Background
She was born as Akiko Yasuda (Yasuda Akiko (安田 章子) in Kiryū, Gunma, Japan and raised in Yokohama.
由紀さおり
She was born as Akiko Yasuda (Yasuda Akiko (安田 章子) in Kiryū, Gunma, Japan and raised in Yokohama.
In 1965 she debuted with the single "Hitchhike Musume (Hitchhiking girl)" on King Records (Japan) as Akiko Yasuda. In 1969, she had a hit with "Yoake no Scat (Scat at dawn)", which sold 1.5 million copies, which led her to sing at the Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai"s Kōhaku Uta Gassen, the annual year-end music show (after that she continued her appearance until 1978). In 1970 her single "Tegami (The Letter)" peaked at #1 and was the second best selling single in Japan in 1970.
She quickly became a popular television personality, appeared on a numbers of variety shows, and acted in several movies.
Their repertoire has not been limited to children"s songs but included also popular, classical, and anime songs. In 2009, she released her first original album since 1984, commemorating the 40th anniversary of her singing career as Saori Yuki.
A collaboration album with Pink Martini titled 1969 was released in November 2011 in more than 20 countries, and quickly gained popularity in various places including the United States, Canada, Singapore and Greece.
Foreign "Tegami" she won an award at the 12th Japan Record Awards. She received the Best Vocalist Award at the 15th Japan Record Awards for her hit "Koibumi (Love Letter)". She received the Award of Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Japan Academy Prize in 1983 for her role of Chikako Numata, a mother of two difficult sons in The Family Game. They toured around Japan with their specialty of Japanese children"s songs and received the Best Planning Award in 28th Japan Record Awards for their hit album Ano-toki, Kono-uta (あの時・この歌 ("Those Times, These Songs").
