Pizzicato Five

Pizzicato Five was a Japanese pop band started by Yasuharu Konishi, and notably featured in it’s last lineup, Maki Nomiya. It was created in 1985 along with Keitaro Takanami, Ryo Kamomiya, Mamiko Sasaki & Shigero Miyata. While Miyata left soon after the band’s foundation, they were signed to Non-Standard records and released 2 singles, and later got signed to Sony Columbia and released 4 moderately successful albums. After the departure of Ryo Kamomiya & Mamiko Sasaki after the relative failure of their 1987 debut, Couples, and later recruit, Takao Tajima, they started a new project to introduce previous backup singer, Maki Nomiya, as the new lead singer and frontwoman, with the This Year’s Girl project. After being used in a TV commercial and as a theme tune, “Sweet Soul Revue”, became their first major hit in Japan and still is a big hit to this day. They are known for incorporating 60’s inspired tunes, along drum & bass & rock music, and also spear-heading the 90’s shibuya-kei movement. They broke up in March 2001, after releasing their last album Çà et là du Japon.