Shiina Ringo

Ringo Shiina (椎名林檎, Shiina Ringo?)[1] is a Japanese singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist born on November 25, 1978. Her real name is Yumiko Shiina (椎名裕美子, Shiina Yumiko?).

Early life Yumiko Shiina was born in Saitama Prefecture to Kōtarō Shiina, an employee of an oil company, and Akiko Shiina, a full-time housewife. She was born with an illness in which the esophagus narrows as it approaches the stomach, resulting in many surgeries. These surgeries left Shiina with large scars on her shoulder blades, said to give the impression that an angel’s wings had been removed.[2]

Her understanding of the arts began with her father’s interest in jazz and classical music. Also, her mother majored in dance in college and practiced ballet. In her house were a large collection of music, a piano, and a guitar. Shiina’s father was also a devoted reader of music magazines. The young girl began practicing piano at age 5, as well as starting classical ballet.

While Shiina was a very outgoing girl in her early child life, she later became shy and quiet. The pseudonym Ringo, meaning apple, comes from the manner in which she would blush bright red like an apple when she was in front of people; contrary to popular belief, Ringo’s admiration of the Beatles’ Ringo Starr and singer Fiona Apple is not the origin of her nickname. [citation needed]

Her parents remember her as a mostly trouble-free child, except that she could not stand being alone, throwing tantrums if she could not have a friend to play with.

By age 15, Shiina had become involved in several bands as well as performing solo. In 1995, she received recognition from the Teens Music Festival as a member of the all-girl band Marvelous Marbles. Later on, she received an Award of Excellence as a solo artist in the finals of the annual Music Quest competitions.

In her later teen years she became a fan of the indie rock group Number Girl, attending various shows when possible.

[edit] Solo career

Shiina’s angelic wings in the video for “Kōfukuron” (“Happiness Theory”), 1998Ringo Shiina’s first official single was released May 1998, when she was 19 years old. It was entitled “Kōfukuron” (“Happiness Theory”). In the video for this single, Shiina alluded to her surgery scars by wearing a pair of wings on her back. Next came the release of her first album, Muzai Moratorium (Innocence Moratorium), in February 1999, and then her second album, “Shōso Strip” (Lawsuit Winning Strip), in March 2000. She took a short hiatus when she was expecting a child, but returned a year later with a two-disc compilation of multi-lingual covers entitled Utaite Myōri (Singer’s Luck).

At the age of 24, Shiina had married Junji Yayoshi, a guitarist, and had a son. The two divorced 14 months later. In 2003, she released her third album, titled Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana.[3] Towards the conclusion of her solo career, she had her trademark mole removed, and released her final solo single, “Ringo no Uta” (“Apple’s Song”), which can be described as a vivid summation of her career, including a music video with references to all of her previous videos.

[edit] Tokyo Jihen On May 31, 2004, she formed a band called Tokyo Jihen (東京事変, Tokyo Jihen?). Tokyo Jihen is Japanese for “The Tokyo Incidents” and was first introduced in Shiina’s Sugoroku Ecstasy tour and are featured on Shiina’s Electric Mole DVD .

The original lineup of Tokyo Jihen was: Ringo Shiina (vocals), Mikio Hirama (aka Mikki) (guitar), Seiji Kameda (bass guitar), Masayuki Hiizumi (aka H Zetto M or HZM ) (keyboard/piano) and Toshiki Hata (drums).

In July 2005, the band announced that keyboardist Masayuki Hiizumi and guitarist Mikio Hirama had left Tokyo Jihen, and that new members were being sought for Tokyo Jihen’s second album. In September 2005 the band announced through its website that it had selected two new members, Ryosuke Nagaoka (a.k.a. Ukigumo) on guitar and Ichiyō Izawa on keyboards. Shortly thereafter, the band announced it would be releasing its second album (featuring the new lineup) in January 2006, and that it would be playing two concerts, at the Osaka-Jo Hall in Osaka and the Budokan in Tokyo, in February 2006.

[edit] Resumption of solo work In late 2006, Ringo announced that she would resume work as a solo artist as the Music Director for the 2007 film Sakuran, a movie based on the Moyoco Anno manga about a girl who becomes an oiran courtesan in the Edo-era Yoshiwara district. A new single and album have been announced, both of which seem to tie in closely to the movie (no soundtrack is planned) and appear to be due to the huge inspiration she received from working on the movie. Though Ringo is working on her own, she has also solicited the help of violinist Saitō Neko and the band Soil & “Pimp” Sessions, with whom she has performed before, to assist her in the recording of her new material. A song between her and Soil, titled “Karisome Otome (Death Jazz ver.)” was released on iTunes Japan exclusively on November 11, 2006. It quickly leaped to the top of the charts and remained there for days. And although she is working solo during this period, there is no indication that she will not return to making music with Tokyo Jihen after she is finished.

[edit] Singing and songwriting style Shiina is an accomplished musician and songwriter who writes music spanning numerous genres. She is well known for her quirky way of doing things, rolling her “r”’s and creating promotional music videos with striking visuals.

Shiina’s lyrics are noteworthy as they often contain complex and archaic language. Printed lyrics in her liner notes regularly feature kanji that are not in common use.

Musically, Shiina’s songwriting style steadily became more complex over the course of her solo career, incorporating more varied instruments and more elaborate production with each album. Although Shiina’s influence over songwriting is still dominant in Tokyo Jihen, arrangements have been stripped down to a more standard rock and roll style, highlighting the roles of the individual players in the band.