Rising Stars – Japanese Musician: Yucco Miller (ユッコミラー)
Yucco Miller: The Pink-haired Japanese Saxophonist
Long pink hair, spunky personality, and a little ditsy. For most, it might be hard to take this kind of person seriously. Nonetheless, recognize them as an incredible saxophonist.
Well, this type of person does exist, and is probably one of the most talented saxophonists unknown to the world. Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing one of the many Rising Stars in Asia, Japanese Musician: Yucco Miller.
- Name: Yucco Miller/ユッコミラー
- Real Name: Yukiko Onishi/大西由希子
- Nickname: YUCCO
- Birthday: December 25, 1990
- Occupation: Saxophonist, Song Writer
- Birthplace: Ise City, Mie, Japan
- Instruments：Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone
- Genre: Jazz, Fusion, Contemporary, Pop
- Hobbies: Cooking, Traveling, Listening to Music
- Favorite Color：Pink
Early Life and Music Style:
Yucco Miller (Yukiko Onishi), born in Ise City, Mie, started her musical journey playing the piano at age 3. In high school, Yucco joined the music club and started learning the alto saxophone. Throughout her high school career, she has won many awards and played in Paris and Vienna.
As Yucco began to hone her skills, she studied under Ken Kawada, Tetsuro Kawashima, and Eric Mariensal. She continued to study jazz theory, jazz composition, and improvisation, until making her debut as a pro at the age of 19.
Yucco achieved more fame after performing as a special guest with Candy Dulfer and Glen Miller at the respective concerts. She has also performed in Korea and Malaysia at some of the most highly regarded Jazz Festivals in the world.
Yucco Miller’s musical styles consists of Jazz, fusion, hybrid contemporary jazz and rock. Her play style has bright tones with a very distinct growl. Yucco starts her songs with a smooth jazz style, but as the song progresses, you can hear a mixture of fusion and contemporary jazz. Her ability to seamlessly mix styles into a single song, is what makes listening to her so appealing.
Career and Online Success:
In 2016, Yucco released her first album, “YUCCO MILLER”, produced by Grammy Award-winning artist, Ronnie Plaxico.
In 2018, her second album “SAXONIC” released in 2018 and won the Jazz Japan Award 2018 Album of the Year.
On September 11th, 2019, Yucco released her third album “Kind of Pink”.
On a side note, we have been listening to Yucco Miller’s new album non-stop and will be releasing a full review soon. Spoiler alert, we like it!
As Yucco’s popularity increases, she’s been making numerous appearances on commercials, TV shows. In addition, Yucco has her on brand of jewelry, sweets and models for various apparel brands.
Since 2018, Yucco has become very active as a YouTuber and within a year, Yucco Miller’s official channel has exceeded over 100,000 subscribers.
Outside of Youtube, she runs a personal blog with over 400,000 daily visitors and was ranked first place, on Ameba’s entertainment and celebrity category.
The Verdict:
We’ve listened to a lot musicians, and Yucco Miller without a doubt has the talent to become an international success.
If your still unconvinced be sure to check out her YouTube Channel. Our personal favorite video is her rendition of Detective Conan (aka Case Closed):
You can support Yucco Miller by visiting her social media and purchasing her CD’s.
External Links:
Be sure to check back every Friday to hear about our other Rising Stars.
Motivated to learn the sax? Check out our article about the Top 5 Best Saxophones for Beginners!
She sounds awesome! I used to watch cases closed when it aired on adult swim. I woke up at 4am every morning just to watch it. It was worth every minute!
I listened to her Detective Conan piece recently on Youtube. It was fantastic!
Yeah! She is amazing! I’m really happy she’s getting more recognition. She was on TV last Saturday. I haven’t watched it yet, but I’ll let you know what I think of it when I have the chance.
My favourite Yucco tune is Snow Flower. The more I listen to it, I feel she’s playing a life from birth to death. She plays the childhood and the creation of childhood memories, she plays the youth, she plays the adult life with course changes that weren’t exactly planned and she plays the old age and at the very end, the last breath. And throughout the whole song the old childhood memories recur over and over. She plays an actually good life, but with a longing for the childhood time that once were but will never return. I find this version to be quite moving.
https://youtu.be/J09uD6yvfEU
Ah! I love that song. Her version is really good. Honestly, I prefer her version over the original singer. I recommend you check out one of her newer video Gurenge. It’s not an emotional song, but it gives me a lot of energy. I didn’t think a sax version of the song would sound good, until I heard her play it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEZ5pHyu32Q