Aoi Teshima

is a Japanese singer and voice actress from Kasuga, Fukuoka. She is known for singing and acting in several Goro Miyazaki movies including Tales from Earthsea and From Up on Poppy Hill.

Early life Aoi Teshima was born on June 21, 1987, in Kasuga, Fukuoka, Japan. From an early age, she was influenced by her parents' liking for classic musical films, such as The Wizard of Oz, The Secret Garden, The Little Prince, and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Of that, Teshima has attributed the song, "Moon River", along with the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday as the basis for her love for jazz music, and as major influences on her musical style. In junior high school, Teshima found herself moved by Bette Midler's 1979 song, "The Rose", her amateur cover of which became the trigger of her debut as a singer.

Career After graduating junior high, Teshima enrolled at the C&S Music School in Fukuoka, to acquire the qualifications of high school and junior college while simultaneously developing her singing abilities. There, she began a music career as an amateur in 2003. The Studio Ghibli music producer, Toshio Suzuki, was reportedly very impressed when he listened to her demo version of “The Rose” at the recommendation of Miyazaki. This song debuted at #5 on the Oricon charts, with the number of CD shipments numbering at about 300,000, along with music downloads recorded at about 650,000 downloads, which was the largest for the theme song of the Studio Ghibli series at the time.

She was featured singing two songs in the Nintendo Wii game, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, called “” and “”. In 2006 her song "Miracle Star" was used as the theme song for the Japanese version of Arctic Tale. In 2011, she once again collaborated with Gorō Miyazaki on his second feature, From up on Poppy Hill (2011), singing “Summer of Goodbye”, the main theme of the movie and other songs in the film, as well as voicing the character Yuko.

On September 30, 2012, she was presented with the Citizens Cultural Award of Kasuga City.

On February 10, 2016, she released the first single from her 10th album, Ren'dez-vous, titled “”. This song was used in the Japanese drama Love That Makes You Cry, and charted at top on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart.

Personal life Teshima has described herself to be 'stubborn and strong-willed',

Discography

Original albums Title Album Information Oriconalbumscharts Sales Tales from Earthsea Song Collection Released: July 12, 2006 Label: Yamaha (YCCW-10028) Formats: Compact disc, digital download, rental CD2055,000 Released: February 7, 2007 Label: Yamaha (YCCW-10028) Formats: Compact disc, digital download, rental CD3814,000 Released: July 23, 2008 Label: Yamaha (YCCW-10049) Formats: Compact disc, digital download, rental CD785,900 From up on Poppy Hill song collection Released: July 6, 2011 Label: Yamaha (YCCW-10156) Formats: Compact disc, digital download, rental CD3324,000 Ren'dez-vous Released: July 23, 2014 Label: Victor Entertainment (VICL-64074) 125

Cover albums Teshima's cover albums are sung in English. Title Paris-themed songs Released: December 12, 2012 Label: Rendezvous (RDV-0008) Cheek to Cheek~I Love Cinemas~ Western film theme songs Released: December 19, 2018 Label: Victor Entertainment (VIZL-1503/VICL-65075)

Compilation albums