Kimiko Kasai

Born in Kyoto, Japan on December 15, 1945, Kimiko Kasai is a jazz vocalist. At the age of 13, she became interested in jazz music and by the age of 16, she moved to Tokyo to perform in that city’s local jazz clubs. After several years of performing live, she made her first recordings on pianist Yuzuru Sera’s 1968 album The Modern Playing Mate. Her first solo album was 1970’s Just Friends, followed by Yellow Carcass in the Blue (1971), an album she recorded with the Kosuke Mine Quartet. That same year, she provided vocals for Nissin’s popular Cup Noodles ad campaign. Further albums include Umbrella (1972), Satin Doll with the Gil Evans Orchestra (1972), What’s New (1973), Thanks Dear (1974), This Is My Love (1975), We Can Fall In Love (1976), Butterfly with Herbie Hancock (1979), Love Talk (1984) and many others. Over the course of her career, she also recorded with jazz greats such as Lee Konitz, Stan Getz, Paulinho Da Costa, Cedar Walton and many others. Kimiko Kasai retired from the music business in the late 1980s and became a jewelry designer. In 1990, she married second husband Richard Rudolph, who had previously been married to Minnie Riperton until her death in 1979.

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