Aoi Teshima

Aoi Teshima (手嶌葵, Teshima Aoi, born June 21, 1987) is a Japanese singer and voice actress from Kasuga, Fukuoka.^[3] She is known for singing and acting in several Goro Miyazaki movies including Tales from Earthsea and From Up on Poppy Hill.

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.^[2] 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.^[4][5] 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.^[6]

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.^[4] In 2003 and 2004, she participated in the musical event DIVA, held in Fukuoka, as part of the Yamaha Music-sponsored Teen's Music Festival.^[1]

In March 2005, she performed at the Japan-Korea Slow Music World event in South Korea, where her performance was favourably received amongst the audience, attracting the attention of anime director Gorō Miyazaki.^[7] 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.^[1][6]

On June 7, 2006, the release of “Theru's Song (テルーの唄, 'Terū no Uta')” became her major debut. The song was the theme of the Gorō Miyazaki directed film, Tales from Earthsea, in which she also voices the character Theru.^[8] 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.^[9]

She was featured singing two songs in the Nintendo Wii game, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, called “Light (光, 'Hikari')” and “Warmth of the Moon (月のぬくもり, 'Tsuki no Nukumori')”.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[10][11]

On September 30, 2012, she was presented with the Citizens Cultural Award of Kasuga City.^[12]

On February 10, 2016, she released the first single from her 10th album, Ren'dez-vous, titled “Letter to Tomorrow (明日への手紙, Asu e no Tegami)”. This song was used in the Japanese drama Love That Makes You Cry, and charted at top on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart.

Teshima has described herself to be 'stubborn and strong-willed',^[4][6] and added that she is also camera-shy.^[13]

Teshima's cover albums are sung in English.

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Aoi Teshima profile at Oricon (in Japanese)