Laura Shigihara
Encyclopedia
Laura Shigihara is a video game composer, independent game developer
, and singer-songwriter
. She has created music and sound for over 25 videogame titles, but she is best known as the lead composer and sound designer for the tower defense
video game Plants vs. Zombies
. She is half-Japan
ese, and in addition to writing and performing the English
version of the ending credits song, "Zombie
s on Your Lawn
", she also wrote and performed the Japanese version, "Uraniwa ni Zombies ga." Shigihara provided vocals for the Singing Sunflower
pet in World of Warcraft
: Cataclysm. She also participated in Akira Yamaoka's Play for Japan charity album alongside other composers like Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda.
Shortly after returning to the US, Shigihara took a job as the sound director for a company that produced an audio talk show and English learning materials through Apple Japan. She also released a studio album and composed her first video game soundtrack for a small casual game called Wobbly Bobbly. She was so excited to be working on a video game that she told them she'd work for free. The company liked her work and paid her to create music for several subsequent projects. From there she built up her portfolio and has worked on over 25 published titles including Plants vs. Zombies, Ghost Harvest, World of Warcraft, and Minesweeper. In her spare time, she has also been developing a music-based role playing game called Melolune, and has recently participated in Akira Yamaoka's charity iTunes album Play for Japan where she contributed an original song called Jump.
Game developer
Game developer may refer to:* Video game developer, an individual or company working on video game production* Video game publisher, a company funding video game developer* Video game producer, a manager of game development team...
, and singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
. She has created music and sound for over 25 videogame titles, but she is best known as the lead composer and sound designer for the tower defense
Tower defense
Tower defense is a subgenre of real-time strategy computer games.The goal of tower defense games is to try to stop enemies from crossing a map by building towers which shoot at them as they pass. Enemies and towers usually have varied abilities, costs, and ability costs...
video game Plants vs. Zombies
Plants vs. Zombies
Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense action video game developed and originally published by PopCap Games for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game involves a homeowner using many varieties of plants to repel an army of zombies from "eating their brains". It was first released on May 5, 2009,...
. She is half-Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese, and in addition to writing and performing the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version of the ending credits song, "Zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s on Your Lawn
Lawn
A lawn is an area of aesthetic and recreational land planted with grasses or other durable plants, which usually are maintained at a low and consistent height. Low ornamental meadows in natural landscaping styles are a contemporary option of a lawn...
", she also wrote and performed the Japanese version, "Uraniwa ni Zombies ga." Shigihara provided vocals for the Singing Sunflower
Sunflower
Sunflower is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence . The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads...
pet in World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
: Cataclysm. She also participated in Akira Yamaoka's Play for Japan charity album alongside other composers like Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda.
Biography
Shigihara, whose father is Japanese and mother is French-American, grew up in both the US and Japan. She was classically trained on the piano for 11 years, and taught herself guitar and drums. She grew up loving video games and playing video game music on the piano by ear. During college, she was given an old version of Cakewalk which she used to start learning about mixing, arranging, and production by recreating old video game soundtracks and composing her own songs. After a friend leaked her original material to record companies in Japan, Shigihara was offered record contracts as a singer there, but ended up turning them down for personal reasons.Shortly after returning to the US, Shigihara took a job as the sound director for a company that produced an audio talk show and English learning materials through Apple Japan. She also released a studio album and composed her first video game soundtrack for a small casual game called Wobbly Bobbly. She was so excited to be working on a video game that she told them she'd work for free. The company liked her work and paid her to create music for several subsequent projects. From there she built up her portfolio and has worked on over 25 published titles including Plants vs. Zombies, Ghost Harvest, World of Warcraft, and Minesweeper. In her spare time, she has also been developing a music-based role playing game called Melolune, and has recently participated in Akira Yamaoka's charity iTunes album Play for Japan where she contributed an original song called Jump.