よよか
BIOGRAPHY
YOYOKA was born in Hokkaido Japan in October 2009 (13 years old) and currently resides in Oakland California.
In addition to playing the drums, she plays bass guitar, keyboard, and also composes music and write lyrics.
YOYOKA moved to the United States in September 2022 with the hope of becoming an internationally renowned drummer and artist.
She has received accolades from artists such as Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin), Ian Paice (Deep Purple), Roger Taylor (Queen), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine) , Gene Simmons (KISS), Eric Singer (KISS), Sheryl Crow, Tony Royster Jr., Anderson Paak, Chris Coleman, and Bootsy Collins.
Her dreams are to play a session with Led Zeppelin, and perform at the Super Bowl half time show.
YOYOKA is striving to bring energy and courage to people around the world through her drumming as well as becoming an artist who composes songs and plays a wide variety of instruments.
She aspires to use the power of her music to do as much as she can to help eliminate global social problems such as discrimination, poverty, and war.
==========
2010 (Age 1)
YOYOKA starts playing the drums before she learns to speak. Plays daily sessions with her family.
2014 (Age 4)
YOYOKA starts playing live performances.
2015 (Age 5)
YOYOKA’s family forms a band called KANEAIYOYOKA. They perform mostly original songs at local events and local live music clubs. Their band is featured on various tv programs.
2016 (Age 6)
KANEAIYOYOKA releases their first CD “The Promise of Hamanas” while YOYOKA is still in nursery school. All proceeds from the sale of the CD are donated to music promotion in Ishikari City, YOYOKA’s hometown.
2017 (Age 7)
KANEAIYOYOKA releases their second CD entitled, “Sense!” They record “Music,” a song composed by YOYOKA in which she also sings and plays the drums.
2018 (Age 8)
April — YOYOKA becomes the youngest ever weekly champion in the Under 18 Division of the global drumming contest “Hit Like a Girl.”
May — KANEAIYOYOKA releases their third CD, “YO-YO-YO?” They record “Happy,” a song composed by YOYOKA in which she sings and plays the drums.
June – YOYOKA’s drum cover video for Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times” is featured on NBC, NPR, BBC, Billboard, and Rolling Stone magazine, gaining international recognition. Her performance is praised by Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant on CBC Canada’s “q”.
August — YOYOKA becomes the youngest person ever to perform at “RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL in EZO,” Japan’s largest music festival.
YOYOKA is chosen to appear alongside Serena Williams in Nike’s World Campaign. Filming takes place in Bangkok Thailand.
September — YOYOKA performs at “TOKYO GIRLS COLLECTION” for the first time. She plays the drums in front of 30,000 people at the Saitama Super Arena.
YOYOKA becomes the youngest person ever to sign an endorsement contract with drum maker Pearl, and also signs endorsement contracts with Zildjian, Vic Firth, and CYMPAD.
2019 (Age 9)
January — YOYOKA appears on the world-renowned tv show, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” She performs Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy” live, and receives a worldwide response after Queen introduces her performance on their official account and many other mentions on social media.
YOYOKA performs at the legendary “Whisky a Go Go” live bar in Los Angeles.
February — YOYOKA is appointed as a junior ambassador for the women’s only international drum contest “Hit Like a Girl.”
April — YOYOKA is the youngest person ever to appear in Newsweek Japan’s “100 Most Respected Japanese in the World.”
KANEAI-YOYOKA performs at five locations around Hokkaido in the “KANEAIYOYOKA Hokkaido Concert Tour”
May — In New York, YOYOKA participates in the filming of luxury fashion brand Moncler’s international campaign “Genius is Born Crazy.” She is selected along with Will Smith.
YOYOKA appears for a second time on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in Los Angeles. After a live performance of the Foo Fighter’s “The Pretender” she receives a video message of praise from former Nirvana drummer, David Grohl, of the Foo Fighters.
August — YOYOKA makes a surprise appearance on stage with Fall Out Boy at “Summer Sonic Tokyo,” thrilling over 20,000 fans.
YOYOKA is featured on CNN’s “Great Big Story.”
September — YOYOKA appears for a second time at “TOKYO GIRLS COLLECTION” at the Saitama Super Arena. She plays a drum solo and collaborates with world renowned dancer Bambi Naka in front of 30,000 people.
YOYOKA performs as a secret guest at the “YouTube Creator Summit” for Asia’s top YouTubers.
October — YOYOKA appears in a UNIQLO tv commercial together with Kenichi Ebina, Japan’s only ever winner of America’s Got Talent, for UNIQLO’s Fleece 25th Anniversary.
YOYOKA receives an offer from Cyndi Lauper to perform two songs as a guest drummer on the final day of Cyndi’s Japan Tour in Tokyo.
December — KISS’s Gene Simmons and KISS’s official account post a video of YOYOKA’s drum cover of KISS’s “Detroit Rock City”. YOYOKA is invited to KISS’s Osaka Concert and meets the band.
YOYOKA submits a video to the “YouTube Streamy Awards,” held in Los Angeles. Six 20 second solo videos are played during the ceremony.
2020 (Age 10)
January — YOYOKA is the youngest, female, and only Japanese drummer to perform at the Pearl booth of the NAMM Show, the world’s largest musical instrument trade show, held in Los Angeles. She also appeared on stage with “Hit Like A Girl”.
YOYOKA appears on DW’s Drum Channel in Oxnard California.
February — YOYOKA tours Osaka and Kyoto. The coronavirus pandemic forces her to cancel almost all events after these performances.
March — YOYOKA participates in an online charity event on YouTube to raise funds for live music clubs in Hokkaido. A total of 284,918 yen ($2130 USD) is donated to live music clubs.
YOYOKA appears in a tv commercial and advertisement for Sapporo’s “Chelate Lemon W Lemon.”
KANEAIYOYOKA releases, “Passionate for the Future.”
April — “101 Groove Project,” a project conceived by YOYOKA to connect the world online by playing together at 101 BPM, is held. More than 100 participants gathered from around the world.
YOYOKA participates in “The Festival from Homes Around The World.”
May — YOYOKA releases a collaborative video with guitarist Li-Sa-X.
June — YOYOKA releases a collaborative video with Filipino actress Yam Concepcion.
July — KANEAIYOYOKA releases “Switch On!”
September — YOYOKA releases a collaborative video with Billy Sheehan of The Winery Dogs.
YOYOKA’s family appears in a commercial for the Nissan “SERENA.” The commercial features the song “Happy” which YOYOKA composed, sang, and played the drums for when she was seven years old.
October — KANEAIYOYOKA releases “Utopia.” Billy Sheehan and YT, support guitarist and arranger for B’z participate as guitarists in the song.
December — At age 11, YOYOKA becomes the youngest person ever to be featured on Drummerworld’s list of the world’s Top 500 Drummers.
YOYOKA provides a drum recording of 18 songs on Square Enix’s “Fantasy Pixel Remaster” series.
Deep Purple drummer, Ian Paice, delivers a rave review of YOYOKA on his personal channel. YOYOKA receives an offer to collaborate with him.
2021 (Age 11)
January — KANEAIYOYOKA releases, “Grim Grinning Moon at Night.”
March — Japan’s “Rhythm & Drums Magazine” publishes a feature article about YOYOKA in their April Edition.
April — YOYOKA covers “Good Times Bad Times” with Tony Franklin, Paulie Z, and Jimmy Sakurai at the David Z Foundation.
May — YOYOKA is appointed Super Visiting Professor at Professional University of Information and Management for Innovation (iU)
June — American drum publication “Modern Drummer” publishes a feature article about YOYOKA.
July — Bass guitarist Bootsy Collins, also known as the God of Funk, announces he’d like to collaborate with YOYOKA.
August — Rolling Stone magazine publishes an article about YOYOKA.
YOYOKA performs for three days at “Main Matsuri” at Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
YOYOKA announces a collaborative video with drummer BOBO.
YOYOKA announces a collaborative video with up-and-coming pianist Kihara Kyle.
September — YOYOKA is selected to appear in another Nike commercial.
October — To celebrate her twelfth birthday YOYOKA publishes “YOYOKA’s 12th Birthday YouTube Session.” YOYOKA performs together with artists such as, NoB, Li-Sa-X, SATSUMA3042, Koichi Terasawa, Takanobu Masuda, Yuichi Ikuzawa, and WAKASA.
YOYOKA participates in Roland’s Girl’s Players Summit.
YOYOKA announces a collaborative video with drummer Noriyasu Kawamura.
YOYOKA announces a collaborative video with guiterist Ryunosuke Yamagishi.
Deep Purple’s Ian Piace, German drummer Sina, and YOYOKA release a collaborative video of “Space Truckin’” (For sale on Ian Piace’s Official Site)
November — YOYOKA plays a session with Derek Day of Classless Act.
YOYOKA delivers two guest performances at The Creative Arts Secondary School of Saint Paul, in Minnesota. She also performs as a guest music teacher at Washington Elementary School in Rochester, Minnesota.
YOYOKA is showcased on the American television program, “Right This Minute.”
YOYOKA receives the City of Ishikari Distinguished Citizen Award, from her hometown, becoming the youngest recipient ever.
YOYOKA and Friends Around the World collaborate to do an online cover of “School of Rock” which Jack Black comments on and promotes on Instagram.
December — KANEAIYOYOKA conducts a tour of three locations in southern Hokkaido. KANEAIYOYOKA releases “Happy Wedding”
YOYOKA releases a collaborative video with 11-year old Indonesian bassist Gev Delano.
2022 (Age 12)
January — YOYOKA announces her intention to move to the United States.
February — YOYOKA launches a Patreon page.
YOYOKA starts broadcasting on the radio app, Voicy.
YOYOKA starts appearing as a semi-regular performer on Creative World, a television show broadcasted weekly on KXLA in Los Angeles.
March — YOYOKA releases “Sparkling,” the first original song to be released under her own name. Rhonda Smith, supporting bassist for Prince and Jeff Beck, and former Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian and others participate in the recording. The song reaches Number 1 in Japan, Australia, and Italy, Number 2 in Germany, and Number 3 in the United States on the Instrumental Ranking of the iTunes Store.
YOYOKA graduates from elementary school. YOYOKA meets Anderson .Paak in Las Vegas
YOYOKA performs at Ultimate Jam Night at the legendary nightclub Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles.
YOYOKA releases a collaborative video with nine-year-old Las Vegas bassist Ellen Alaverdyan.
YOYOKA participates in the recording of a new song by Miles Schon, son of Journey guitarist Neal Schon.
YOYOKA’s logo is completed with the assistance of Art Fellowship Project.
April — YOYOKA’s song “Sparkling” is chosen as the official entrance music for the goal keeper of J1 Soccer Team “Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo”
YOYOKA performs live at the Las Vegas Spring Festival.
May — YOYOKA and Friends Around the World cover Paramore’s “That’s What You Get.”
June — YOYOKA performs at Hibiya Music Festival 2022 and collaborates with Def Tech and other artists.
YOYOKA performs “Sparkling” live in front of 40,000 fans at a Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo soccer game at the Sapporo Dome.
July — YOYOKA goes on a 4-location Japan national tour with Loudness’s Minoru Nihara and others.
YOYOKA releases a collaborative video with Man With a Mission’s Jean-Ken Johnny.
Roland’s “Meet the V-Drums” video is released.
August — YOYOKA was selected as the youngest Japanese to be included in Newsweek Japan’s “20 Japanese Who Challenge the World.”
YOYOKA receives a US O-1 Visa (Individuals with Extraordinary Ability), a rare achievement for a twelve year old, thanks to recommendation letters from Ian Paice, Cyndi Lauper, Kenichi Ebina, Marie Kondo and others.
YOYOKA performs three songs with Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra on Sun Stage, the biggest stage of Japan’s biggest music festival “Rising Sun Rock Festival in Ezo.” They played in front of an audience of about 20,000 people.
September — YOYOKA releases a collaborative video with Human Beatbox unit Rofu, the 3rd place champions of Grand Beatbox Battle 2021: World League.
YOYOKA and her family move to the United States.
October — YOYOKA performs as guest drummer for United Rage at Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles.
At the Fifth Shinji Hattori Awards YOYOKA receives the Rising Star Music Award.
YOYOKA performs at Fall Festival in Las Vegas.
November — YOYOKA is chosen for a second time by Moncler to appear in their 70th Anniversary marketing campaign. She plays two stages on two nights at the Oakland Ballroom.
December — YOYOKA plays a session with Grammy Award winning artist Fantastic Negrito.
2023 (Age 13)
January — YOYOKA performs as a guest for Oakland’s Rockridge Chorale.
YOYOKA appears on “Direct Talk” on NHK WORLD
February — YOYOKA’s first solo live performance in the Bay Area sells out in five hours.
YOYOKA and Japanese guitarist MIYAVI play an impromptu session at the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco.
March — YOYOKA appears live on San Francisco’s KRON4 News. Her interview and live performance receive a great response.
YOYOKA performs at Notes & Words, a charity event for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals starring Alanis Morissette.
April — YOYOKA guest performs at a Fantastic Negrito event.
Jun — YOYOKA gave 9 performances in 20 days on the JAPAN TOUR.
YOYOKA and bassist Ken Okada release a jazz fusion original album entitled, “Square One.”
YOYOKA and family move to Los Angeles.