Biography

Yôko Kanno was born on March 18, 1964 in Sendai, Japan. She is a composer and director, known for Aquarion EVOL (2012), Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002) and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001).

She created a band called Seatbelts for the Cowboy Bebop music recording. But because of the great success of the music and selling of the CDs worldwide, the band wasn't disbanded, but kept touring mostly in Japan. They also worked together in 2007 on Darker than Black.

Since she works in the animation industry she only receives instructions from the director or storyboards which can help her with the music composing, never knowing if all of her works will be included in the finished work. She once said that this is a way she likes to work, since she doesn't have to obey the rules during her work.

Does some of her own singing (under the name "Gabriella Robin") for the music she writes (such as lead vocal for Green Bird, and chorus for Blue, both from Cowboy Bebop (1998) .

Began composing music in early childhood, writing a song for a boy she liked. She says Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy were her primary influences.

Frequently works with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.