A Japanese singer-songwriter whose 1970s and '80s work, including 'Plastic Love,' defined a smooth, studio-crafted sound.
For a sense of her sound, 'Plastic Love' and 'Oh No, Oh Yes!' frame it well. They're both smooth, a little bittersweet, and exactly why people keep coming back.
Her 1978 album 'Variety' helped shape what we now call city pop, blending jazz and R&B into a polished, wistful style. A song like 'Plastic Love' from that record still draws listeners decades later, both in Japan and abroad. She kept that melodic touch going on later albums like 'Love Songs' and 'Portrait.'
She started with the single 'Runner' in 1975. Through the '80s, she worked with musicians like her husband Tatsuro Yamashita and released steady albums such as 'Quiet Life' in 1994. In 2019, she put out 'Mariya's Songbook,' a career retrospective.
Keep it compact: a lyric you come back to, a live memory, or the part of the catalog you would point someone toward first.
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