Yukimi Nagano is a Swedish 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...

. Nagano was born and raised in Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden to a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 father and Swedish-American

Swedish American

Swedish Americans are Americans of Swedish descent, especially the descendants of about 1.2 million immigrants from Sweden during 1885-1915. Most were Lutherans who affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ; some were Methodists...

 mother; she grew up listening to American folk

Traditional music

Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...

 because of her mother, but always had an affinity for R&B

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

.

She is the vocalist of Gothenburg-based electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 band Little Dragon

Little Dragon

Little Dragon are a Swedish electronic band, formed in Gothenburg in 1996. It consists of Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano and her close high school friends Erik Bodin , Fredrik Källgren Wallin and Håkan Wirenstrand .Little Dragon's first release was the double A-side 7" single...

, which she established with her close high school friends Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Wallin (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards). Nagano worked with Swedish nu jazz

Nu jazz

Nu jazz is an umbrella term coined in the late 1990s to refer to music that blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, soul, electronic dance music, and free improvisation...

 duo Koop

Koop (band)

Koop is an electronic jazz duo from Sweden, consisting of Magnus Zingmark and Oscar Simonsson.Koop won a Swedish Grammy Award in 2003 for the album "Waltz for Koop", and received a Gold certification for sales of their most recent album, Koop Islands...

, and she and Erik Bodin play live with José González

José González

José González is a Swedish-Argentine indie folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Gothenburg, Sweden.González is also a member of Swedish band Junip, along with Elias Araya and Tobias Winterkorn.- Biography :...

. Nagano is also featured on Gorillaz

Gorillaz

Gorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...

's 2010 album Plastic Beach

Plastic Beach

Plastic Beach is the third studio album by British virtual band and alternative hip hop supergroup Gorillaz, released 3 March 2010 on Parlophone and Virgin Records. Conceived from an unfinished Gorillaz project called Carousel, the album was recorded during June 2008 to November 2009 and produced...

on the songs "Empire Ants" and "To Binge", both of which she co-wrote. In 2011, she was featured on SBTRKT

SBTRKT

SBTRKT is a musician/producer from London, United Kingdom. SBTRKT began his career as a DJ in the east London club "Plastic People". SBTRKT has remixed songs by artists such as MIA, Radiohead, Modeselektor, Basement Jaxx, Mark Ronson and Underworld, and has released singles, EPs, and a self-titled...

's eponymous-debut album with her vocals on the song "Wildfire".

External links