Youko Kanno

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Kanno's earliest experiences with music came from attending church with her parents. She studied keyboard from a young age on both the piano in her home and the organ at her kindergarten. In elementary school, she began participating in composition contests, but in high school, Kanno began to take more of an interest in literature than in music.

She attended Waseda University, where she majored in literature, but she transcribed music for various student groups at Waseda in her free time. While in university, Koei, a Japanese video game company, asked her to compose the soundtrack to Nobunaga's Ambition. The game turned out to be a hit, and Kanno's music career was launched.

Kanno has also composed music for artists such as Maaya Sakamoto, Megumi Nakajima and Kyouko Koizumi. She is also a keyboardist, as well as the frontwoman for Seatbelts, who perform many of Kanno's compositions and soundtracks.

She has collaborated with directors Shinichirou Watanabe and Shouji Kawamori multiple times.

In addition to Japanese, she speaks a little English and some French.