AYUKO SAITO
aka AYUKO Soul Quest.
Singer / Songwriter
<Scroll down for the English translation>
東京生まれ
6歳から15歳までクラシックピアノを学ぶ。
小学生の頃は当時の歌謡曲をよく聴き、
歌うことが好きになるきっかけとなった最初の歌手は松田聖子さん。
13歳から洋楽を聴き始め、都内のボーカルスクールに通う。
中高では「英語演劇部」に所属。
16歳の時にアメリカ・ノースダコタ州に一年留学。
通っていた高校のミュージカルにソリストとして出演。
（ Little Shop of Horrors/ Leader of the Pack）
帰国後、17歳の時にジャズボーカルスクールに通い始める。
1991年、19歳の時に米ボストン、バークリー音楽大学パフォーマンス科に入学
コンテポラリー音楽理論の知識を身につけながら、
Jazz/Gospel/R&B/Rock/Popなど、あらゆるジャンルを学ぶ。
特に影響を受けたのはGospel、R&BをはじめとするBlack Musicのボーカルスタイル。
4年生の時にボストンの敏腕ボイストレーナー、故Jeannie Devaと出会い、師事。
1995年バークリー音楽大学卒業
帰国後、CMレコーデイングをきっかけに、
多くのレコーディング（CM/映画/TVドラマ）や
アーティストのバックアップ（レコーディング、コンサート）に従事。
オールジャンルを英語・日本語で対応できるプロの歌手として活動。
（これまでのキャリアについては「Works」を参照）
感情を声にストレートにのせ、ソウルフルで豊かな表現を特徴とするボーカルスタイルを構築してゆく。
2010年～2015年 結婚・出産・育児で音楽から離れるも、
2016年 一念発起の復帰。ソロLIVE活動を意欲的にやっていくことを決意。
Soul/Jazz/Rockのスタイルに、映画やミュージカル、ディズニーの名曲なども加えたLIVEを展開。
2023年からは音楽スタイルを
SoulMusicを基盤にロック、ポップ、ヒップホップにフォーカスし、音楽、パフォーマンスにおいて、
クリエイティビティをより広げてゆくために
新たなバンドでオリジナル曲を発表していく予定。
「大人のアメリカンアイドル」が目標。
AYUKO SAITO was born and grew up in Tokyo, Japan. She learned the classical piano from age of 6 to 15. In her childhood, she liked to listen to Japanese pop music and the first singer who inspired her to sing was Seiko Matsuda.
She started to listen to foreign music like American and British pop music, when she was 13 years old , when she started to take contemporary vocal lessons in Tokyo. Through out her high school life, she was involved in English Acting club.
When she was 16 years old, she went to Fargo, North Dakota of the U.S. as an exchange student. While she was there, she was involved in high school musicals, which were “Little Shop of Horrors” and “ The Leader of the Pack”, where she was cast as a soloist.
After coming back to Japan, when she was 17 years old, she started to take Jazz Vocal lessons.
In 1991, she she was 19 years old, she went back to the US to enter in Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA., where she majored in Vocal Performance. She learned contemporary music like Jazz, Gospel, R&B, Rock and pop, while, at the same time, studying the basics of contemporary music theory. Her vocal style was inspired and influenced especially by Black Music. When she was a senior, she met Jeaanie Deva who was one of the greatest vocal coach in Boston, and learned vocal techniques further from her.
In 1995, she graduated from Berklee College of Music.
After coming back to Japan, she had an opportunity to sing for a commercial film and started to get more offers for recordings like other commercial films, movies, TV films and back-ups for artists and for concerts until many years after. She stayed quite active as a professional singer who could sing all kinds of music in both Japanese and English.
She established her vocal style characterized by her soulful and rich expressions through putting the emotion straight on her voice.
Although she left music from 2010 to 2015 because of marriage, birth of children and nursing them, in 2016, she decided to return to her music life and also to get active as a solo singer.
In 2021, she started a project to expand her performing area as a solo singer who creates a wide rage of world on her stage beyond genre of music, adding songs from films, musicals and Disney’s to her characteristic style of Soul, Jazz and Rock music.
From 2023, she is planning to focus on Rock, Pop and Hip-Hop based on Soul Music by writing original songs with her new band to expand her creativity in music and performances with "American Idol"vibes.