Taeko Onuki
Taeko Onuki co-founded Sugar Babe, then went her own way after the band dissolved in 1975, building a jazz-inflected solo career defined by harmonic sophistication and lyrics that turned inward rather than outward. Her work alongside Yamashita and Kunio Muramatsu in Sugar Babe, produced by Eiichi Ohtaki, set the meticulous standard for arrangement and harmony that would come to define city pop as a genre. But where Yamashita pushed the Sugar Babe sound toward mass appeal, Onuki took the more difficult road, favoring texture and introspection over hooks, giving the genre a quieter counterpoint to its commercial ambitions.
At a glance
- Active
- 1973–present
- From
- Tokyo, Japan
- Listening guide track
- “4:00A.M.”
Listen
In the Japanese City Pop listening guide: “4:00A.M.”
In the issues
- Japanese City PopSupporting cast · 1973-1989
Japanese City Pop is a genre from Tokyo, Japan, 1973–1989. Its principal artists include Tatsuro Yamashita, Mariya Takeuchi and Haruomi Hosono. This issue covers 10 essential albums and 15 dated events.