Michie Nakatani

Michie Nakatani (中谷美智枝, Nakatani Michie^?) is a Japanese musician, singer, and songwriter and was one of the founding members of the rock group Shonen Knife.

Early years

Michie was born October 8, 1961 in Osaka, Japan.^[1] She was an only child. Her father was an accountant and her mother was a housewife.^[2] She met future bandmate Naoko Yamano in college.

Career

Before joining Shonen Knife, Michie spent some time working as a cartoonist's assistant.^[3]

In 1995, Nakatani collaborated with Big Dipper's Gary Waleik on a project called The Japanese Beetles.^[4] They recorded one single.

In 1997, just as Shonen Knife were about to embark on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, Michie came down with a bout of appendicitis. She was able to recover in time to join the band in Australia. During the New Zealand dates bass duties were handled by Atsushi Shibata.^[5]

She stayed with Shonen Knife from December 1981 until December 1999. In early 1999, when she decided to leave the band, Naoko and Atsuko tried to talk her out of it, but she was firm on her decision to leave so in the end they reluctantly had to let her go.^[6]

In 2002, the book "Hokkaido Popsicle"[1] written by Isaac Adamson, used (by permission) a lyric from the song "Catnip Dream", written by Michie. ^[7]

Quotes

"I have frogphobia. I just don't like frogs. There's just something... I really don't like frogs." ^[8]

"We've always enjoyed writing songs about everyday things. Besides, there are already enough bands out there singing about pollution, war and poverty. While we all care very much about those things, we also feel that music should be fun." ^[9]

"I really love good pop music. The Beatles, Beach Boys, The Jam, Redd Kross, Cheap Trick." ^[10]

External links

• Official Shonen Knife website [2]
• Fan site [3]

References

1. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/artists/s/shonenknife/
2. ^ http://www.babysue.com/ShonenKnife.html
3. ^ http://www.babysue.com/ShonenKnife.html
4. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=_SwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT22&lpg=PT22&dq=michie+nakatani+japanese+beetles&source=bl&ots=tCxfW9kfdn&sig=-Vz--wMvYMwwggapjBcQyVHzjAE&hl=en&ei=N4-DTfu6BfCH0QGBw5XHCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=michie%20nakatani%20japanese%20beetles&f=false
5. ^ http://www.shonenknife.com/aussie.html
6. ^ http://www.shonenknife.com/naoko99.html
7. ^ http://www.shonenknife.com/knews.html
8. ^ http://www.westnet.com/consumable/1997/03.22/c970322.txt
9. ^ http://www.westnet.com/consumable/1997/03.22/c970322.txt
10. ^ http://www.westnet.com/consumable/1997/03.22/c970322.txt

Persondata
Name	Nakatani, Michie
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Date of birth	1961
Place of birth
Date of death
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