Miki Matsubara

Miki Matsubara (松原 みき, Matsubara Miki) (November 28, 1959 – October 7, 2004) was a Japanese composer, lyricist, and singer from Nishi-ku, Sakai, Osaka, Japan.

In this Japanese name, the surname is Matsubara.

Miki Matsubara
松原 みき
Born(1959-11-28)November 28, 1959[1]
Kishiwada, Osaka, Japan[1]
DiedOctober 7, 2004(2004-10-07) (aged 44)[1]
Sakai, Osaka, Japan
Other namesSuzie Matsubara (スージー・松原)
OccupationSinger, composer, lyricist
Years active1979-2001
Height1.58 m (5 ft 2 in)
Spouse(s)Masaki Honjo
Musical career
GenresJapanese pop, city pop
Years active1979 – 2001[1]
LabelsPony Canyon

Early life

Matsubara was born November 28, 1959 in Kishiwada, Osaka [2] in Japan. She grew up in Hiraoka Town, Nishi-ku, Sakai, Osaka, where she spent her childhood.

She grew up in a family of four, including a father, a mother and a younger sister. Her father was a board member of a hospital[3] and her mother was a jazz singer who had sung with the Japanese jazz band and comedy group Crazy Cats. Matsubara started learning the piano at the age of three and later became familiar with jazz. As a child, she went to Sakai city's Hiraoka Elementary School and then in 1972, entered Poole Gakuin Junior High School. Around this time Matsubara became interested in rock music and joined the rock band "Kurei". In 1975 she started in Poole Gakuin High School and became active as a keyboard player of the band "Yoshinoya Band". They would play songs at a live house called Takutaku located in Kyoto. Matsubara was described as an excellent student and was expected by many around her to attend college, but at that time she had already made plans to pursue her dream of becoming a singer.[4] In 1977, when she was still in high school, Matsubara went to Tokyo alone at the age of 17 to make her debut as a singer. The Japanese pianist Yuzuru Sera found her playing music and singing in various places in Kantō such as in the live music venue Birdland located in Roppongi, Tokyo.[5]

Career

Matsubara started her career in 1979 and is known from hit songs such as her debut and immediate breakthrough "Mayonaka no Door (真夜中のドア) / Stay with me" which has been covered by numerous artists,[6][7][8][9] including Akina Nakamori.[10] The song was ranked 28th on the Oricon Chart,[11] and according to that chart sold 104,000 copies and 300,000 copies announced by Canyon records. Some of her other known songs were "Neat na gogo san-ji (ニートな午後3時)" and "The Winner" among others.

After the release of the song "Neat na gogo san-ji" Matsubara became a well-known singer during that time. She was offered by many to perfom in college festivals, concerts and so on. The song even gained a feature in a commercial of the famous Japanese multinational personal care company Shiseido, only less than two years after her debut.[12]

Miki Matsubara received a number of best new artist awards.[1] Amidst her career, she formed her own band called Dr. Woo.[13] Matsubara also had some international work with Motown jazz fusion group Dr. Strut in Los Angeles (becoming a backing band in the album recordings for "Cupid" and "Myself"), Tokyo and Osaka (Hall concerts), later releasing a jazz cover album entitled "BLUE EYES". In that album she covered some famous jazz songs like "Love for sale", she also covered the soft rock song "You've Got A Friend" originally written and sung by Carole King. [14]

Her vocal range was that of a mezzo-soprano.

During her music career she released 8 singles, and 12 albums. Despite her work being mainly domestic, outside of Japan she was also known for her work as an anime singer and songwriter, singing the opening and ending songs to anime such as Dirty Pair: Project Eden, although recently with the popularization of city pop her other work has gained overseas fans as well.[15] While singing theme songs for the anime Gu Gu Ganmo, she performed under the name Suzie Matsubara (スージー・松原). Matsubara's song "THE WINNER" was used as the opening for the Gundam OVA-series Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory.

From the 1990s forwards she especially worked on anime soundtracks and music for commercials.[16][1] Matsubara composed songs for a couple of anime, some of her most known musical compositions were for the anime series Gundam. Matsubara composed songs for several singers, like Hitomi Mieno,[17] but her most notable works were likely with the singer and actress Mariko Kouda, whom Matsubara composed multiple songs to. Kouda's song "Ame no chi special (雨のちスペシャル)", which Matsubara composed, was featured in the 5-minute music television and radio series Minna no Uta as a music video in 1997 and attracted a lot of attention. It was repeatedly rebroadcast until 2004.[18][19]

Personal life

Little is known about Miki Matsubara's personal life. She married Masaki Honjo, a backing band drummer for her band.[20] Honjo later became a dentist.

Illness and death

At the end of 2000, Matsubara sent a sudden email to those around her including band members from Dr. Woo and her companies explaining that she could not continue her music career and that she would not answer her phone nor emails.[21] Eventually, she stopped all her music activities and disappeared from spotlight. In 2001 it was revealed that she stopped all music activities after receiving a diagnosis for cancer and that she later subsequently began treatment. Matsubara spent her last years fighting her illness and was told by her doctor that she had only 3 months left to live.

On October 7, 2004, she died at the age of 44 due to complications from uterine cervix cancer.[22][23] Her death was announced to the public two months later.[24]

Legacy

With the resurrection of City pop, Miki Matsubara with her song Stay with me (Mayonaka no door - 真夜中のドア), began to gain recognition in the west, along with other countries in Asia, especially in South Korea. Matsubara’s legacy also carries on to the new generation, since the song is also a well known sound on the multimedia streaming app TikTok, with over 200K videos and millions of views.

Discography

Studio albums
Year Album Title Label
1980Pocket ParkSee･Saw
Who Are You?
1981Cupid
1982Myself
彩
1983Revue
1984Blue Eyes (cover album)
Cool Cut
1985Lady Bounce
1987Dirty Pair (Original Soundtrack)Victor
1988WiNK

Compilations
Year Album Title Label
1983Paradise BeachSee･Saw
1986Super BestPony
2002BestPony Canyon
2011Golden☆Best
2013The Premium Best
2014Light Mellow
2017Platinum Best

Singles
Year Song Title Label
1979"真夜中のドア～Stay With Me"See･Saw
"愛はエネルギー"
1980"ハロー・トゥデイ～Hello Today"
"あいつのブラウンシューズ"
1981"ニートな午後3時"
"倖せにボンソワール"
1982"予言"
1983"パラダイス ビーチ (ソフィーのテーマ)"
1984"Knock, Knock, My Heart"
1985"恋するセゾン　～色恋来い～"
1987"サファリ アイズ"Victor
1988"In the Room"

See also

References
  1. "松原みき". tower.jp. Tower. June 14, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  2. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%BE%E5%8E%9F%E3%81%BF%E3%81%8D. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "2009/10/7 おもいっきりDON　今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日　＃松原みき - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  4. "2009/10/7 おもいっきりDON　今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日　＃松原みき - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  5. https://middle-edge.jp/articles/I0002408
  6. Pinto, Tom (July 27, 2019). "City Pop Is The 40-Year-Old Genre You've Never Heard Of, Until Today". Study Breaks. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  7. Archila, Danny (December 17, 2017). "Citypop: A Curious Fool's Primer". Yacht Rock. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  8. "【オメガトライブ生んだ林哲司激白　ヒット曲舞台裏】松原みきさんと竹内まりや　予想とは真逆の仕上がりで高評価". Zakzak. September 27, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  9. "松原みき【真夜中のドア】歌詞の意味を徹底解釈！季節が巡ると思い出すのは…？意味深な歌詞を紐解いてみた". otokake.com. Otokake. June 10, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  10. "中森明菜の意外なカバー曲 ＥＸＩＬＥ、ドリカム歌う 新アルバム「歌姫４」". ZAKZAK (in Japanese). Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  11. "松原みきを語る～ファンの声Vol.6". castella.chagasi.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  12. "2009/10/7 おもいっきりDON　今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日　＃松原みき - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  13. "2009/10/7 おもいっきりDON　今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日　＃松原みき - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  14. "Miki Matsubara - Blue Eyes". Discogs (in French). Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  15. O, Safiyah (August 23, 2017). "Japanese 'City Pop [シティポップ]': A dreamy trip back to Japans capitalist fantasy of the 1980s". Bearded Gentlemen Music. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  16. Konuma, Junichi. "松原みき（1959–2004）". f.waseda.jp/jkonuma. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  17. "松原みき提供曲/マ行". castella.chagasi.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  18. "松原みき - 真夜中のドア～Stay With Me". oh my God こりゃ　なんだ (in Japanese). Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  19. Ame no Chi Special, retrieved January 10, 2021
  20. https://genius.com/Miki-matsubara-stay-with-me-lyrics#song-info
  21. "2009/10/7 おもいっきりDON　今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日　＃松原みき - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  22. "＜訃報＞松原みきさん４４歳＝シンガー・ソングライター". ヤフー. December 14, 2004. Archived from the original on December 14, 2004. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  23. "歌手松原みきさん死去／１０月７日にがんのため". 四国新聞. December 14, 2004. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  24. "2009/10/7 おもいっきりDON　今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日　＃松原みき - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
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