Monday Michiru

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Monday Michiru

Monday Michiru Mariano (more commonly known as Monday Michiru / MONDAY 満ちる) is a Japanese-American actress, singer, and songwriter whose music encompasses and fuses a wide variety of genres including jazz, dance, pop, and soul. She is arguably best known for being a pioneer of the acid jazz movement in Japan in the early 1990's yet she has created her own unique style of music that transcends traditional definitions of the aforementioned genres.

Monday was born in Tokyo, Japan to jazz pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi and her now divorced husband, jazz saxophonist Charlie Mariano. At an early age, she expressed an interest in music; she studied modern dance and ballet from age eight, and the classical flute for eleven years. It wasn't until she went to the Interlochen Arts Academy that she discovered her true passion of singing.

In 1987, Monday appeared as a lead in the movie “Hikaru Onna” (Luminous Woman) in which she was credited as Michiru Akiyoshi by the director in an effort to detract from an over-glorified view of her due to her mixed heritage. Monday's unintentional acting career took as she won Best New Actress awards from Kinema Junpo, The Japan Academy, and the Yokohama film festival. With all this success, Monday became somewhat of a celebrity and could be seen on commercial ads and as a “personality” on several major television networks.

In 1991, she re-focused her interests and released her debut solo album “Mangetsu”. Although she continued her solo work, she became a featured singer/songwriter for many other groups and artists including Basement Jaxx ("Always Be There"), Mondo Grosso, DJ Krush, and numerous others.

Since her debut, she has released over ten albums, two compilations , and numerous singles. She is currently working on an ArtistShare project “The Future is Yours-2005" with an album entitled "Routes" slated to be released in late 2005.

She currently lives in New York City with her husband, a jazz trumpeter Alex Sipiagin and her son Nikita.