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Yumi Arai, also known as Yumi Matsutoya (松任谷 由実) was born on January 19, 1954 in Tokyo, Japan. Initially a studio musician, she began composing her own songs at the age of 14. Three years later, her track "Ai Wa Totsuzen", was recorded for the first time, performed by Katsumi Kahashi. In 1972, under the name Yumi Arai, she released her first single, "Henji Wa Iranai", on the Toshiba EMI label. She went on to record her first album, Hikō-Ki Gumo, with the group Tin Pan Alley. MISSLIM followed in 1974, arranged entirely by Masataka Matsutoya, then Cobalt Hour the following year. This album includes the track "Sotsugyō Shashin", destined to become a classic in her varied repertoire, which mixes pop rock, jazz fusion and folk rock. The singer scored her first Number 1 hit in Japan with "Ano Hi Ni Kaeritai" in 1975. The following year, she released The 14th Moon, her last under the Yumi Arai name. It features Leland Sklar on bass and Mike Baird on drums. She married Mastaka Matsutoya, adopting his married name as her stage name and the singer went on to multiply her releases, delivering an average of two albums a year. Her success continued unabated, with 21 albums topping the Japanese charts over the course of her career, for a total of 42 million copies sold. Over the space of 18 years, she managed to place at least one album in the Japanese charts every year. Her greatest success came with The Gates of Heaven, released in 1990, the first to top the two-million mark in Japan. Despite waning success later in her career, the singer was still active in 2020, releasing the album 深海の街 followed by the 50th anniversary compilation Yuming BANZAI! which reached Number 1 in the charts on its release in 2012. She returned in 2023 with compilation album titled Yuming Cheers!, which climbed to number 2.
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