Japanese ballad-led singer-songwriter Mariko Takahashi (高橋 真梨子, Takahashi
Mariko) was born on 6 March 1949 in Hiroshima Prefecture and began her musical
trajectory in the early 1970s, starting out with cover songs before graduating
to her own creations with her solo debut single of 1978, "Anata no Sora wo
Tobitai." She had suffered a series of childhood tragedies prior to becoming a
songwriter; her father was a jazz musician who worked in Hiroshima City but died
at 37 from the effects of radiation exposure following the atomic bombing. She
was inspired by her father to pursue a c...