In
the days when she was a headline performer for the Anime East
conventions, this singer was known as Mio. In the time before Anime
Expo, the singer of themes for series such as Gundam 0083, Aura Battler
Dunbine and Heavy Metal L-Gaim changed her professional performance
name to Miq. The name change accompanied changes in her life. "I've
always lived in Tokyo. Due to some things with my family, I had to move
back to my home town in the countryside a few years ago," she said.
"Since then, I've become a singing teacher and I've been asked to
improve the reputation of my home town." The stage name Mio came from
the name of her band in the 1980's, but a lifestyle adviser suggested
that she change her name to Miq. The transliterated name sounds like
mee-kuh, but the Japanese characters also can mean "everlasting
royalty."
Miq
has been as attracted to American jazz and soul singing as some
Americans are attracted to J-rock sounds. Her 1980's band played soul
sounds, and that band got her the anime theme song jobs. "King Records,
which does the music for the Gundam series, were looking for a singer
to sing a song for the series Battle Mecha Xabungle. They didn't want a
cutesey voice, they wanted a deep and powerful voice. So they went
around clubs looking for a powerful voice. I was doing a show at
Yokohama, and they saw me and said `That`s the voice.'" Miq's voice is
an exception among anime theme singers where the voices seem to sound
younger each year. "I'm not really sure myself," Miq responded
when asked the reason for that trend. "It might be that the companies
are racing to be at the top, and they're looking for the big new singer
and looking for new girls - I can't be sure myself."
In
the days when she was a headline performer for the Anime East
conventions, this singer was known as Mio. In the time before Anime
Expo, the singer of themes for series such as Gundam 0083, Aura Battler
Dunbine and Heavy Metal L-Gaim changed her professional performance
name to Miq. The name change accompanied changes in her life. "I've
always lived in Tokyo. Due to some things with my family, I had to move
back to my home town in the countryside a few years ago," she said.
"Since then, I've become a singing teacher and I've been asked to
improve the reputation of my home town." The stage name Mio came from
the name of her band in the 1980's, but a lifestyle adviser suggested
that she change her name to Miq. The transliterated name sounds like
mee-kuh, but the Japanese characters also can mean "everlasting
royalty."
Miq
has been as attracted to American jazz and soul singing as some
Americans are attracted to J-rock sounds. Her 1980's band played soul
sounds, and that band got her the anime theme song jobs. "King Records,
which does the music for the Gundam series, were looking for a singer
to sing a song for the series Battle Mecha Xabungle. They didn't want a
cutesey voice, they wanted a deep and powerful voice. So they went
around clubs looking for a powerful voice. I was doing a show at
Yokohama, and they saw me and said `That`s the voice.'" Miq's voice is
an exception among anime theme singers where the voices seem to sound
younger each year. "I'm not really sure myself," Miq responded
when asked the reason for that trend. "It might be that the companies
are racing to be at the top, and they're looking for the big new singer
and looking for new girls - I can't be sure myself."
