Rie fu

Rie fu (舩越 里恵/Rie Funakoshi; born January 11, 1985) is a Japanese singer-songwriter born in Tokyo, Japan. She is a graduate of the University of the Arts, London. From the age of 7 to 10, Rie fu lived in Maryland, United States. She was greatly influenced by The Carpenters and female singers/songwriters such as Sheryl Crow and Michelle Branch. Rie fu started writing songs in high school with her piano and guitar. Within a year, her talents were recognized by Sony, who released her first single in March 2004. Rie fu's songs are often bilingual. Although most of her songs are primarily sung in Japanese, many feature entire verses written in English. Her debut album features two entirely English songs, "Voice" and "Shine," both of which she wrote herself. Of her songs written entirely in Japanese, at least two have later been released with English language versions. Rie completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London, in 2007. She has returned to Japan to further pursue her musical career. Rie fu maintains a blog in Japanese. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.