Kanon Wakeshima was introduced to music at an early age, learning to play the cello when she was just three years old. In junior high school, she formed a cello duo and by the time she was fifteen she was playing baroque cello as part of classical ensembles.
At the same time, she also became interested in J-pop and started to sing. She soon began to write her own songs and, feeling more comfortable with her cello than a keyboard, added cello melodies to accompany her voice. At the age of sixteen, she sang publicly for the first time at a festival for her senior high school.
In 2007, she entered an audition held by Sony and, as one of the finalists, signed a contract with its subsidiary, DefSTAR Records. The young artist soon attracted the attention of fellow classical music lover Mana, who was intrigued not only by the fact that she sang while also playing cello, but also by her mature, yet childlike personality and decided to become her producer.
Her debut single, still doll, was released in May 2008. The song was used as the ending theme of the anime series "Vampire Knight" and Kanon actually starred as a voice actress in one of the early episodes, playing a maid. In September, she participated in the Individual Fashion EXPO IV, hosted by the well-known department store MARUIONE where she performed still doll. The next month, she released her second single, Suna no oshiro, which was used as ending theme for the second season of "Vampire Knight." In November, she gave another live performance at the Laforet Underground Party, where she also revealed that she would release her first album, Shinshoku Dolce, early the following year.
To celebrate the European release of Shinshoku Dolce on the French label Wasabi Records in February 2009, Kanon traveled to Paris with Mana, who had written and produced the album. There, she had a brief solo performance and Q&A session in the FNAC record shop on the Champs-Élysées. The following day, she gave her first mini concert outside Japan at the club La Bellevoise, only to return in July to participate in the annual Japan Expo. In the same month, on the occasion of the US release of her album, she also traveled to the USA where she performed at the anime convention Otakon in Baltimore, as well as at the Royal/T Cafe in Los Angeles. Moreover, she was voted Newcomer Of The Year 2009 by the US anime magazine "Shojo Beat" after receiving 45% of the votes.
On August 9th, Japanese fans were finally treated to her first one-man live, Kaiga-teki ongaku-kai, at Shibuya O-West. Apart from songs from Shinshoku Dolce she also performed an interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suite No.1 Prélude and offered some of her paintings for sale. In September, it was announced that her new song, Toumei no kagi, which was again penned by Mana, would be used for the online game AVALON no kagi. The following month, she performed with MONORAL at Hellween Night 2009, an event sponsored by VAMPS. On this occasion, she wore a dress from the lolita fashion label Baby the Stars Shine Bright; it was the beginning of an official collaboration with this brand.
In February 2010 she performed together with the pop duo Kalafina at the [~Butou-Kai~ Cool Japan Style] Dance-Party, which was hosted by the fashion magazine KERA. July saw the release of her second album, Lolitawork Libretto, for which she had again written the lyrics. This time she had also composed seven of the thirteen songs it contained; the others, including LOLITAWORK LIBRETTO -Storytelling by solita-, a collaboration with the French vocalist Solita, were again composed by Mana. The CD cover showed her dressed in clothes from Baby The Stars Shine Bright. Like its predecessor, the new album was released in Japan, Europe and the US. In October she presented the new songs at her second One Man at the Laforet Museum in Harajuku.
With Mana having stepped back from freelance composing and producing in order to concentrate on his own band, Moi dix Mois, the young vocalist now teamed up with her namesake Kanon, whose band An Cafe had gone on hiatus in early 2010, to form the "genius musical unit from the 2.5th dimension" kanon x kanon. The title was a reference to the project's commitment to creating anime songs since, according to DefSTAR, the 2.5th dimension lies between the real world (3D) and the world of Anime (2D). Their first single, Calendula Requiem, which was released in November 2010, was used as the new opening theme for the TV horror anime series "Shiki" (Corpse Demon) and the PV was shown on the cartoon TV channel AT-X.
In February 2011, the illustrations Kanon had been posting on her blog were released as a book titled Flower Sound Orchestra. In June kanon x kanon released their second single, Koi no dotei. It was be used as the intro theme of the TV anime series "30-sai no hoken taiiku", which deals with health and physical education for men over thirty. In July, the duo made its long awaited international debut as Guests of Honor at the AM² anime, music and manga convention in Anaheim, California, where Kanon will also perform a solo concert. In the same month, she performed at HYPER JAPAN in London and the AGCHK convention in Hong Kong.
Upon her return to Japan, she announced a series of three concerts entitled The strange treat!. Each concert saw her songs interpreted in a different musical style, starting with jazz in September, to classical in October and rock in November. For the September live, she wrote the song The strange treat! and performed three songs she had written as a student, Mahotsukai ni koi wo shita, glitter and Geijutsuka no kawaii sozo tachi. At the November live, she introduced a new song called Mujyuryoku.
On October 27th, she played her first live concert with kanon x kanon in Japan at the 8th Tokyo International Music Market (TIMM) at Shinagawa Stellar Ball and in November she and kanon x kanon returned to Europe for a coupling tour entitled kanon x kanon x kanon, which took them to Russia, Finland, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Great Britain. She also continued to work as illustrator under the name Hirari and created artwork for the Scotland Loves Anime Festival 2011, which took place from October 7th to 9th in Glasgow, Great Britain.
Despite kanon x kanon's increasingly busy schedule, Kanon continues to pursue her solo career. On 16th February and 9 March 2012, she will participate in the event We love children of the Earth, which is being hosted by the lolita fashion model Midori Fukasawa.
Kanon Wakeshima is a vocalist and classically trained cellist. Born to music loving parents, her name is based on the musical term "canon" and is written as "sound of flowers."
Kanon's voice is sweet and clear, but sometimes possesses a raw, passionate edge. Her catchy, slightly melancholy songs combine the sound of her cello and other classical instruments, such as violin, with ambient electronics. She is produced by Mana (Moi dix Mois, ex Malice Mizer), who also composes her music, and Kanon herself writes the lyrics. She has three cellos: an ordinary cello called Yaeharu-kun, a red one called Nanachie-chan and a white one called Mikazuki-san.
Aside from her musical talent, she is also a gifted painter and frequently adds new drawings to the picture gallery on her website. Most depict young girls or cats in fantasy scenarios inspired by fairy tales, such as Alice in Wonderland, but some mirror her personal experiences.
