Before signing up any record deal, and after she dropped out of school, Ringo participated in Yamaha's annual Music Quest contest. It was another try at success to kick-start her music career, after the previous year attempt, but this time she performed her own song, the later-to-be smash-hit "Koko de Kissu Shite". It was also the first time she publicly used her stage-name, Shiina Ringo, instead of Shiina Yumiko. In the end, the Grand Prize went to Takashi Taniguchi, but she managed an Excellence Prize and grabbed attention from all major record labels. She ended up signing with Toshiba EMI.
Funny fact: singer-songwriter aiko also participated in this contest, just like in the Teen's Music Festival '95.
Considering how the 5th edition of Music Quest was the last one, after which Yamaha decided to make normal auditions only, we can thank Ringo for not postponing her participation in the contest, as it would have undoubtedely changed her career in ways we can not imagine!
01 - ここでキスして。 (Koko de Kissu Shite.)
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PS - In order to improve the frequency of my updates, I decided to create a template for covers, instead of having to create a different one every time. So it'll be just a screenshot/photo with SR or TJ and the title. Sorry to disappoint the legions of fans of my super cool covers! I'm looking for opinions to improve this template tho, since I'm not a designer. Do you think I should make the text smaller, different color, different background, etc. I'm keeping it as it is for now.