This is the 99th post in our Musician of the Day series.
Rie Fu was born in 1985 in Tokyo, Japan. From 1992 to 1995 she lived in Maryland with her family and it was at this time that she started playing the piano and gaining inspiration for her music. She listened to artists like Sheryl Crow, Carole King, and The Carpenters.
When she returned to Japan in 1995 she finished her education in Tokyo. In 2002, she learned how to play Guitar and that led to an almost immediate desire to write and record songs with her own tape recorder. She sent a demo tape off to Sony Record company and they signed her. She released her first single "Rie Who?" in 2004.
Her song "Life is like a Beach" was chosen as the ending theme for Bleach which gained her widespread popularity and fame.
Outside of her music Rie is also truly into art and graphic design and graduated from the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design of the University of the Arts London. Rie designs most of her own album and single booklets.
Most of Rie songs are sung in Japanese but since she is bilingual many of them will also include entire verses in English.
Rie's fourth album Urban Romantic was released in April of 2009. She also got her European release in 2008 with her album Who is Rie Fu?
To learn more about Rie Fu visit her MySpace page or last.fm.
