Real name: Ol'ga Vital'evna Yakovleva
Born: October 12, 1970
Nationality: Russian singer
Origa (Russian: Ольга Витальевна Яковлева), born October 12, 1970 in Kochenёvo, Novosibirsk oblast, Russia is a Russian singer who works mostly in Japan.
After graduating from music school in 1990, she took an opportunity to visit Japan in 1991 and finally contracted with the ROAD&SKY Organization in 1993. Origa has since participated in several projects with various artists in addition to the Radio Japan Series and being part of the chorus for the Kobe earthquake disaster charity single. Origa married Iranian producer Zhian Saedi in 1998. They met at a party where she was singing. She gave birth to a son, Alyosha, in 2000.
As of 2005, Origa has released seven solo albums, two mini-albums, and 3 singles. She gained popularity outside of Japan with the release of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and the subsequent original soundtracks, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex O.S.T. and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex O.S.T. 2.
These were written by long-time friend and composer Yoko Kanno, and both the first season's theme song, Inner Universe (featuring boy soprano Ben Del Maestro) and the second season's theme song, Rise used Origa's vocals. Origa first performed with Kanno for ∀ Gundam, singing Gabriela Robin's "Moon" with the Gey's AX chorus.
In 2005, Origa performed songs for the anime series Fantastic Children, most notably the ending theme "Mizu no Madoromi".
In 2006 Origa was involved in lyrics & vocal performance for the opening song ("Player") and the ending theme ("date of rebirth") from the movie Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society.
In 2007, Origa performed with Yoko Kanno for the Ragnarok 2 Concert. There, she performed all three Ghost in the Shell opening themes, "Player" for Solid State Society, "Inner Universe" for the first season, and "Rise" for 2nd Gig respectively, and substituted for Ilaria Graziano on "Yoru_Vo", Pierre Bensusan on "ELM", and Gabriela Robin on "Torukia".
She also performed alongside fellow vocalists Maaya Sakamoto and Mai Yamane and joined in singing selected songs originally performed only by Maaya.
It should be noted that Origa is no longer active in Russia, but does tours over the world.
In 2008 she performed at RISE TO COSMIC DANCE, the Sugizo GIG concert held on 2008.12.19 at Shibuya-ax hall in Tokyo.
ORIGA made her debut with the album ORIGA(TOCP-8287 on 25th May 1994, and many great artists, including Yukihiro Takahashi and Shizuru Otaka, have shown interests in her, offering opportunities for her to sing on their own albums.
Her 4th album Eien has been remembered as the first Russian pops album recorded, and even climbed to #64 on the Japanese national hit chart ORICON in 1998.
She has also shown her great performance at her concerts and many others kinds of events.
Her crystal clear voice can be heard on TV, CM, or some sound track of film, videos.
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