[1][2] A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton John as one of his biggest influences in pursuing a musical career.

After nearly two decades with Square, Uematsu left in 2004 to create his own production company and music label, Dog Ear Records.

Uematsu has made several listings in Britain's Classic FM Hall of Fame, with the station referring to him as the Beethoven of game music.

[4] After graduating from Kanagawa University with a degree in English, Uematsu played the keyboard in several amateur bands and composed music for television commercials.

[4] For the next year, he created music for a number of games which did not achieve widespread success, such as King's Knight, 3-D WorldRunner, and Rad Racer.

[1] In late 1994, Uematsu was asked to finish the soundtrack for Chrono Trigger after Yasunori Mitsuda contracted peptic ulcers.

Feeling gradually more dissatisfied and uninspired, Uematsu requested the assistance of composers Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano for the score to Final Fantasy X in 2001.

For Final Fantasy XI from 2002, he was joined by Naoshi Mizuta, who composed the majority of the soundtrack, and Kumi Tanioka; Uematsu was responsible for only eleven tracks.

In 2005, Uematsu and several members of The Black Mages created the score for the CGI film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.

However, after being assigned the task of creating the entire score of Final Fantasy XIV, Uematsu decided to hand the job over to Hamauzu.

[1] Uematsu also works closely with Sakaguchi's development studio Mistwalker, and has composed for Blue Dragon (2006), Lost Odyssey (2007), Away: Shuffle Dungeon (2008); The Last Story (2011); and Terra Battle (2014).

In 2012, "Aerith's Theme", written by Uematsu for Final Fantasy VII, was voted into the number 16 position in the annual Classic FM (UK) "Hall of Fame" top 300 chart.

In 2013, music from the Final Fantasy series received even greater support and was voted into the third position on the Classic FM Hall of Fame.

He explained that while he would no longer take on full game soundtracks due to the time commitment, he would still be open to composing individual pieces, such as theme songs.

[32] Another world premiere was "Dancing Mad" from Final Fantasy VI, performed by orchestra, choir, and pipe organ.

[33] The event in 2007 included "Distant Worlds" from Final Fantasy XI, performed by Japanese opera soprano Izumi Masuda.

[40] Uematsu's first orchestral work written for the concert hall, Merregnon: Heart of Ice, premiered on February 29, 2024, in Ludwigshafen, Germany, performed by the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under Eckehard Stier.

[41][42] The style of Uematsu's compositions is diverse, ranging from stately classical symphonic pieces and heavy metal to new-age and hyper-percussive techno-electronica.

[1] In an interview with the Nichi Bei Times, Uematsu said "I don't really self-consciously compose music for Japan or for the world, but I do think there is something in my more melancholy pieces that has a distinctly Japanese quality.

[4] Other major inspirations include the Beatles, Emerson, Lake & Palmer,[98] Simon & Garfunkel, and progressive rock bands.

For example, "Liberi Fatali" from Final Fantasy VIII was played during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens during the women's synchronized swimming event.