Born in Kouchi City, Japan on March 21, 1959, Nobuo taught himself the piano at the age of 12. His childhood hero was Elton John, and the young Nobuo wanted to learn how to play like him.

It may come as a surprise to many that Nobuo had not always intended to become a musician. It was more of a hobby than anything to him. He graduated from the University of Kanagawa, but did not major in music. At the age of 22, Nobuo began his road to his career as a composer. After joining many bands as a keyboard player, he soon found that a love for composing more than just playing would bring him to the decision that he wanted to become a professional composer. He began sending out demo tapes of his compositions to many different companies. Unfortunately he was met with many knock-backs, as many inspiring musicians find, but eventually was hired by a radio station.

Come the year 1985. A friend of Nobuo’s was working for a then struggling video game company called Squaresoft. Apparently they were looking for someone to compose the score for Final Fantasy I. Nobuo of course accepted the position, and went on to become one of the most well known composers in the world of video game music.

Today Nobuo not only composes the music for the Final Fantasy series, but is also the producer. The latest soundtracks have seen him share the role of composer with other Squaresoft composers, which gives a new feel to the music of Final Fantasy.

In his spare time Nobuo enjoys listening to Irish music, drinking and making his own beer, watching Japanese Pro Wrestling, and learning to play the fiddle.

Unfortunately little is known about the other composers who have contributed towards the Final Fantasy series. Many of these composers are “free-lance” composers, which mean they do not exclusively work on Squaresoft games, but have contributed towards the composition of music for other games/companies also.

Hitoshi Sakimoto – Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Other soundtracks: Vagrant Story (2002).

Masaharu Iwata – Final Fantasy Tactics
Other soundtracks: has not worked on any other Squaresoft soundtracks.

Masashi Hamauzu – Final Fantasy X
Other soundtracks: Front Mission: Gun Hazard (1996), Tobal No 1 (1996), Chocobo’s Dungeon (1997), SaGa Frontier 2 (1999), Unlimited: SaGa (2003).

Junya Nakano – Final Fantasy X
Other soundtracks: Front Mission: Gun Hazard (1996), Tobal No 1 (1996), Another Mind (1998), Threads of Fate (1999).

Kumi Tanioka – Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XI: Legend of Zirat, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
Other soundtracks: Chocobo’s Dungeon 2 (1999).

Naoshi Mizuta – Final Fantasy XI
Other soundtracks: Parasite Eve II (1999).

Ayako Saso – Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Other soundtracks: IS: Internal Section (1999)

Kaori Ohkoshi – Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Other soundtracks: has not worked on any other Squaresoft soundtracks

Noriko Matsueda – Final Fantasy X-2
Other soundtracks: Front Mission (1995), Bahamut Lagoon (1996), Tobal No 1 (1996), Front Mission 2 (1997), Racing Lagoon (1999), The Bouncer (2000).

Takahito Eguchi – Final Fantasy X-2
Racing Lagoon (1999), The Bouncer (2000).

Born of Chinese nationality, Faye Wong was encouraged by her parents to go to Hong Kong to pursue her singing career. Soon after (at the age of 19) she enjoyed instant success, with her first album “The Day with No Patience” reaching Gold record status. In the early days of her career, she spent time in New York, studying music. The experience gave her increased confidence and independence, and experience that helped her further in her career when she returned to Hong Kong.

She enjoys great popularity in Hong Kong, where she has released over 40 albums and is one of the best selling Asian artists in the world today. Her voice on Final Fantasy VIII with the vocals for Eyes on Me bought Faye increased recognition in not only Japan, but also in the Western World.

With a crystal clear voice and natural beauty, Faye does not limit her talents only to singing. She has starred in several movies, the most notable of such was her lead role in the movie “ChungKing Express”. She has also won many awards for her musical talents.

Faye is a modest person, who does not like the press and glamour, but instead prefers to keep to herself and put the fans before the record label.

Emiko Shiratori – Final Fantasy IX

The vocalist for the FFIX main theme, Melodies of Life, Emiko Shiratori began her career in 1969. She is also known for appearances in both the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics and the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. Additionally, she has sung the opening themes for several movies and television series.

Her other gaming credits include writing the lyrics for the vocal version of Aerith’s Theme – Pure Heart, which was performed by Rikki and was included on the Suteki da ne single; and being the voice of the vocal tracks for Legend of Zelda: Ocerina of Time.

Emiko’s official website can be found at http://www.infortech.co.jp/es/ (Japanese).

Rikki – Final Fantasy X

With a beautiful voice to perfectly match the theme of Final Fantasy X, Rikki was actually selected as the vocalist due to her involvement with Okinawan Folk Music. When looking for a vocalist for the main theme song, Nobuo Uematsu knew that he wanted the song to be of this musical style. After listening to many albums form Okinawan folk artists, he came across one of Rikki’s albums. Her voice and style was what he was looking for, and she was given the vocal part.

Rikki (full name Ritsuki Nakano) began her singing career at the early age of 15. She has performed at many Japanese festivals throughout her career and also performed at the opening ceremony of the 1998 Paralympics.

Rikki’s official website can be found at http://www.gloria-corp.net/rikki/ (Japanese).

Koda Kumi – Final Fantasy X-2

For Final Fantasy X-2, Squaresoft decided to go with a different angle. The whole soundtrack itself contains a more modern, dance feel to it, so it only made sense to choose a Jpop idol to sing the main theme song. Or songs, in this case as there are two of them, Real Emotion and 1000 Words.

Koda also had an additional role with her involvement with FFX-2, that was different to the previous vocals. She was also the motion actress for Lenne as well as Yuna in the opening FMV.

Koda lists her interests as shopping and enjoys listening to Rock and R&B music. She has released 2 albums and 7 singles, and has performed a song “The Meaning of Peace” with popular Jpop artist BoA. She also shows support for charity concerns, performing at a concert in aid for Iraqi refugees in June 2003.

<< Note to Edman … seeing there is little info on Koda Kumi out there … I’m writing the above as if it’s after the end of June, as the concert hasn’t happened yet. >>

Koda’s official website can be found at http://www.koda.tv/ (Japanese).

Risa Ohki – Pray, Love will Grow

Risa Ohki was chosen to perform on the first Final Fantasy vocal collections – Pray and Love will Grow. Able to speak a range of languages including Japanese, English, French and Portuguese, these two albums enabled Risa to not only perform in these different languages, but she also contributed to writing the accompanying lyrics.

Born in Osaka, Japan, Risa graduated from the Osaka College of music and went on to form her own rock band “Pagent”. She has had a varied career which includes music (singing, composing), stage musicals, television and radio.