Laura Shigihara

Laura Shigihara
Nationality American, Japanese
Occupation Singer-songwriter
Known for Plants vs. Zombies and To The Moon soundtrack

Laura Shigihara is a video game composer, independent game developer, and singer-songwriter. She has created music and sound for over 25 videogames titles,[1] but she is best known as the lead composer and sound designer for the tower defense video game Plants vs. Zombies.[2] She is half-Japanese,[3] and in addition to writing and performing the English version of the ending credits song, "Zombies on Your Lawn", she also wrote and performed the Japanese version, "Uraniwa ni Zombies ga." Shigihara provided vocals for the Singing Sunflower pet in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.[4] She also participated in Akira Yamaoka's Play for Japan charity album alongside other composers like Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda.[5]

Biography

Shigihara, whose mother is French-American and father is Japanese, grew up in both the US and Japan.[6] She was classically trained on the piano for 11 years, and taught herself guitar and drums. She grew up loving video games and playing video game music on the piano by ear. During college, she was given an old version of Cakewalk which she used to start learning about mixing, arranging, and production by recreating old video game soundtracks and composing her own songs. After a friend leaked her original material to record companies in Japan, Shigihara was offered record contracts as a singer there, but ended up turning them down for personal reasons.[7]

Shortly after returning to the US, Shigihara took a job as the sound director for a company that produced an audio talk show and English learning materials through Apple Japan. She also released a studio album and composed her first video game soundtrack for a small casual game called Wobbly Bobbly. She was so excited to be working on a video game that she told them she’d work for free. The company liked her work and paid her to create music for several subsequent projects.[7] From there she built up her portfolio and has worked on over 25 published titles including Plants vs. Zombies, Ghost Harvest, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, and the indie RPG To the Moon.[2] In her spare time, she has also been developing a music-based role playing game called Melolune,[8] and has recently participated in Akira Yamaoka’s charity iTunes album Play for Japan where she contributed an original song called "Jump".[9] On 16 November 2011, she released her single “Cube Land” in relation to Minecraft and Plants vs. Zombies.[10] She is also well known for her Minecraft parodies, and the original Minecraft-based song "Cube Land".

Discography

Shigihara's works include:[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Play For Japan – Artists". Play For Japan. Archived from the original on 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
  2. 1 2 "VGM « mybluedream". Shigi.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  3. ↑ ""Uraniwa ni Zombies ga!" lyrics « mybluedream". Shigi.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  4. ↑ McCurley, Mathew (2010-09-20). "Singing Sunflower companion voiced by Laura Shigihara". Wow.joystiq.com. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  5. ↑ "News - Interview: Yamaoka, Shigihara, And Jackson Play For Japan". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  6. ↑ arcticpenguin (2009-05-05). "Interview with Laura Shigihara- Composer for Plants vs. Zombies". Play as Life. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  7. 1 2 Poisso, Lisa (2010-11-10). "15 Minutes of Fame: Laura Shigihara, voice of WoW’s Singing Sunflower". Wow.joystiq.com. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  8. ↑ "The Weblog Music: Melolune Original Soundtrack Part One (Laura Shigihara)". IndieGames.com. 2010-10-13. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  9. ↑ "The Album | Artists | Play For Japan – A Game Industry Relief Effort". Play For Japan. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  10. ↑ ""Cube Land" - A Minecraft Music Video - An Original Song by Laura Shigihara (PvZ Composer)". YouTube. 2012-04-15. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  11. ↑ "Laura Shigihara". Laurashigihara.bandcamp.com. 2012-11-22. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  12. ↑ ""one" by C418".

External links

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