ELISA

ELISA (born April 14, 1989, in Kanagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese pop singer and model active since 2007 and associated with Sony Music Entertainment Japan. She grew up in a musical family: her father is a cellist, and a relative worked as an opera singer in Germany. She began studying piano from the age of three, attended a school for absolute pitch and solfège in childhood, and started singing in a choir in seventh grade. By ninth grade, she was participating in a national choir convention through the NHK National School Music Competition as a soprano leader. In tenth grade, she also performed opera. In August 2007, she entered the elite Model Look 2007 audition. She was chosen as one of 10 finalists from about 3,000 applicants and was scouted after saying she wanted to be a singer rather than a model and performing both pop and opera at the final screening. She made her major debut in October 2007 as ELISA with “euphoric field feat. ELISA,” the opening theme for ef: a tale of memories. The song reached No. 22 on the Oricon chart and remained a long-running seller. In May 2008, she released “HIKARI,” the ending theme for Nabari no Ou. Later that year, she appeared at Animelo Summer Live 2008 -Challenge-, the first of four consecutive appearances at the event. Her early anime work also included songs such as “Wonder Wind” and the Toaru Majutsu no Index endings “Dear My Friend -Mada Minu Mirai he-,” “Real Force,” and “Smile -You and Me-.” She released the album “white pulsation” in January 2009, and “God only knows〜集積回路の夢旅人” reached No. 10 on Oricon in 2010. ELISA announced a hiatus because of poor health on September 18, 2011. She resumed her career in 2013 after moving to SME Records and wrote the lyrics for “Soba ni Iru yo (そばにいるよ),” the ending theme for Kakumeiki Valvrave. She later recorded “Millenario (ミレナリオ)” for Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei and “Rain or Shine” for 91 Days, transferred to SACRA MUSIC in 2018, and after her agency contract ended on September 30, 2020, continued as a freelance artist.