山根麻衣

Mai Yamane (山根 麻以, Yamane Mai) is a Japanese singer, well known for her work on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack with Yoko Kanno. Her career started at the very beginning of the 1980s when she participated in a young singer's contest in Japan. Six months later she finished her first album, Tasogare (1980). She recorded as a solo artist until 1995, releasing albums like The Day Before Yesterday (1984), Flying Elephants (1985), Embassy (1986), Woman Tone (1988) and 1958 (1989). She has also collaborated with many artists, e.g. in 1993 she worked on project Yamane Mai Kubota Haruo Unit with Haruo Kubota. In 1995 she started playing with New Archaic Smile. At present, she has recorded 11 albums. The last time she performed abroad was on 20 June 2007 in Seoul, as a member of Yoko Kanno team. In 2017, her song "Tasogare" was rediscovered via the future funk movement along with songs by other Japanese artists like Tatsuro Yamashita, Taeko Ohnuki, Kimiko Kasai, Junko Yagami, Mariya Takeuchi, and Junko Ohashi. In 2019, a sample off her song “Tasogare” has taken over the internet, as producer Pierre Bourne and hip hop artists Young Nudy and Playboi Carti use it on their unreleased track Pissy Pamper (Kid Cudi). The song went #1 on Spotify before quickly being taken down.