Miho Hatori

Miho Hatori 羽鳥 美保
Miho Hatori performing in August 2004
Background information
Born	(1971-04-04) April 4, 1971 Tokyo, Japan
Genres	Avant-garde, downtempo, trip hop, indie rock, world music
Occupation(s)	Singer song writer composer record producer
Instruments	Vocals, synthesizer, guitar, drums, percussion, keyboard
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Rykodisc
Associated acts	Cibo Matto Smokey & Miho Gorillaz Butter 08
Website	mihohatori.com

Miho Hatori (羽鳥 美保, Hatori Miho, born in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese singer, songwriter, and musician. She is primarily known as the vocalist of the New York City group Cibo Matto.^[1] She is also known for her work with virtual band Gorillaz, as she is the first person to provide the voice of animated member Noodle.

Biography

Hatori expressed an early interest in music while growing up in Japan. She worked at a used record shop Flash Disc Ranch in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo where she was exposed to many different styles of music, and sometimes performed as a club DJ. Her earliest history in a music project dates to 1991 when she joined the hip hop group Kimidori, although she eventually left the group in 1992. Miho then moved to the United States, New York circa 1993 to study art. The first New York band she was in was a punk band called Leitoh Lychee for which she provided the vocals, and also played violin through a distortion effects pedal.

It was as a member of Leitoh Lychee where she first met her Cibo Matto co-founder Yuka Honda in 1994. Cibo Matto went on to release two albums, Viva! La Woman in 1996 and Stereo ★ Type A in 1999. She also contributed vocals to Cibo Matto bandmate Sean Lennon's solo album, Into the Sun in 1998. Cibo Matto broke up in 2001, but came back with a reunion tour in 2011.

While Cibo Matto was touring with Beck, Hatori and Beck guitarist Smokey Hormel discovered a shared love of bossa nova and samba, which eventually resulted in their Brazilian-styled musical project Smokey & Miho. Other artists she has worked with include Handsome Boy Modeling School on the album So... How's Your Girl?, DJ Towa Tei, Stephin Merritt's The 6ths, The Baldwin Brothers, Beastie Boys, Blackalicious, Peter Daily, Greg Kurstin (Action Figure Party), Forró in the Dark, John Zorn, and The Incredible Moses Leroy. Miho has also performed solo and on October 21, 2005 her first solo album, Ecdysis was released in Japan, later to the American and European market. The song, "Birthday Cake," from the first Cibo Matto album was used in the Xbox game, Jet Set Radio Future.

Solo discography

Interviews

Film works

• Shindo (Japanese film)
• The Killing of a Chinese Cookie
• xXx: AForbidden Love Story (Diesel's short film by Alexi Tan)

References

External links

• Miho Hatori: official site
• Cibo Matto: official site