| Eri Nobuchika 信近エリ |
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|---|---|
| Born | August 3, 1985 |
| Origin | Fukuoka, Japan |
| Genres | Japanese pop, Jazz, House, Easy listening |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Sony Music Associated Records |
| Website | Official Website |
Eri Nobuchika (信近エリ Nobuchika Eri, born Nobuchika Eriko 信近えり子 on August 3, 1985) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, under the Fearless Records label on Sony Music Associated Records. She currently resides in Tokyo.
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Eri's professional career started at Sony Music SD "Gonna be a star" audition, a regularly held event for aspiring new pop artists. She sent in her demotape but forgot to put her address in it. The president of the audition wanted to contact her, and after asking for her through a few calls to Fukuokan post offices, he finally got hold of Eri.
At the audition, she raised interest in producer Shinichi Osawa. She got 7 more label offers, but ultimately signed with Sony Music, and teamed up with Shinichi Osawa. As an artist on his label, Fearless Records, Osawa would go on to primarily produce Eri's music as he did with fellow label artist bird.
After finishing high school at the age of 19, Eri started work on her debut single, "Lights", which was released on December 8, 2004. The single features the title song, as well as an acoustic version and a karaoke version. The B-track, "I hear the music in my soul", shows off Shinichi Osawa's underground club music background with Eri providing a few vocals. "Lights" starred as the theme song of the Japanese film "深紅" (Shinku, or "The Deep Red") and the ending theme song for the anime FLAG. The song was also featured on Q Entertainment’s PlayStation Portable game Lumines, along with "I hear the music in my soul". Many overseas fans discovered Eri through the game and it also helped launch her career in Japan.
Months later, on April 6, 2005, Eri's second single, "Voice" was released. The song carries a Latin atmosphere with the use of Spanish guitars and carries more of Osawa's club sound. Along with the title song are a studio live version, a karaoke version, and a remix of "I hear the music in my soul". On Oricon's Top 100 chart, the single reached a peak of #94 and stayed on the charts for 3 weeks.
On June 29, 2005, "Sketch for Summer" was released, a very different genre compared to the previous singles. It was a mellow ballad with some hints of jazz. The single comes with a studio live version, a karaoke version, and a remix of "Voice". In the PV, she is featured in colour for the first time, as all of her videos are black & white. The single scored even lower on Oricon at #175 for just one week.
Eri's fourth single, "鼓動" (Kodou, meaning "heartbeat") was released on December 7, 2005, another ballad containing elements of acid jazz, with Eri accompanied by piano and horns. The song appeared in a TV commercial for the mobilecast mLink. "Kodou" is accompanied by a remix, a karaoke version, and a remix of "Sketch for Summer". The single was re-released on two weeks later, replacing the karaoke version with an instrumental version with no background vocals.
Her debut album, "nobuchikaeri", was released on December 21, 2005. It contained her four singles, as well as "I hear the music in my soul", and five new tracks. One of the new tracks included Eri fully singing in English, and two of those tracks, "Yume no Kakera" and "SING A SONG" went on to become her first DVD single on March 1, 2006. The DVD single featured PVs for both songs; the PV for "Yume no Kakera" was created by Studio 4C, who also created animations for The Animatrix.
A 7-track album of remixes titled "nobuchikaeri.rx" was released on May 10, 2006. The album includes remixes of Eri's singles by artists such as Röyksopp, Akufen, and more.
Eri was featured in a radio program on the now-defunct bi-weekly vodcast "the swallowtail radio" (hosted by Sony Music Japan) in which she talked about her career, releases, and where she also addressed messages from fans.
After the release of nobuchikaeri.rx and Shinichi Osawa's move to Avex Trax in 2006, Eri went into a lengthy hiatus with no releases.
An update on her blog told of a studio recording in Okinawa during the summer; this was eventually revealed as her collaboration with NAOTO, the leader of Japanese band Orange Range, in his solo project, delofamilia.[1]
delofamilia's first album, quiet life, was released on December 5, 2007, featuring Eri and AIR as guest vocalists, although Eri appears on the majority of the songs singing in mostly English and some Japanese. Eri, NAOTO, and AIR all shared lyric-writing duties for the album.
In April 2009, Eri announced that her second album, "Hands," would be released on June 3, 2009, more than three years after her debut album. Eri also launched her mixi account and a Myspace page with song samples, along with a live concert on release day to coincide with the new album.[2][3] The album is to be distributed through independent record label Daiki Sound, and it contains eight tracks produced and written by a variety of artists, such as DSK from Port of Notes, The Company, Yuu Sakai, and Ryuichiro Yamaki.[4]