Ringo Sheena

Ringo Sheena
Native name 椎名 林檎
Born Yumiko Shiina
(1978-11-25) November 25, 1978
Urawa, Saitama, Japan
Occupation
Years active 1998–2003
2006–present
Spouse(s) Yuichi Kodama
Website www.kronekodow.com
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • piano
Labels
Associated acts
Notable instruments
Duesenberg Star TV model DSR-SP

Yumiko Shiina (椎名 裕美子, Shiina Yumiko, born November 25, 1978), known by her stage name Ringo Sheena[Note 1] (椎名 林檎, Shiina Ringo), is a Japanese singer and songwriter. She was also the founder and lead vocalist of the band Tokyo Jihen, when it was active.

She describes herself as "Shinjuku-kei Jisaku-Jien-ya (新宿系自作自演屋, a Shinjuku-style writer-performer)". She was ranked number 36 in a list of Japan's top 100 musicians compiled by HMV in 2003.[1]

Early life

Sheena was born with an esophageal atresia in which the esophagus narrows as it approaches the stomach. Treatment of this involved several operations, at least one of which required her right shoulder blade to be cut open. These surgeries left Sheena with large scars on her shoulder blades, said to give the impression that an angel's wings had been removed.[2]

Initial solo career

Sheena released her first official single "Kōfukuron" in May 1998, when she was 19 years old. She subsequently made singles "Kabukichō no Joō" and "Koko de Kiss Shite", the latter becoming her first hit.

This was followed by the release of her first album, Muzai Moratorium, in February 1999. The album was a major hit. "Gips" was due to be the next single, but when Sheena had to cancel recording due to illness, "Honnō" was released as the fourth single instead. Shina chose a hospital as the setting for the music video for "Honnō".

The fifth and sixth singles, "Gips" and "Tsumi to Batsu", were released at the same time to prevent overlap with the release of her second album, Shōso Strip, in March 2000.

Sheena had initially indicated that she would retire as "Sheena Ringo" when she had released three albums. At the time the second album was released, she was among the top three Japanese female artists, along with Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki, in terms of popularity and annual income. However, she was uncomfortable with being regarded as an icon,[3] and wanted her career to branch out more from the mainstream. When she began to produce her third album under the tentative title "Fushigi, Waizatsu, Ekisentorikku (不思議・猥雑・エキセントリック, Wonder, Vulgar, Eccentric)" she intended to make it her last solo album.

She released the single "Mayonaka wa Junketsu" in March 2001, with the intention of including it on a third album.[4] The music video was created in a retro-anime style that depicted Ringo as a sort of mid-'60s spy movie heroine. In 2002, she released a two-disc multilingual cover album Utaite Myōri: Sono Ichi. Since she felt that a cover album did not count as a bona fide album, she began to work on her third original album.

In 2003, she released her third album, titled Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana.[Note 2]

Towards the conclusion of her solo career, she released her final solo single, "Ringo no Uta" ("Apple's Song"), which was adopted by the national children's song TV program Minna no Uta. This song had a summation of her career, and the music video included references to all of her previous videos.

In 2004, Sheena undertook the role of music director for the stage play KKP (Kentaro Kobayashi Produce) #004 Lens,[Note 3] which is based on the story of her short film Tanpen Kinema Hyaku-Iro Megane.

Tokyo Jihen

On May 31, 2004, Sheena formed a band called Tokyo Jihen (東京事変, Tōkyō Jihen, "The Tokyo Incidents"). The band was first introduced in Sheena's Sugoroku Ecstasy tour and is featured on Sheena's Electric Mole DVD.

The original lineup of Tokyo Jihen was Ringo Sheena (vocals, guitar, melodica); Mikio Hirama (ヒラマミキオ, Hirama Mikio, also known as Mikki) (guitar, backing vocals); Seiji Kameda (亀田誠治, Kameda Seiji) (bass guitar); H Zett M (H是都M, HZM), also known as Masayuki Hiizumi (ヒイズミマサユ機, Hiizumi Masayuki, from jazz instrumental band PE'Z), (keyboard/piano); and Toshiki Hata (刄田綴色, Hata Toshiki) (drums). All of them were members of the back-up band for Sheena Ringo's solo tour "Sugoroku Ecstasy" in 2003.

Hiizumi and Hirama left Tokyo Jihen in July 2005, and the band selected two new members: Ryosuke Nagaoka (長岡亮介, Nagaoka Ryosuke), also known as Ukigumo (浮雲, Drifting Cloud), on guitar and backing vocals, and Keitaro Izawa (伊澤啓太郎, Izawa Keitaro), also known as Ichiyou Izawa (伊澤一葉, Izawa Ichiyou), on keyboards in September 2005. The band released its second album featuring the new lineup in January 2006 and played two concerts, at the Osaka-Jo Hall in Osaka and the Budokan in Tokyo, in February 2006.

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.[Note 4] The album Heisei Fūzoku (2007) is the soundtrack from this film. Violinist Neko Saitō and the band Soil & "Pimp" Sessions appear on the album. A song featuring her and Soil, "Karisome Otome (Death Jazz version)" was released on iTunes Japan exclusively on November 11, 2006. It went to the top of the charts and remained there for days.

In June 2007, Sheena was asked to compose music for the kabuki Sannin Kichisa by Kanzaburo Nakamura. She composed the ending theme and some other music.

In September 2008, Sheena provided Japanese boy's band, Tokio with two songs for their singles.

In February 2009, Sheena had written music for Japanese rock duo Puffy AmiYumi. The duo's member Ami was introduced to Sheena by Hikaru Utada. Ami is a fan of Sheena's music, which amounted to their friendship together.[5]

In March 2009, Sheena Ringo received the newcomer Fine Arts Award in the Popular Culture category from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. In May of the same year, Sheena released a solo single titled "Ariamaru Tomi", which was used as the theme song for the TV drama Smile. In June, Sheena released her solo album titled Sanmon Gossip after a long hiatus. On December 2, 2009, Sheena releases the single "Nōdōteki Sanpunkan" with Tokyo Jihen after an interval of about two years.

Singing and songwriting style

Sheena is an accomplished musician and songwriter who writes music spanning numerous genres. She is well known for her eccentricity, rolling her "r"s and creating promotional music videos with striking visuals.

She admired Eddi Reader's voice, but felt her own voice was not as clear and sounded hoarse. She admired Janis Ian's singing and wrote "Seventeen" in tribute to Ian's "At Seventeen". She later covered "Love Is Blind". She listens to many genres of music. At the time of her debut, she has ten closely written pages of lists of her favorite musicians. They included various genres such as classical music, Japanese and American popular music from the 1950s and 1960s, contemporary rock, and the local band Fukuoka.[6]

She mainly plays rhythm guitar, but she plays other musical instruments. During live shows she sometimes plays the piano and occasionally plays the bass guitar. While recording, she sometimes plays piano and drums, and occasionally uses uncommon musical instruments such as a melodica and a shamisen.

Stage name

At her audition in 1996, she introduced herself as "Sheena Ringo" for the first time. "Ringo" means "apple" in Japanese. She said that "Ringo" originated from her class nickname when she often blushed in public, and from The Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr.

She declared recently that she followed the naming of the pen name of her favorite manga artist, Sensha Yoshida. His first name is just a name of an object like Ringo ("Sensha" in this case meaning a "tank" in English). She thought that those who heard her name would be shocked by that.[7]

The Duesenberg Starplayer guitar which Sheena has used recorded the historical sales of about 1000 sets in Japan in 2000.[8]

Sheena's name often appeared on the books, movies, TV dramas and songs, such as the Japanese movie All About Lily Chou-Chou (with The Beatles, Björk, and UA), Maximum the Hormone's song "Sheena basu tei de matsu.", Kreva's single "Idome",[Note 5] the Japanese movie Linda Linda Linda,[Note 6] the TV drama Furuhata Ninzaburō final series, the book by Taro Aso who is the 92nd Prime Minister of Japan Totetsumonai Nihon (as a singer representative of Jpop with Hikaru Utada).[9]

Reception

Lenny Kravitz stated that he admired Ringo's music video and both her way of making music and the presentation, and said that he wanted to meet her in 2000.[10] When Courtney Love visited Japan in 2001, she was recommended several Japanese female rock singers by the music magazine editor of rockin'on.[11] Sheena and Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her[Note 7] were in Courtney's favor. Courtney tried to contact Sheena or to give the song to Sheena, but she failed.[12] Mika mentioned Ringo as one of his favorite Japanese artists, alongside Puffy AmiYumi, The Yellow Monkey, Yoko Kanno, and the Yoshida Brothers; in several interviews during his visit to Japan in 2007.[13][14] Jack Barnett of These New Puritans who was visiting Japan for the Summer Sonic 08 said in an interview that he was a great fan of Ringo Sheena and bought all her works while he was there, as they were not available in the United Kingdom.[15]

Her third album, Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana, was ranked second in CNN International Asia's list of "the 2000s' most under-appreciated Japanese music of the last decade" on December 22, 2009.[16] Sheena also got a mention in The Guardian as one of Japan's artists "deserve to be seen and heard in the west" in 2010.[17]

Personal life

Sheena's older brother Junpei Shiina is an R&B musician, who debuted in 2000 under Sony.[18] Since 2006, he has been managed by Kronekodow, Sheena's personal management agency.[19][20] The pair have collaborated musically several times. In 2002, they covered three songs in English: Marvin Gaye's "The Onion Song" for Sheena's album Utaite Myōri, "Where Is the Love" (originally performed by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway) for Junpei Shiina's album Discover, and Toto's "Georgy Porgy." "Georgy Porgy" was recorded as a part of a special unit called Yokoshima, featuring Jumpei Shiina on keyboards and Ringo Sheena on chorus.[21] In 2007, the pair sang a duet on her single "Kono Yo no Kagiri."

In November 2000, Sheena married guitarist Junji Yayoshi, who was a member of her backing band Gyakutai Glycogen.[22] Sheena gave birth to a son in July 2001. The pair then later divorced in January 2002.[22]

In September 2013, gossip magazine Josei Jishin published an article that linked her romantically with music director Yuichi Kodama and stating that she was secretly giving birth to her second child.[23] Sheena addressed these rumours publicly during her Tōtaikai concerts in November 2013, announcing that she gave birth in spring of 2013 to a girl. As this was close to the release of her single "Irohanihoheto/Kodoku no Akatsuki," she did not feel it was appropriate to link the birth of her daughter with single promotions, so decided not to announce it at the time.[24] The footage of her announcement was released on her Tōtaikai DVD in March 2014.

Musical instruments

Type Model Color Notes
Electric guitars Duesenberg Starplayer II surf green She bought it by installments while still an amateur.
Duesenberg Starplayer TV silver sparkle
surf green
black-and-gold checkered pattern using gold leaf Her signature model, "Ichimatsu (市松)". This was sold as a limited edition for Sheena Ringo's 5th anniversary.
Duesenberg V-Caster vintage white
Duesenberg Rocket black and white
Fender Jaguar Special Made by Fender Japan
Fender Telecaster Custom-made by Fender Japan
Fender Stratocaster Jimi Hendrix tribute
Gibson Firebird
Gibson Flying V antique natural
Gibson RD Artist natural Recommended by Ukigumo
Nagare blue This guitar is based on the Fender Jazzmaster, and is equipped with a flashbulb so it shines while playing.
Rickenbacker 620 jetglo She bought it with her first royalties.
Tele Phantom red Made by Songbird Guitar. This guitar uses "Vox Phatnom markⅥ" as the motif, and the structure is Telecaster. It is the same model of guitar as Ukigumo except for color.
Acoustic guitars K.Yairi FK-1J
Bass guitars Danelectro 58 Longhorn aqua burst
Amplifiers Orange Overdrive OR412 She began to use this under the influence of Susumu Nishikawa who was her session guitarist in the early days.
Effects units Pro Co RAT2
Keyboard instruments Toy piano She used it on the "Senko Ecstasy" tour.
Melodica She used it on the "Dynamite Out" tour.

Discography

Solo tours and concerts

Backing bands

Notes

  1. ↑ Her name can be romanized many ways, including Shina, Sheena, Sheena, and Shéna Ringö. This extends to album listings. She is listed as Sheena Rinngo on her album Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana but as Shéna Ringö on other releases. All are considered acceptable.
  2. ↑ "Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana" is translated into English with "Lime, Semen, Chestnut Blossoms". Lime and chestnut blossoms are said to smell like semen, and zamen is a non-standard reading of the characters for "semen" (精液 seieki). The word karuki is derived from the Dutch word kalk, meaning lime, and as such is often translated as chalk. In Japanese the word refers specifically to calcium hypochlorite, a compound used as disinfectant in swimming pools. The album title is written with phonetic ateji (literally ka-ru-ki) that have no meaning; the word karuki is normally written with katakana.
  3. ↑ Kentaro Kobayashi—who is a member of stand-up comedy duo "Rahmens—produced, directed, and starred in this play.
  4. ↑ The movie based on the Moyoco Anno manga about a girl who becomes an oiran courtesan in the Edo-era Yoshiwara district.
  5. ↑ There are lyrics "more active than Tokyo Jihen".
  6. ↑ The main characters must learn some cover songs within three days, and say the following lines. "How about Ringo Sheena?", "It is impossible in three days!"
  7. ↑ Courtney picked their album as number 3 in her top 5 for 2001 in NME.

References

  1. ↑ "Top 100 Japanese pops Artists - No.36". Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "Chapter 1: The girl who was born sick and had to have her angel's wings removed". Ringo Allergy Translation at centigrade-j. 20 September 2003. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008.
  3. ↑ ROCKIN' ON JAPAN, July, 2008 issue
  4. ↑ Various (June 13, 2001). "Most Japanese TV music programs are rubbish". Japan Today. Retrieved 2001-06-13.
  5. ↑ Puffy no Ami tokidoki Yumi "Ringo to Ichijiku" (パフィーのアミときどきユミ｢林檎と無花果｣ Puffy's Ami With Occasional Yumi "An Apple and a Fig") (essay), the December 17, 2008 issue of An An
  6. ↑ "TIMEasia Magazine: Rinngo's a Star"
  7. ↑ "Yoshida Sensha × Sheena Ringo", Big Comic Spirits (December 6, 2004 issue) or Bungei Bessatsu Yoshida Sensha (文藝別冊吉田戦車 The extra number of Bungei, Yoshida Sensha) (February 24, 2009)
  8. ↑ "Duesenberg". Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  9. ↑ Totetsumonai Nihon (とてつもない日本 Extraordinary Japan) (Shinchosha shinsho-size paperback, June 6, 2007 issue)
  10. ↑ November, 2000 issue of Rockin'on
  11. ↑ "「ごめん、コベイン」第１回　（ロッキンオン・山崎洋一郎） - ほぼ週刊　テリー植田". Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  12. ↑ "The interview to Courtenay that appeared in snoozer" which is a bimonthly of the June, 2010 issue
  13. ↑ "MIKA - ミーカ - UNIVERSAL MUSIC JAPAN". Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  14. ↑ "J-WAVE WEBSITE : TOKIO HOT100". Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  15. ↑ "SUMMER SONIC '08レポート / VIBE-NET.COM". Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  16. ↑ "The 00s' most underappreciated Japanese music - CNN Travel". Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  17. ↑ Nieman, Teresa (25 March 2010). "Why Japanese pop matters". Retrieved 22 August 2016 – via The Guardian.
  18. ↑ プロフィール (in Japanese). Sony Music Japan. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Artists" (in Japanese). Kronekodow. Archived from the original on March 31, 2006. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  20. ↑ 椎名純平の歌声が聞こえ始めた [Junpei Shiina's singing voice has started to be heard] (in Japanese). Kronekodow. Archived from the original on March 31, 2006. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Georgy Porgyについて...。" [About Georgy Porgy] (in Japanese). Toshiba EMI. Archived from the original on January 27, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  22. 1 2 ZAKZAK (May 18, 2002). "臨時ニウス!椎名林檎がスピード離婚!". Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  23. ↑ 椎名林檎認めた！今春に第２子出産していた　女性自身報じる [Ringo Sheena admitted it! Giving birth to her second child last spring (Reported by Josei Jishin)] (in Japanese). Sankei Sports. December 10, 2013. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  24. ↑ Sheena, Ringo (2014). 党大会　平成二十五年度神山町大会 [The Party Convention: 2013 Kamiyama Event] (Blu-ray) (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: EMI Records Japan. 念願の女の子を授かりまして、現在育児中です。ごめんなさい。 だけど、その時お報告申し上げなかったのは赤ちゃんのリリースと、椎名林檎最新シングルのリリースが、見事にバッティングしており、折角の真っ新な命を図らずも親の商売の宣伝に駆り出す恰好にしてしまうような事態を、危惧したためです。(I was gifted my hearts desire, a little girl, who's currently nursing. I'm very sorry. However, I didn't say anything at the time because the release of my baby, and the release of my new single were amazingly scheduled for the same time. I was worried about having a long-awaited brand new life unexpectedly tangled up with her parent's publicity for work.)
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