Izumi Kobayashi (musician)

Izumi Kobayashi
小林 泉美
Born (1957-03-25) 25 March 1957
Funabashi, Japan
Occupations
  • Singer
  • keyboardist
  • composer
  • record producer
  • business executive
Children1
Musical career
Genres
InstrumentVocal
Years active1977–present
Labels
Formerly of
  • ASOCA
  • Parachute

Izumi Kobayashi (Japanese: 小林 泉美, Hepburn: Kobayashi Izumi; born 25 March 1957) is a Japanese musician, record producer, and business executive. Originally working for a funk band at a US military base, she formed the band ASOCA and won the EastWest '76 Best Keyboardist award, and she performed as a keyboardist for other musicians and bands. Working for CBS/Sony, she released several solo albums, either with the Mimie-Chan Super Band and its later iteration Izumi Kobayashi & Flying Mimi Band or solely with her own name. She also worked as a composer for Japanese media, including "Lum's Love Song" (the theme song for the Urusei Yatsura anime), and hosted TV Tokyo late-night show Rock in Japan. She later moved to London in 1985 and worked as a record producer and industry executive in Europe, serving as president of Cisco Records London.

Biography

Early life and career

Izumi Kobayashi, a native of Funabashi, was born on 25 March 1957.[1] She began taking piano lessons at the age of ten.[2] She earned her first professional gig after performing at a Funabashi dance hall, and learning to play the Yamaha Electone, started securing performance gigs at restaurants, clubs, and similar venues.[2] She also played for a funk band at a US military base, with its members including American musicians.[2] She also studied at the Tokyo College of Music, graduating from the Department of Piano.[1]

While studying at university, Kobayashi was a backing band member for Masatoshi Nakamura and a recording artist for artists like Hiroshi Tachi.[2] In 1976, at the invitation of Yuichi Tokashiki—a fellow bandmate from the military base—she formed the band ASOCA.[2] They competed in the Yamaha Music Foundation's EastWest '76 contest, where they won the Grand Prix and where she received the award for Best Keyboardist.[3][1] As a keyboardist, she performed with fusion bands such as the Masayoshi Takanaka Band, Parachute, and T-Square, and has participated in live performances and studio recordings for artists including Miyuki Nakajima and Yumi Matsutoya.[2] She also received offers to joined Parachute and T-Square full-time, doing so for only the former.[2]

Solo career in Japan

Kobayashi was scouted by CBS/Sony music producer Yukitaka Mashimo and subsequently made her record debut with them in 1977.[2] That same year, Kobayashi released her first album Orange Sky; she did the arranging in the album, a rare feat for debut artists.[2] She was leader of the Mimie-Chan Super Band, which was renamed Izumi Kobayashi & Flying Mimi Band in 1978.[4][1] Placed in CBS/Sony's idol division under producer Muneo Wakamatsu, she had her recordings there retracted from the company and sent to Nippon Columbia.[5] She released four of her albums under her own name alone.[5]

Kobayashi also worked in television dramas, films, and anime.[1] One of the songs she composed was "Lum's Love Song", the theme song for the Urusei Yatsura anime; it subsequent went on to have numerous song covers and enjoy "popularity beyond the realm of anime songs".[2] She performed "Dancing Star", one of the theme songs of the anime,[6] and she performed "I, I, You & AI", the theme song of Urusei Yatsura: Only You;[7] she had been signed to the anime's producer Kitty Records.[4] While working as composer for one of the Ganbare!! Tabuchi-kun!! anime films, she had to write "as many as twenty songs in a single day".[4] In addition to composition and arrangement for other artists, she has also worked in creating scores for orchestras.[2] She was so busy with music that at one point she only had "one hour of sleep a night ... there were times when [she] was absolutely thrilled just to get three hours of sleep".[4]

Outside of music, Kobayashi served as the host of TV Tokyo late-night show Rock in Japan, and was a columnist for magazines such as Keyboard Magazine  and Sound & Recording Magazine .[2]

Career in Europe and subsequent later career

In 1985, Kobayashi moved to London.[8] She had decided to work in Europe at the advice of Holger Hiller, who later produced her 1989 album I-Ki.[2] After her son's birth in 1988, she became less involved with performing as a musician due to the demands of raising a child.[2] Her work subsequently included Mathilde Santing's album Breast and Brow, Swing Out Sister's singles Blue Mood and Breakout, and at least one German film, and she also worked with Depeche Mode and Stephen Duffy.[2][4] She worked as a international business coordinator between Japanese and British record labels.[5] She also worked as president of Cisco Records London, where she promoted the presence of Japanese artists in Europe;[4] Mantanweb described her as "a bridge between the club music scenes of the United Kingdom and Japan".[5]

Kobayashi spoke of her experiences on being an Asian expatriate in the United Kingdom:

To be honest ... I originally wanted to go to New York, not the UK. But I never received an invitation from New York. The great thing about the UK is that it values individuality; even if your technical skills aren't perfect, as long as you're unique—one of a kind—that's enough. Back then in the UK, being an Asian woman in that scene might have been considered something of a rarity. I don't think I would have been able to make a career in music if I had gone to New York; they tend to demand a much higher level of technical proficiency there"[5]

Despite being busy working in Europe, Kobayashi still worked with Japanese media, serving as composer for the dramas Waru (1992) and Joi  (1999).[4] In the 2010s, she did studio scouting for a music project during her trips to Cuba.[2] She returned to being a musician in 2016, performing for the African band The Scorpios.[2] She also returned to anime music, composing a theme song for the 2020 anime Tokyo Gambo and covering a remix of "Lum's Love Song" as a vocalist.[4]

Legacy and personal life

Kobayashi's work has also regained popularity due to the city pop wave, including both her solo work and Flying Mimi Band work.[2] Her song "Coffee Rumba" appeared on the 2019 city pop compilation Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR and Boogie 1976–1986;[9] Chris Ingalls of PopMatters called it an "eclectic mini-epic [which] bridges the gap between Prince-inspired funk and vintage synth-heavy Thomas Dolby".[10] In November 2020, she held a concert at Blues Alley Japan in Meguro as part of Takashi Ikegami's City Pop Connection concert series; this was the first time in over three decades she had performed her own songs in Japan alongside her band.[8] Her song appeared in the 2025 compilation album Crossover City: Mint Breeze; the album's producer Hitoshi Kurimoto explained that the "musical foundation of her song 'Palm St.' is rooted in authentic Latin fusion".[11][12]

Kobayashi has a son with Hiller, musician Ken Kobayashi.[13]

Discography

Albums

Title Details
Orange Sky[14]
(as Izumi Kobayashi & Flying Mimi Band)
Spoon Dance[15]
(as Izumi Kobayashi & Flying Mimi Band)
  • Released: 1978
  • Label: Nippon Phonogram
Sea Flight[16]
(as Izumi Kobayashi & Flying Mimi Band)
  • Released: October 1978
Coconuts High[17]
Nuts, Nuts, Nuts[18]
  • Released: 1982
  • Label: Kitty Records
Tropicana[19]
  • Released: 1983
  • Label: Kitty Records
Iki[16]
(stylized as i.Ki)
  • Released: 1989

Singles

Title Details
My Beach Samba' 78[20]
  • Released: 25 April 1978
  • Label: Nippon Phonogram
I, I, You & Ai[21]
  • Released: 1982
  • Label: Kitty Records
Dancing Star[22]
  • Released: 1983
  • Label: Kitty Records
Lazy Love[23]
(as Izumi "Mimi" Kobayashi & Tokyo Riddim Band; featuring Ras Tavaris)
  • Released: 14 August 2024
  • Label: Time Capsule

Filmography

Year Title Role(s) Ref(s)
1980 Ganbare!! Tabuchi-kun!! Composer [4]
1980 Tonda Couple Composer [24]
1983 Urusei Yatsura: Only You Composer (with Masamichi Amano, Fumitaka Anzai, and Kōji Nishimura) [25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "小林泉美". artist.cdjournal.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 11 November 2025. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "『うる星やつら』からオーケストラまで、日本屈指のマルチ・ミュージシャンのキャリアを紐解く". Barks (in Japanese). 16 April 2018. Archived from the original on 26 April 2026. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
  3. ↑ "EastWest'76 | イベントアーカイブ". Yamaha Event History (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "小林泉美 うる星やつら「ラムのラブソング」から４０年 「自分はまだまだ」｜よろず〜ニュース". Yorozu News (in Japanese). 1 September 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "小林泉美：「ラムのラブソング」作曲家の異色の経歴 英クラブシーンと日本をつなぐ". Mantanweb (in Japanese). 5 December 2021. Archived from the original on 22 July 2025. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  6. ↑ "【アニソン】新旧「うる星やつら」で好きなオープニングテーマ曲は？ 3曲を紹介！ | アニメ ねとらぼリサーチ". Netorabo (in Japanese). 2 December 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
  7. ↑ "うる星やつら（1981年版）｜アニメ声優・動画配信情報・1981秋アニメ最新情報一覧". Animate Times (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 April 2026.
  8. 1 2 "小林"mimi"泉美、35年以上ぶりのソロ・ライブを開催". Barks (in Japanese). 29 October 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  9. ↑ Bloom, Madison (9 March 2019). "Light in the Attic to Release Japanese "City Pop" Compilation". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 12 April 2026. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
  10. ↑ Ingalls, Chris (3 May 2019). "'Pacific Breeze' and the Lost Japanese Genre of City Pop". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 26 March 2025. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
  11. ↑ "アナタもJフュージョンの虜に――画期的コンピ『CROSSOVER CITY』5作で聴く〈シティポップの次〉". Mikiki (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 5 April 2026. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  12. ↑ Kurimoto, Hitoshi (21 May 2025). "ジャパニーズ・フュージョンは抜群のクオリティ！高中正義に対する海外からの熱いまなざし". reminder.top (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 17 December 2025. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  13. ↑ "SKYTOPIA 『ie ep』 小林泉美とホルガー・ヒラーを両親に持つKen Kobayashiの新名義EP". Mikiki (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1 November 2025. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  14. ↑ "オレンジ・スカイ/IZUMI KOBAYASHI & FLYING MIMI BAND/小林泉美&フライング・ミミ・バンド｜日本のロック｜ディスクユニオン･オンラインショップ｜diskunion.net". Disk Union (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 April 2026.
  15. ↑ "スプーンダンス/IZUMI KOBAYASHI & FLYING MIMI BAND/小林泉美&フライング・ミミ・バンド｜日本のロック｜ディスクユニオン･オンラインショップ｜diskunion.net". Disk Union (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 27 April 2026. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
  16. 1 2 "小林泉美&Flying Mimi Band『Sea Flight』と小林泉美『Tropicana』＆『iK.i』がアナログレコードで復刻！". 1 August 2024. Archived from the original on 26 April 2026. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
  17. ↑ Izumi Kobayashi (1981). Coconuts High (center label). Kitty Records. 28MK 0023.
  18. ↑ Izumi Kobayashi (1982). Nuts Nuts Nuts (center label). Kitty Records. 28MS 0010.
  19. ↑ Izumi Kobayashi (1983). Tropicana (center label). Kitty Records. 28MS 0039.
  20. ↑ "マイ・ビーチ・サンバ'78/IZUMI "Mimi" KOBAYASHI/小林泉美｜日本のロック｜ディスクユニオン･オンラインショップ｜diskunion.net". Disk Union (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 19 May 2026. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
  21. ↑ Izumi Kobayashi (1983). I,I,You&愛 (center label). Kitty Records. 7DS 0027.
  22. ↑ Izumi Kobayashi (1983). Dancing Star (center label). Kitty Records. 7DS 0054.
  23. ↑ "LAZY LOVE FEAT.RAS TAVARIS/IZUMI MIMI KOBAYASHI & TOKYO RIDDIM BAND/小林"ミミ"泉美が43年の時を経て自身の名曲をセルフカバーしたダビーな新時代UKラバーズ・ロック｜REGGAE｜ディスクユニオン･オンラインショップ｜diskunion.net". Disk Union (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 April 2026.
  24. ↑ "1980年代日本映画――試行と新生-3". National Film Archive of Japan (in Japanese). 5 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 April 2026. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
  25. ↑ Divers, Allen (3 February 2004). "Urusei Yatsura: Only You DVD". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 27 April 2026. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
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