Biography
Composer and producer Mimi Kobayashi returns with an eight-part remix of her 1981 hit “Lum’s Love Song”, featuring edits from indie pop group Kero Kero Bonito, and Japanese producers Tofubeats and Kenmochi Hidefumi. The remixes are followed by an exciting slate of original solo releases – including an album of R&B compositions featuring guest vocalists, and an ambitious multi-album solo piano project.
The remixes are followed by an exciting slate of original solo releases – her first since 1989’s experimental, sample-based record iK.i – including an album of R&B compositions featuring guest vocalists, and an ambitious multi-album solo piano project.
Debuting in the early 1970s as a sought-after 15-year-old pianist in her hometown of Chiba Prefecture, Japan, Kobayashi built up her jazz-referencing skills as a founding member of fusion group ASOCA, before establishing a formidable solo career with her Flying Mimi Band. Kobayashi went on to write, arrange and produce four more records, traversing genres from jazz orchestration to Latin rhythms and digital programming.
Most notably, 1981’s Coconuts High featured a killer jazz fusion backing band composed of bassist Abraham Laboriel, Weather Report percussionist Alex Acuña, and the horn section from Tower of Power, made when Kobayashi was just 23. In 1981, Kobayashi composed her biggest hit to date: the theme for the anime Urusei Yatsura, “Lum Love Song”, selling over 500,000 copies.
By 1985, Kobayashi had relocated to London after touring Europe with German New Wave producer Holger Hiller. Here she became an in-demand session player, working with Depeche Mode on their hit 1990 single “Enjoy the Silence”, as well as pop trio Swing Out Sister, and Dutch singer Mathilde Santing, whose 1989 album Breast and Brow she also produced.
As the 90s approached, Kobayashi also toured with the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra and formed the R&B group Moves in Motion with producer Tony Nwachuku, before stepping back from live music in 1993 to look after her young son.
Following Kobayashi’s founding of the successful distribution company Cisco International, she returned to the live stage in 2016 as a founding member of the Sudanese rock group The Scorpios, with sellout shows throughout the UK. Kobayashi is now back with a bang and readying multiple, vibrant solo projects. After 50 years on the world music stage, her best work is surely still to come.
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