Mari Iijima

is a Japanese actress and singer. She writes and produces most of her own music, and plays the piano and other instruments. After being signed to JVC Victor in 1982, Mari first became known for her voice-acting role as Lynn Minmay in the anime Macross. Her debut original album, Rosé, was released in 1983, which was produced by composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

Life and career

Iijima was born in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki. Her original demo tape was picked up by JVC Victor in 1982 and she was signed to the record company as a singer-songwriter. Soon afterward, she was asked to audition for the role of Lynn Minmay in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross by the label and the producers chose her to play the role. The series quickly became a mega hit and brought Iijima to stardom. Her debut album, Rosé, containing no Macross tracks, had lyrics and music written by her. It was produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who used the new Yamaha DX7 digital synthesizer (released the same year) while producing her album. Rosé debuted at number 10 on the charts in September 1983, and she started her career as a singer-songwriter. The couple had two children, Andy and Ryan, before separating in 2001.

After releasing her first independent (and first English language) album, No Limit, she was nominated for the 2000 Los Angeles Music Awards' Best Pop Artist for the album and she was in the final four for the award. She won the best Asian song for her track Unspoken Love from the album Wonderful People at the Just Plain Folks Awards in 2006 and performed as a guest performer.

In 2006, she reprised her role as Lynn Minmay in ADV Films' English-language release of Macross, which made her the second Japanese voice actor to reprise her role in an English anime dub (following only Miyuki Sawashiro). She dedicated her performance in the ADV dub to Arihiro Hase, the Japanese voice actor of Hikaru Ichijo in Macross and a close friend of Iijima. She maintained good relations with Hase's mother after his death by suicide in 1996.

Iijima released her twenty-first studio album, called Echo, in August 2009. The title was taken from the nymph character Echo that appears in Echo and Narcissus. The album's theme is unrequited love.

She has continued to perform into the 2020s, both live and in videos, but a Tokyo concert planned for August 2020 was postponed to January 11, 2021 (then to August 28, 2021), due to the COVID-19 crisis. Iijima stated on her website that she "likes the ring of '1.11'" as a sign for the future.

Discography

Original albums Year Title 1983 Rosé 1984 Blanche 1985 Midori 1985 Kimono Stereo 1987 Coquettish Blue 1988 Miss Lemon 1989 My Heart in Red 1990 It's a Love Thing 1991 Believe 1993 Different Worlds 1994 Love Season 1995 Sonic Boom 1996 Good Medicine 1997 Europe 1998 Rain & Shine 1999 No Limit 2001 Right Now 2003 Silent Love 2004 Wonderful People 2006 Uncompromising Innocence 2009 Echo 2012 Take a Picture Against the Light 2014 Sharp as a Knife, as Sweet as Strawberries 2016 Awakening 2018 Chaos and Stillness 2022 Being Myself

Compilation albums

Year Title 1984 Variée 1993 The Classics 1995 Best of the Best 2004 Gems 2005 Mari picks "The Ultimate Collection" (1983–1985) 2005 Mari picks "The Ultimate Collection" (1987–1999) 2007 palette 2019 G

EPs Year Title 2011 2 Seconds of Infinity 2013 Dancing with Minmay 2018 Anger is The New Sadness 2020 Honto No Ai 2023 For Lovers Only II

Singles

Soundtracks Year Title 2002 Lorna Doone The Soundtrack

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes 1982 The Super Dimension Fortress Macross Lynn Minmay Voice actress and singer 1984 Macross: Do You Remember Love? Lynn Minmay Voice actress, singer, and songwriter for "Tenshi no Enogu" 1999 Pacific Blue Kiko Season 5 – episode 12 "God's Gift" 2001 Spyder Games Soraya Episodes 1&2 2001 Lorna Doone Composer (2001 re-release of 1922 film) 2004 Green Tea-r Yoko Lead actress and songwriter 2006 The Super Dimension Fortress Macross Lynn Minmay ADV Films' 2006 English Dub

Video games YearTitleRoleNotes 2002 Galaxy Angel Theme song performance "Eternal love ~Hikari no Tenshi~", "Tenshi-tachi no Kyuusoku" 2003 Galaxy Angel: Moonlight Lovers Theme song performance "Eternal love 2003", "Tenshi-tachi no Kyuusoku" 2004 Cy-Girls Aska (voice) 2013 Macross 30: The Voice that Connects the Galaxy Lynn Minmay