Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu 植松 伸夫 (のぶお うえまつ) (born March 21, 1959) is a Japanese composer of video game music, and one of the most well-known, prolific, and versatile in the field. He has composed music for the Final Fantasy series of games, and some of the pieces in the game Chrono Trigger, by the company Squaresoft. King's Knight is the first video game he ever composed music for.
Born in Kouchi City, Kochi prefecture, Japan, Uematsu began to play the piano when he was twelve years old (his greatest role model early in life was Elton John) and is self taught. He attended the University of Kanagawa although his major was not music. Uematsu has no formal musical training. At age 22 he began to play the keyboard, and four years later was hired by Squaresoft to write music for video games. The style of his compositions range from stately classical-like pieces, to subtle, mysteriously beautiful sorts of music sometimes described as "New-Age", to hyper-percussive techno-electronica, similar in sound to some music by the band Emerson, Lake and Palmer, one of his stated influences, to the occasional instance of some completely different and unexpected category.
Uematsu's music has been a large part of the Final Fantasy franchise's great popularity in the United States. In the 2004 Summer Olympics, the United States synchronized swimming duet of Alison Bartosik and Anna Kozlova won the bronze medal using two of his pieces from Final Fantasy VIII in the second half of their routine.
As of 2004, Nobuo Uematsu lives in Japan with his wife Reiko and his dog Pao. He is the head of Uematsu Productions, a branch of Square-Enix, Ltd.
Video Game Soundtracks
Derivative Works
Other Works
- Final Fantasy: Pray (1990) - With
