村中りか

Rika Muranaka (村中りか) is a musician born in Tokyo, Japan. She has been writing music for award-winning videogame titles since 1996, and is one of the biggest selling videogame composers in the world. Rika composed and arranged many vocal songs for the popular Konami videogame series "Metal Gear Solid", inculding "The Best Is Yet To Come" (from the original "Metal Gear Solid"), "Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday" (from "Metal Gear Solid 2") and "Don't Be Afraid" (from "Metal Gear Solid 3"). She also composed the song "Esperándote" for the original "Silent Hill" and "I Am the Wind" for "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" (she is often mistakenly believed to have sung these songs herself, however, she is not a singer). Rika Muranaka came to Chicago to study jazz piano with Alan Swain while still in her teens. Her talents were quickly recognized, and soon Muranaka was working with some of the most highly regarded figures in the jazz world, including Woody Shaw, Stan Kenton, Art Blakey and Freddie Hubbard. Upon graduating from Northeastern Illinois University, Rika returned to Japan as a rapidly maturing recording artist. Critical reviews of her performances led to a contract with Columbia Records, and a dual career as a producer and artist. She released "Love Letters to Heaven" in 1996. Rika recently completed production on her new album, "Slice of Life", which features vocalists Dwight Dukes, Cynthia Harrell and Stephanie B, and has collaborated with Michael Caruso, a Grammy-nominated songwriter. Official site: http://www.rikamuranaka.com Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.