Toshifumi Hinata's profile

　Born in Ota-ku, Tokyo on February 23, 1955, Toshifumi Hinata moved to England in 1973 after graduating from Gakushuin Boys' Senior High School. He takes part-time job at a motorcycle company in Farnham, Surrey. After returning to Japan in 1974, he immediately flies to United States. He enrolled at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin in July 1975, starting his musical career as a keyboard player in local blues bands and big bands. In August 1976, he transferred to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He then received scholarship from University of Minnesota and transferred to its School of Music in August 1978. He majored in classical piano for four years, studying theory, composition and orchestration. He was active in his musical career, he performed in chamber music, orchestra, accompaniment to songs and solo instruments, and had his own recitals as well. After graduating in 1982, he began his career as a musician in Minnesota. In 1983, he returned to Japan and with his brother Daisuke Hinata, who had a musical career in Los Angeles, they established STUDIO AVR, a recording studio with AVR Corporation. He then starts creating music for commercials and many other works.

　In 1985, his first solo album "Sarah's Crime" was released from Alfa Records. In 1986, his second album "Chat d'Ete" and his third album "Reality In Love" was released. After the release of his fourth album "Story" in 1987, he released his first piano solo album "ISIS" in 1988, and since then he continued to produce solo albums constantly. In 1991, he worked on the accompaniment for the drama "Tokyo Love Story" starring Honami Suzuki and Yuji Oda. "Tokyo Love Story Original Soundtrack" hit top 5 on the Oricon chart which is an exceptional hit for drama soundtrack. From the hit of this album, releasing drama soundtrack became common. In 1993, he worked on "Shiawase ni Narutameni" (sung by Miho Nakayama), which is the theme song for the NHK TV series "Eenyobo" staring Naho Toda, recorded top 4 on the Oricon singles chart. In 1997, he worked on the insert song "Hidamari no Uta" (sung by Le Couple) for the drama "Hitotsu Yane no Shita 2" starring Yosuke Eguchi and recorded top #1 on the Oricon singles chart. "Hidamari no Uta" was also top 3 on the 1997 Oricon annual hits chart and won the Excellent Work Awards for Japan Record Awards. Le Couple performed in the "48th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen" and the song became their breakthrough number.

　Other drama music that we worked on includes "Aito Iu Nano Motoni" (1992), "An Elegy of Tyrole starring Ken Takakura" (1992), "Hitotsu Yane no Shita" (1993), "Hi no Ataru Basho" (1994), "Imouto yo" (1994), "Itsuka Mata Aeru" (1995), "Kare" (1997), "Brothers" (1998), "Mona Lisa's Smile" (2000), and "Buzzer Beat ~Gakeppuchi no Hero~" (2009). His music is used on commercials for Toyota, Coca-Cola, Shiseido, and Asahi Breweries, and provides music to Takako Matsu, Nanako Sato, Le Couple, Yuko Takeuchi, Miho Nakayama, KOKIA, Diana Ross, and many others. In recent years, he has been working on the music inserts for Fuji TV's "The Nonfiction", NHK and many other documentary programs as well.