History in USA

[ Until she entered to Beklee ]
Naoko moved to Boston on October 23, 2000. She has studied English at NESE in Cambridge for 3 months. Also she began to take lessons by Mark Baxter regularly. She often cried and was depressed, because she was confused what she could do here as a singer. She did not have confidence in her singing because of English. She could not speak English at all. Mark always encouraged and supported her. She did keep working with his help.


[ When she was in first semester]
She entered to Berklee College of Music in Jan 2001, and she met many great teachers. Especially, Didi Stewart was first a teacher at Berklee who understood and approved her voice and singing. Didi told her, "You have TONS of soul. You create incredible excitement when you sing rock--your deep love of the music shines through every time. Just try to be patient and keep." She did keep working hard with help by Didi and Mark.

[May 2001]
She went to New York for the first time, and had many experiences. She sang "Move Over" with great professional musicians ( guitarist of De Angelo, drummer of Chaka Khan) in open mic session at Club101. After she finished, the audience gave her applause. However the communication toward the band was very difficult for her. Also she was so mortifying toward herself because she could not sing well as usual. And, she met TOYA and YOCO who are Japanese musicians in New York. By their introduction, she met many musicians, Damon Duwhite(Drummer: plays with Chaka Khan), Larry Baeder(guitarist: nominated Grammy), ATN(Keyboardist: plays with Chuck Jackson).

She also took a lesson by Beverly Crosby who was The Crystals' member. Beverly told her, "You have pretty voice, but your way of singing is like Janis Joplin. You are not Janis. You are you. You have to sing your way. Just use your beautiful voice." At that time, she did not understand it and was confused because she believed it was her own way of singing. But, since then, she began to think about her own way of singing.


[Nov 2001]
She went to New Orleans for the first time. When she went to "Storyville" which is traditional club in French Quarter, a musician who played there offered that she would sing with him. Unfortunately, she did not have her charts then, so the gig did not actualize. Even though he promised to her that they could have gig next time, the gig never came true forever.

[Dec 2001]
She got in an audition "StoryTellers" Didi directed at Berklee with selected nine students.

[Dec/15/2001 to Jan/17/2002]
She had a big trip: she went to Los Angeles, Houston, Port Arthur, New Orleans, and New York.( If you would like to read the diary of the trip, click here.) During the trip, she got her own blues when she sang around Beverly and TOYA in New York. Beverly and TOYA were impressed with her singing. Beverly understood all of her; she loved Janis, rock and shouting. But Beverly was keeping telling her eagerly that she should have sung with her own words and soul. She did not understand about it before, but at last, she really understood it with her voice, body, and heart at that time. She also met Pierre Andre who played with Cyndi Lauper, and Johnny Allen who is a very famous DJ in New York, and she was invited a show that was hosted by Johnny.

[Feb/12/2002]
She sang at StoryTellers at the David Friend Recital Hall, Berklee Genko Uchida Building. She succeeded. All of the audience gave her performance so much cheers and applause. It was best in her life. She also got confidence in her singing at the show. Also she realized again there were the strong bonds between Didi and her.

(To be continued)


"I realize LOVE is most important in our life, so I hope I give love, courage, and many emotions to my audience by my singing.." by NAOKO