Carmen Maki

[1][6] Spending her time in jazz cafés and discotheques in Shinjuku and Shibuya, she eventually went to see Bluebeard performed by Shūji Terayama's Tenjō Sajiki theater company.

[7] Maki decided to join the troupe immediately, and had her first performance that August; Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets at Tokyo Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan.

[6] It also earned her a spot performing at the 20th Kōhaku Uta Gassen, where her casual attire of jeans and bare-feet caused a stir.

However, fed up with the entertainment industry and having to fit the image expected of her, Maki decided to switch to rock music in 1970 after hearing Janis Joplin for the first time.

[11] With Blues Creation's label Nippon Columbia one of them desperate to sign the singer, Takeda and the band picked material from Maki's daily listening records and wrote some original songs for her.

[12][13] Bassist Yoshihiro Naruse (later of Casiopea) and Blues Creation drummer Masayuki Higuchi completed the original lineup,[14] but Maki and Kasuga would remain the only constants throughout the band's career.

[15] With the "Japanese-language Rock Controversy" (ja:日本語ロック論争, Nihongo Rokku Ronsō) going on at the time, the members of Oz were initially divided on whether to sing in English or Japanese.

They settled on Japanese lyrics mainly written by Kasuga's high school classmate Tsuyoshi Kajiki (vocalist of Daddy Takechiyo & Tokyo Otoboke Cats), who became their manager, and played beer gardens and discotheques five times a day.

[3][18] It sold 100,000 copies, a big success for a rock band at the time, and includes their best-known song, the nearly 12-minute "Watashi wa Kaze".

[18] The band recorded their second album, July 1976's Tozasareta Machi, in Los Angeles with Shigeyuki Kawakami on bass and Yoshikazu Kudo on drums.

In 1979, Maki released the solo album Night Stalker, which features Carmine Appice as producer, drummer and songwriter, Earl Slick on guitar, Jean Millington on bass, and Jim Diamond as lyricist.

[22] The following year she teamed up with guitarist George Azuma, bassist Kinta Moriyama and drummer Yoshitaka Shimada to form the band Carmen Maki & Laff, who released a self-titled album in June 1980.

Maki formed the Urusakute Gomenne Band (うるさくてゴメンねBAND) in 1986 with former Oz bassist Yoshihiro Naruse and future B'z guitarist Tak Matsumoto.