Meiko (pronounced MEE-ko), born on February 25, 1982) is an American singer/songwriter, born and raised in Roberta, Georgia and currently residing in Los Angeles, California. She independently released a self-titled album on September 1, 2007. Several tracks have been featured in primetime TV shows.

Biography
 

Early life

Raised by her father in the small town of Roberta, Georgia, Meiko first stepped in front of an audience at the age of eight, singing “White Christmas” for parishioners of a Southern Baptist church. In the years that followed she performed everywhere from talent shows to Little League baseball parks. When she wasn't performing, she was practicing - spending countless hours singing into the family's clothes dryer. "Great acoustics," she insists.[cite this quote] She soon developed an interest in writing songs and enlisted the help of her dad, who taught her how to play guitar on his old Gibson six-string. When she was thirteen, he bought her one of her own. A flood of songs followed. "As soon as I learned a new chord," she says, "I wrote a new song."
 

Music career

At eighteen, Meiko left her hometown to showcase her talents to a wider audience. After a brief stop in Miami, she set down in Los Angeles and began her career in earnest, playing venues all over Southern California and writing at a prolific pace. She performed at Hollywood's Hotel Café (where she still performs regularly).

In early 2007, Meiko performed at the Sundance Film Festival and caught the ear of Paste Magazine editor Josh Jackson, who declared her a "big success story" waiting to happen, predicting it was "only a matter of time" before she found her way onto Nic Harcourt's influential “Morning Becomes Eclectic” radio program on KCRW.[cite this quote]

In September 2007, she toured nationally with Brett Dennen and in October, toured the U.S. as the opener for Mat Kearney.

In 2008, Meiko performed at the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW, and participated in the nationwide Hotel Café Tour, which also included Rachael Yamagata, Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, and Sara Bareilles.

In June 2008 Meiko signed a recording deal with MySpace Records/DGC, who released her album in partnership with Lucky Ear Music (Meiko's own indie label). The Lucky Ear/MySpace/DGC release has been remixed, remastered and includes re-recorded versions and a new track, "Boys with Girlfriends". The digital album re-release was August 5, 2008.

Also in August, she toured the U.S. with Joe Purdy, Chris Seefried and Jay Nash.[citation needed] In the fall of 2008, Meiko joined anther Hotel Cafe Tour and was the only artist performing all dates of the tour.[citation needed] From February–March 2009, Meiko performed on a string of U.S. dates in support of Joshua Radin.[citation needed] In May 2009, she embarked on her first-ever headlining U.S. tour.[citation needed] In June 2009, Meiko hit the road with Eric Hutchinson,[citation needed] and in July 2009, she performed a string of shows in the UK.[citation needed] Meiko is scheduled to suppport Jewel on a string of dates in the U.S. in October and November 2009.[citation needed]

Meiko's album will be released in Australia in October 2009.
 

Origins of name

Meiko is one-quarter Japanese, on her maternal grandmother's side; in an attempt to get in touch with their Japanese heritage, she and her sister, designer Kelly Nishimoto, adopted the names Meiko and Keiko. While those names are pronounced "Me-ee-ko" and "Ke-ee-ko" in Japan, she and her sister pronounce them "MEE-ko" and "KEE-ko". "We didn't know we were misspelling/mispronouncing them for quite some time," Meiko remembers. "We didn't have the heart to change the spelling".