My Story

1989- Encounter with Music

I have been singing songs since I was a baby and never knew words and the world. That's because I lived in Germany with my family when I was young, and my mother drove my sister and me to our kindergarten and primary school by car every day, listening to music. I was singing songs in the car along with songs with my sister. My story with music started since then.

I loved the one-Deutschmark ice cream I often bought at my favorite shop near my house then. I named my stage name MARK.K from the Deutschmark, replaced by the euro to send my listeners happiness as the one-mark ice cream sent pleasure to me.

1997- Singing Days in a Choir

After moving back to Japan, I found myself performing with the elementary school choir. The choir was famous in Tokyo. And it appeared in some big competitions every year and always got gold, silver, and bronds awards. One day my school music teacher had me take the test after the music lesson. She found that my vocal range was more than 4 octave, and she was surprised by that and invited me to take part in the choir. So I came to take part in practice and sing every day. As I loved singing, I didn't feel hard. And I was often the charge of the solo part in big competitions.

2002- Starting Music Production

After I graduated from elementary school, I got a blue acoustic guitar as my 13th birthday present. I copied a lot of songs and playing the guitar along with singing. And I began writing lyrics and songs soon after. I was happy to sing my original songs produced by myself. And I swore that I'd become a recording artist. I made my songs and recorded them into the MTR, and dubbed them onto MD.

2003- Broken Voice

But the happy days didn't last for such a long time. Shortly my voice had broken like other all boys. And I found I couldn't sing and speak well as I was young. So I tried to overcome the problem and searched for various ways to improve my voice through books and the internet, and I tried a lot of vocal training every day. But I couldn't overcome the problem.

2005- Struggle with My Voice Problem

After I graduated from junior high school, I started to take voice training group lessons. One of the only two Japanese organizations that instructed speech level singing by Seth Riggs, who taught Michael Jackson, provided the lessons. When I was reading various books, I concluded that SLS was the best way. So I chose the lessons. I took the classes once a week after high school without disclosing that I take vocal training to my high school friends.

In high school, I wanted to take part in the music club as a vocalist. But I didn't take part in the club because I couldn't sing well at that time. And it was so tough and intolerable for me to see people who can sing effortlessly at that time. So I took part in an orchestra club instead and started to play the viola. When I was young, I was so active and flashy and always smiling and surrounded by many friends. But my voice problem changed my personality. I lost all of my positive strengths.

After training for one-year of vocal training, I couldn't overcome the problem yet. And the pain made me blind to the meaning of my life, and I experienced despair. I became depressed. I went to some famous otorhinolaryngology that specializes in the throat and singing. But all of them said, "There are no problems in your throat." But I couldn't sing well. I want them to tell me, "There is a problem in your throat."

At that time, I couldn't find a way to proceed. I felt there was no light in my life. I thought about suicide again and again. I thought no one could understand my sorrow and suffering. I was afraid of listening to the music I loved because I couldn't sing well. But I wanted to listen to music because I love music. The emotion was so complicated.

Finally, I decided to stop taking group lessons and start to take a private lesson by the most famous Japanese voice trainer who instructed speech level singing by Seth Riggs. I read his book and tried some voice training when I was a junior high school student. So I wanted to take his private lessons since before taking group lessons. But his one hour lesson was more than 20,000 yen and so expensive for me. But I decided to take his lesson at last.

He told me so unique training I'd never known. And I was surprised. And I recorded the lesson on my MD. After the lesson, I practiced and practiced again and again along the MD. The training brought change to my voice little by little.

2008- First EP and Music Income

After I graduated from high school, I bought my PC and DAW and made my original 100 CDs by myself for the first time soon. After enrolling in college, I started to sell them, and I sold them out by myself, and I earned 50,000 yen. It was my first income from my music.

I had several gigs while training my vocal. After one gig, one of my friends who came to my gig as a listener said, "Your vocalization is not good." I knew the truth. But I was shocked.

2009- Challenge and Challenge

I continued to train my vocal. On the other hand, I started to produce instrumental music for various film projects and fashion shows. These experiences taught me music production deeply. As a result, I was asked to produce music for the orchestra. I'd never made orchestra music until then. So I was worried about whether I'd accept it or not. I consulted with one composer who graduated from Berklee music college and specialized in music production there. He advised me to turn down the offer. He said, "You'll fail in that project. Composing orchestral music is not easy. So you should turn down." But I decided to challenge at last because I was excited about the project. I believed in my instinct. I decided to accept not only to compose orchestra music but also to conduct an orchestra.

The orchestra was consists of more than 150 members. And the musical part was more than 40. I asked the orchestra's owner to buy me the software "Finale" that enabled me to write the orchestral score. He accepted the request. And I learned about the software and the arrangement of the orchestra. I read various scores by Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, Borodin because I played with their music in the high school orchestra, and I love their works.

My focus on making the orchestral music for more than six months succeeded. The experience made me stronger and tougher. And I proved that nothing is impossible.

In those days, I met a girl who was important to me on the unpopulated western Japanese island. After leaving the island, she listened to my music on the web, and she loved my songs and shared my songs on the internet by writing a blog post. Shortly we came to date. She lived in Hyogo, western Japan, and I lived in Tokyo. There were more than 500 kilometers between us. But the distance didn't make sense to us. She told me what love was.

I continued to have a gig. And I graduated from college. I decided not to work as a full-time employee to chase my dream.

I had countless gigs on the street working part-time jobs. To pursuit my music career, I worked in various kinds of jobs. Life at that time was so hard because there were enough money and enough time. But my girl always supported me.

2013- Lost Love

After finishing a one-man show, I focused on making a new album containing not only blues, jazz, soul feeling, but also progressive electronic taste. When I was producing the album, I lost my girl whom I loved. I gave priority to music more than her at that time. And I'd faced the sorrow I'd never experienced. I was exhausted by my life, but I never gave up. I stood up again and chose to chase my way to become a legacy.

After finishing producing the new album, I sent the album to various record companies and labels. And only one record company, which was known for producing various music leading Japanese pop music scenes, responded to me. And I met the representative in the company studio. And I talked about my vision with him. I said, "I want my music to be heard around the world beyond Japan." At that time, he admired my music production and songwriting and advised me to challenge the world.

2014- Rebirth as a Worldwide Artist

After the meeting, I decided to stop writing lyrics in Japanese and gigs in Japan, and I started writing my English songs. The decision was so tough for me because I'm not an English native. Both my father and mother are Japanese. I felt that I threw away Japan inside me at that time. But my vision was not to become a famous artist in Japan but to become a worldwide artist. So I decided to challenge.

After I released two experimental and avant-garde EPs, I released the EP "Neglected Heart" in 2015 at last. The EP combined with experimental organic electronic sounds and present whisper style vocal. I wrote about the true love I got to in the albums. I tried to write about not the physical form of love but the mental form of love.

And my unique and genuine music production got attention from creative people, especially the fashion industry. So I produced a lot of commercial music for web films, TV and projection mapping, and fashion shows. I created various music for not only Japanese leading companies but also global companies.

In 2017 I released "Island Girl." I produced not only music but also a film by myself. I drew the real experience of meeting an important person on an unpopulated island and story with her in the film.

In 2018 I released the album "Timeless" which album music was more minimal. I tried to write about timeless, beautiful moments I've experienced in my life and crammed them into the album.