Taeko Ohnuki

Sugar Babe and solo

Taeko Ohnuki, spelled Onuki in the modern romanization used by English Wikipedia and her official site, was born on November 28, 1953 in Suginami ward, Tokyo. After singing in amateur bands in her teens she joined a folk group, and a Yotsuya rock cafe introduced her to Tatsuro Yamashita. In 1973 she formed Sugar Babe with Yamashita and Kunio Muramatsu, whose single "Down Town" came out on Niagara in 1975, alongside the album Songs (1975). Ohnuki told Red Bull Music Academy Daily in 2017 that the band was largely ignored in its three years, with critics harsh, and its major-seventh-chord pop poorly received at a festival. It disbanded in 1976.

Her solo debut Grey Skies came out on September 25, 1976, followed by Sunshower (July 25, 1977). Mignonne (September 21, 1978, RCA/RVC) sold poorly, and she said she wanted to leave the industry and took a break of about two years. The Europe trilogy Romantique (1980), Aventure (1981) and Cliche (1982) was more electronic, and later albums include Signifie (1983), Cahier (1984), Copine (1985), Comin' Soon (1986), Drawing (1992), Lucy (1997), Attraction (1999), Note (2002) and One Fine Day (2005). Ryuichi Sakamoto arranged many of her records, and they made UTAU together in 2010. Her soundtrack for Tokyo Biyori (1997) is reported to have won Best Music at the 21st Japan Academy Prize. She hosted J-WAVE programs in 2005 and 2006, and earlier an FM Tokyo show, Kasou Nettai, from 1990.

Tint, with Ryota Komatsu, came out in 2015, and she played a concert with Akira Senju in 2016. In 2025 she released a 50th-anniversary live album and a 7-inch of "4:00 A.M." in a re-edit (August 2, 2025, MHKL-102, Sony Music Direct). On February 7, 2026 she played The Wiltern in Los Angeles, a sold-out, phone-free show and her first outside Japan in 50 years; she opened with "Yokogao" and said to the audience, this is my first ever show outside of Japan in 50 years. Setlist.fm lists 170 setlists. Red Bull Music Academy Daily calls her a key influence on city pop and says her early work treated Tokyo as a place to escape from.