Meiko (American singer)

Meiko
Meiko at the Transmission Showcase festival
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Adult alternative, indie pop, folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	singing, guitar
Labels	Lucky Ear/MySpace/DGC
Website	Official site MySpace page

Meiko (pronounced MEE-ko), is an American singer/songwriter, born and raised in Roberta, Georgia and currently residing in Los Angeles, California. She independently released a self-titled album on September 1, 2007. All of the tracks from the LP have been featured in major network TV shows.

Biography

Early life

Raised by her father in the small town of Roberta, Georgia, Meiko first stepped in front of an audience at the age of eight, singing “White Christmas” for parishioners of a Southern Baptist church. In the years that followed she performed everywhere from talent shows to Little League baseball parks. When she wasn't performing, she was practicing - spending countless hours singing into the family's clothes dryer. "Great acoustics," she insists.^[1] She soon developed an interest in writing songs and enlisted the help of her dad, who taught her how to play guitar on his old Gibson six-string. When she was thirteen, he bought her one of her own. A flood of songs followed. "As soon as I learned a new chord," she says, "I wrote a new song."^[2]

Music career

At eighteen, Meiko left her hometown to showcase her talents to a wider audience. After a brief stop in Miami, she set down in Los Angeles and began her career in earnest, playing venues all over Southern California and writing at a prolific pace. She performed (and bartended) at Hollywood's Hotel Café (where she still performs regularly).

In early 2007, Meiko performed at the Sundance Film Festival and caught the ear of Paste Magazine editor Josh Jackson, who declared her a "big success story" waiting to happen, predicting it was "only a matter of time" before she found her way onto Nic Harcourt's influential “Morning Becomes Eclectic” radio program on KCRW.^[3]

In September 2007, she toured nationally with Brett Dennen and in October, toured the U.S. as the opener for Mat Kearney.^[4]

In 2008, Meiko performed at the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW, and participated in the nationwide Hotel Café Tour, which also included Rachael Yamagata, Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, and Sara Bareilles.

In June 2008 Meiko signed a recording deal with MySpace Records/DGC, who released her album in partnership with Lucky Ear Music (Meiko's own indie label). The Lucky Ear/MySpace/DGC release has been remixed, remastered and includes re-recorded versions and a new track, "Boys with Girlfriends". The digital album re-release was August 5, 2008.

Meiko performing in 2008.

Also in August, she toured the U.S. (three dates in Southern California) with Joe Purdy, Chris Seefried and Jay Nash.^[5] In the fall of 2008, Meiko joined another Hotel Cafe Tour - this time around the trek featured an all-female lineup. Meiko was the only artist performing all dates of the tour. From February–March 2009, Meiko performed on a string of U.S. dates in support of Joshua Radin.^[6] In May 2009, she embarked on her first-ever headlining U.S. tour.^[7] In June 2009, Meiko hit the road with Eric Hutchinson,^[8] and in July 2009, she performed a string of shows in the UK before playing in the United States territory of Guam.^[9] In October and November 2009 Meiko toured the U.S. with Jewel.^[10]

Meiko's album was digitally released in Australia on October 9, 2009 and reached #2 on the iTunes Australia Singer-Songwriter Albums chart. The album was physically released October 23, 2009.

After spending most of the first half of 2010 writing new material, Meiko entered the studio on September 6, 2010 with Belgian producer Styrofoam (Jimmy Eat World, Postal Service, Of Montreal) to begin recording songs for her second album.^[11]

Origins of name

Meiko is one-quarter Japanese, on her maternal grandmother's side; in an attempt to get in touch with their Japanese heritage, she and her sister, designer Kelly Nishimoto, adopted the nicknames Meiko and Keiko.

Discography

Albums

• Meiko (2007, self-released), #28 Billboard Top Heatseekers^[12]
• Meiko (2008, Lucky Ear/MySpace/DGC), (re-release) #14 Billboard Top Heatseekers^[13]

Singles

• "X-Mas Song" (2007, self-released)
• "Boys with Girlfriends" (2008, Lucky Ear/MySpace/DGC)
• "Under My Bed" (2009, Lucky Ear/MySpace/DGC)
• "All of Me" (2009, Lucky Ear/MySpace/DGC)

Guest appearances

• AM - Side By Side - Duets Vol. 1 (2008, AM Sounds) (song: "New Road")
• Joshua Radin - Simple Times (2008, Mom + Pop Records) (song: "Sky")
• The Crystal Method - Divided by Night (2009, Tiny e Records) (song: "Falling Hard")

Compilation appearances

• Penelope soundtrack (2008, Lakeshore) (song: "Piano Song")
• Hotel Cafe Presents: Winter Songs (2008, Sony), (song: "Maybe Next Year (X-Mas Song)")
• His Way, Our Way (Sinatra Tribute) (2009)

Music videos

• "Boys With Girlfriends"
• "Under My Bed"

Television performances

• The Bonnie Hunt Show - September 8, 2008 (debut episode of the program)^[14]
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien - September 11, 2008^[15]
• Good Day Alabama - October 10, 2008^[16]
• Good Day Atlanta - October 22, 2008^[17]
• Last Call with Carson Daly - December 11, 2008^[18]
• WGN Morning News - March 3, 2009^[19]
• WPIX Morning News - July 7, 2009^[20]
• Fox News Baltimore - October 27, 2009

Television song appearances

• Grey's Anatomy - Season 4, Episode 1 (song: "Reasons to Love You")^[21]
• Grey's Anatomy - Season 4, Episode 4 (song: "Hawaii")^[21]
• Moonlight - Season 1, Episode 5 (song: “Sleep”)^[22]
• Kyle XY - Season 2, Episode 17 (song: "Heard It All Before")^[23]
• Good Morning America Weekend Edition - December 8, 2007 (song: "Reasons to Love You")
• The Cleaner - Season 1, Episode 3 (song: "Said and Done")^[24]
• One Tree Hill - Season 6, Episode 4 (song: "Said and Done")^[25]
• The Hills - Season 4, Episode 10 (song: "Boys with Girlfriends")^[26]
• Knight Rider - Season 1, Episode 7 (song: "Reasons to Love You")
• Privileged - Season 1, Episode 10 (song: "Under My Bed")^[27]
• Grey's Anatomy - Season 5, Episode 9 (song: "Boys with Girlfriends")^[28]
• One Tree Hill - Season 6, Episode 13 (song: "Hawaii")^[29]
• 90210 - Season 1, Episode 13 (song: "Under My Bed")^[30]
• Kyle XY - Season 3, Episode 8 (song: "Reasons to Love You")^[31]
• Kyle XY - Season 3, Episode 10 (song: "Hiding")^[31]
• Ghost Whisperer - Season 4, Episode 19 (song: "Reasons to Love You")^[32]
• My Fake Fiance (song: "You Can't Hurry Love")^[33]
• So You Think You Can Dance - Season 6, Episode 1 (song: "Reasons to Love You")
• Secrets Of Aspen - Season 1, Episode 3 (song: "Said And Done")
• 10 Things I Hate About You - Season 1, Episode 20 (song: "Under My Bed")
• Pretty Little Liars - Season 1, Episode 5 (song: "Heard It All Before")
• The Vampire Diaries - Season 2, Episode 3 (song: "Under My Bed")

Feature film song appearances

• Pants On Fire (song: "How Lucky We Are")^[34]
• Pretty Ugly People (song: "You & Onions")^[35]
• Wake (song: "Heard It All Before")^[36]
• TiMER (song: "Piano Song")^[37]
• Silverlake Video (songs: "Piano Song", "Reasons To Love You", "Heard It All Before", "Boys With Girlfriends")^[38]
• Into The Cold (song: "Hawaii")^[39]

References

1. ^ http://www.askmen.com/celebs/women/singer/meiko/
2. ^ http://www.girlzone.com/music-reviews/meiko.html
3. ^ http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/ctrl-v/2007/01/
4. ^ Gibson, Donald (2009) "An Interview with Meiko", Blogcritics, 19 May 2009, retrieved 4 October 2009
5. ^ http://www.la-story.com/alt_music/jay_nash_friends_wrap_the_summer_tour_in_la--_limi/
6. ^ http://www.buzzgrinder.com/2009/ill-be-there-joshua-radin-meiko-in-san-luis-obispo/
7. ^ http://www.livedaily.com/news/18642.html
8. ^ http://thedeadhub.com/?s=Meiko
9. ^ http://meikoguam.blogspot.com/
10. ^ http://thedeadhub.com/meiko-announces-tour-dates-w-jewel/
11. ^ http://www.mikesavageartistmanagement.com/uncategorized/meiko-begins-recording-new-album/
12. ^ Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart Listing For The Week Of Okt 20 2007
13. ^ Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart Listing For The Week Of Aug 4 2008
14. ^ http://www.bonniehunt.com/promos/2008/09/07/
15. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289040/
16. ^ http://popdirt.com/meiko-heads-to-alabama/69497/
17. ^ http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/about_us/Georgia_Native_Meiko_Performs_Boys_with_Girlfriends
18. ^ http://www.nbc.com/Last_Call_with_Carson_Daly/video/clips/backstage-with-meiko/890821/
19. ^ http://www.wgntv.com/news/middaynews/wgn-photo-168048,0,7792975.photo
20. ^ http://weblogs.wpix.com/news/local/morningnews/blogs/2009/07/meiko.html
21. ^ ^{a b} http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/greysanatomy/season04.html?searched=Meiko&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1
22. ^ http://moonlightfans.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=38&func=view&id=14782&catid=5&limit=19&limitstart=0
23. ^ http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/kylexy/season02.html?searched=Meiko&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1
24. ^ http://thecleaner.info/2008/11/the-cleaner-episodemusic-season-one/
25. ^ http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/onetreehill/season06.html?searched=Meiko&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1
26. ^ http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/thehills/season04.html?searched=Meiko&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1
27. ^ http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/privileged.html?searched=Meiko&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1
28. ^ http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/greysanatomy/season05.html?searched=Meiko&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1
29. ^ http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/onetreehill/season06.html
30. ^ http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/90210/season01.html?searched=Meiko&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1
31. ^ ^{a b} http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/kylexy/season03.html?searched=Meiko&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1
32. ^ http://heardontv.com/tvshow/Ghost+Whisperer/Season+4/Thrilled+To+Death
33. ^ http://community.abcfamily.go.com/blogs/my-fake-fianc%C3%A9/listen-meikos-cant-hurry-love
34. ^ http://www.pantsonfiremovie.com/
35. ^ http://www.prettyuglypeople.com/PUP-music.html
36. ^ http://www.wakemovie.com/
37. ^ http://www.mikesavageartistmanagement.com/uncategorized/more-meiko-music-in-film-tv/
38. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430508/
39. ^ http://www.mikesavageartistmanagement.com/uncategorized/meiko-song-featured-in-sebastian-copeland-documentary/

External links

• Official website
• Official Uvumi Profile
• Meiko (American singer) on Myspace

Persondata
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Date of birth	1982
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