japan in 2000, and has been the ninth best-selling album in Japan of all-time.
Makenaide is the 6th single by Zard released on 27 January 1993 under B-Gram Records label.
Delicious Way is the debut album by Japanese recording artist Mai Kuraki. It was released by Giza Studio and Giza Inc. in Japan on June 28, 2000. The album was entirely co-written by Kuraki herself, with the help of Michael Africk and Yoko Blaqstone in some tracks, while production was handled by Kanonji. The album's background and development started in mid-to-late 1999 after her American debut single "Baby I Like", where East West Records and Giza Studio sent her back to Japan. To promote the album, four singles were released; "Love, Day After Tomorrow", "Stay by My Side", "Secret of My Heart", and "Never Gonna Give You Up".
"Stand Up" is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Mai Kuraki from her second studio album, Perfect Crime (2001). It was released as the third single from the album on April 18, 2001. The lyrics to the song were penned by Kuraki and the track was produced by Akihito Tokunaga. The single peaked at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). It has sold about 476,000 copies in Japan as of October 2014. The single's jacket image was compared to that of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run (1975).
All My Best is the second greatest hits album by Japanese pop and R&B singer-songwriter, Mai Kuraki. It was released on September 9, 2009, to commemorate her tenth anniversary in the music business. The album was issued in seven formats: a regular 2CD, a limited 2CD+DVD, a limited microSD, a USB flash drive, a MiniDisc, a compact cassette and an LP album. The album debuted at the top of the Japanese Oricon weekly album chart with sales over 137,050.
Future Kiss is the ninth studio album by Japanese singer and songwriter Mai Kuraki. It was released on 17 November 2010, by Northern Music. The album was originally scheduled to be released on 20 October 2010; however, it was pushed back to 17 November 2010.
Yumi Shizukusa is a former Japanese singer, songwriter and artist. Born and raised in Kagoshima, she relocated to Osaka in 2002 after winning the Super Starlight Audition and signing a recording contract with Being. In July 2002, Shizukusa appeared in the compilation album Giza Studio Mai-k & Friends Hotrod Beach Party alongside the other Being artists including Mai Kuraki, Rina Aiuchi, and Yuri Nakamura. Her breakthrough came in early 2003 after appearing Day Track's song "Don't Say Don't Love", which topped the Usen chart.
"Fushigi ne... (不思議ね…)" is the 2nd single by Zard and released 25 June 1991 under B-Gram Records label. The single debuted at #30 rank first week. It charted for 5 weeks and sold over 31,000 copies.
"Get U're Dream" is the 32nd single by Japanese band Zard and released September 6, 2000 under the B-Gram Records label. The composer of Get U're Dream, Aika Ohno self-cover this single in her cover album Silent Passage.
"Sunao ni Ienakute (素直に言えなくて)" is the 45th single by Japanese band Zard. It was released 27 May 2009 under B-Gram Records label.
"Try Again" is a song by Japanese singer songwriter Mai Kuraki, taken from her third compilation album Mai Kuraki Best 151A: Love & Hope (2014). It was released on 6 February 2013 by Northern Music. The song was written by Kuraki herself and her long-time collaborator Akihito Tokunaga.
Smile is the eleventh studio album by Japanese singer and songwriter Mai Kuraki. The album was released on February 15, 2017, by Northern Music. It is the follow-up to her 2014 compilation album, Mai Kuraki Best 151A: Love & Hope. The album was released on three editions: standard edition, fan club edition, and limited edition, which is accompanied with a bonus disc. Smile
Yuri Nakamura is a Japanese musical composer and singer under Giza Studio label. In years 1999-2013 she was a vocalist and composer of Japanese pop band Garnet Crow.
Secret of My Heart is the first English-language studio album by Japanese recording artist Mai Kuraki, under the name Mai-K. It was released on January 10, 2002 under Giza USA. Secret of My Heart consists of two songs from the lead single "Baby I Like" and English versions of 8 songs from her debut album Delicious Way, which sold over 3.5 million copies in Japan. However, her fourth Japanese single "Never Gonna Give You Up" is included as the original version.
The Hit Parade is the covers album by Tak Matsumoto in conjunction with several guest artists. It was released on 26 November 2003 through Vermillion Records.
Let's Goal!: Barairo no Jinsei is the twelfth studio album by Japanese singer and songwriter Mai Kuraki. The album was released on August 14, 2019, by Northern Music. It is the follow-up to her 2018 album Kimi Omou: Shunkashūtō. The album was released on standard edition, fan club edition, and five limited editions, each of which includes lyric book of different designs. Let's Goal!: Barairo no Jinsei is a J-pop album, incorporating elements of R&B, rock, electropop and many other genres.
Daiko Nagato is a Japanese musical producer, musical arranger, writer and composer. He's more known as a founder of music company Being Inc., which provided million seller hits during the 1990s and with his music company provided more than 80 theme songs for anime television series Detective Conan. He was the charge recording producer for the following artist such as Boøwy, Loudness, TUBE, B'z, ZARD, WANDS, Maki Ohguro, DEEN, T-BOLAN, Mai Kuraki, Garnet Crow and Rina Aiuchi.
Mai Kuraki Single Collection: Chance for You is the fifth compilation album and first single collection by Japanese singer-songwriter Mai Kuraki. It was released on 25 December 2019 by Northern Music, in commemoration of Kuraki's 20th anniversary since her debut. The album features all the singles and some promotional singles Kuraki has released, since her debut "Love, Day After Tomorrow" (2000) to "Kimi to Koi no Mama de Owarenai Itsumo Yume no Mama ja Irarenai"/"Barairo no Jinsei" (2019). The four-disc single collection was mastered by the Grammy-nominated/winning engineers, Ryan Smith, Chris Gehringer, Randy Merrill, Joe LaPorta, and Ted Jensen.
Japanese singer-songwriter Mai Kuraki has released twenty-five video albums and three video singles, and been featured in sixty-six music videos, two television series, and eleven commercials. Kuraki debuted in 1999, while she was still in high school, through Giza Studio. The label initially marketed Kuraki in the United States under the name Mai K, and released the single "Baby I Like" (1999). However, the single was a commercial failure which prompted the label to send her back to Japan. There, they released her single "Love, Day After Tomorrow", which peaked at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified million by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAJ). The second single, "Stay by My Side" became her first number one single on the chart. Kuraki's debut album, Delicious Way, topped the Oricon Albums Chart and was certified triple million by the RIAJ.
Unconditional Love is the thirteenth studio album by Japanese singer and songwriter Mai Kuraki. The album was released on October 27, 2021, by Northern Music. It is the follow-up to her 2018 album Let's Goal!: Barairo no Jinsei. The album was released in four versions: standard edition, fan club edition, and two limited editions.