Nobuo Uematsu

Nobuo Uematsu (植松 伸夫) was born on March 21, 1959 in Kochi, Japan. After graduating from Kanagawa University, he composed music for commercials before joining Square Co., Ltd. (which later became Square Enix Co., Ltd.) in 1986. He went on to compose music for over thirty game titles, most notably the popular Final Fantasy series. The music from the game series have grown to such popularity that Uematsu was named one of the "Innovators" in Time Magazine's Time 100: The Next Wave - Music feature.

Uematsu composed and produced the Final Fantasy VIII theme song, Eyes on Me which featured Hong Kong pop diva Faye Wong and sold a record 400,000 copies. The song won "Song of the Year (Western Music)" at the 14th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1999, becoming the first time music from a video game won that honor.

In February 2003, Uematsu produced The Black Mages, an album composed of Final Fantasy battle music arranged in rock style. He formed a group called the Black Mages and performed as the keyboardist himself. In April, a two-day concert was held in Tokyo, Japan, commemorating the album, which has sold 30,000 copies to date.

Uematsu's works are not limited to video game music. He composed the theme song of the animated film Ah! My Goddess and has written music for vocalists including Emiko Shiratori and Rikki.

His column Nobuo Uematsu no Minna Sounano? has appeared in the popular Japanese gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu for over two years. A compilation of the column was published in a book form in February 2002.

In November, 2004, Nobuo Uematsu left Square Enix to start up his own company Smile Please.