MAA is a Japanese recording artist, former TV host and model. Previously known as Mar (stylized as MAR), she was vocalist of the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band Marbell from 2006 to 2010. When they disbanded she embarked on a solo career, switching to pop music.

History

MAA was born on January 25, 1986 in

Yokosuka, Kanagawa is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city ...

to a Japanese mother and an American father. She started as a model and later became a host for a TV show called ''Visual Shock''. Through this job she met fashion designer

H. Naoto Naoto Hirooka, better known as h.NAOTO (born 1977) is a Japanese avant-garde fashion designer. H. Naoto's style of clothing and accessories could be classified under Japanese punk and Gothic Lolita, and he has been called the "most visible and suc ...

(who would later design the clothes and outfits for Marbell).

2006–2010: Marbell

In 2006, she, going by the name Mar, and Tsunoda Takanori formed the

band Marbell. They were later joined by bassist Azusa and drummer yu-ya before releasing their debut album ''

Sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

'' on May 14, 2008. The band toured throughout Japan, mainly performing live in Tokyo, but also performed at the 2008

Otakon Otakon ( ) is an annual three-day anime convention held during July/August. It stands for Otaku Convention. From 1999 to 2016, it took place at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district; in 2017, it moved to ...

convention in the United States. Four of the songs from their album were performed by the band on May 3, 2008 at the first day of the hide memorial summit, which gave Marbell the opportunity to play for a huge audience at

Ajinomoto Stadium , also known as Tokyo Stadium in AFC Champions League, is a multi-purpose stadium in Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. The stadium was founded at Kantō Mura, the redevelopment area formerly used by United States Forces Japan, in March 2001. It was the fi ...

. However, the band was inactive throughout 2009 and on March 10, 2010 it was officially announced that Marbell had disbanded after only four years together.

2010–present: Solo

Only six months later Mar debuted as a solo artist, under the name MAA, with the single "Ghost Enemy". The EP ''Monkey Kingdom'' was released on December 1, 2010 and reached number 158 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

chart. On July 21, 2011 her third single "OKay" was released and became the ending song for

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Television) ...

's ''Happy Music''. She released her first full-length album ''BubbleMan Engine'' on October 12.

Discography

;Albums and EPs * ''Monkey Kingdom'' (2010.12.01) –

Albums Chart Peak Position: #158 * ''BubbleMan Engine'' (2011.10.12) ;Singles * "Ghost Enemy" (2010.09.22) * * "OKay" (2011.07.20) – used as the ending theme song for NTV's ''Happy Music'' * – both used as theme songs for the

pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of low-stakes, low-st ...

games based on

Tetsuo Hara is a Japanese manga artist. He is best-known for creating the post-apocalyptic martial arts series ''Fist of the North Star'' (1983–1988) with writer Buronson, which is one of the best-selling manga in history with over 100 million copies i ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

''Cyber Blue'' ;Other contributions * "Fake Emotion feat. MAA" – on The Lowbrows' album ''Emotion'' (2010.11.24) * "Ballerina Brain System -Michitomo Remix-" – on the compilation ''-D&N 10th Anniversary- Soul Works presents Gossip'' (2010.12.15) * "Come Again" – on ''

m-flo is a Japanese hip hop group consisting of record producer DJ Taku Takahashi, Verbal and Lisa. Lisa left the group in 2002 to pursue a solo career and the remaining members then started the M-Flo Loves... project working different vocalists fo ...

Tribute: Stitch the Future and Past'' (2011.04.20) * "Tomorrow @ Your Kingdom" – on ''Celebrity presents Diary'' (2011.04.30) ;With Marbell * ''

'' (2008.05.14)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maa Japanese women singer-songwriters Japanese singer-songwriters Japanese alternative rock musicians Japanese women pop singers Japanese dance music singers Japanese female models Japanese television personalities Japanese people of American descent Japanese synth-pop singers People from Yokosuka, Kanagawa Living people 1986 births Musicians from Kanagawa Prefecture 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers