Born in 1981 Shanti Snyder, aka Shanti is half Japanese and half American. Daughter of Tommy Snyder, GODIEGO's drummer, she was interested in music early on in life. Since elementary school, she took part in the church choral and participated at school music activities. In 1997, at the age of 16, she went to a summer class at the famous Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts, USA.
After her return to Japan she began to compose music for TV ads and movie tracks as well as worked with popular artists like TOKU or Crystal Kay. She collaborated with Yoko Kanno on the theme song Sora for the animated film "Escaflowne," which brought her admiration from many fans in the whole world.
Shanti often sang on stage as well as in the studio with big artists like Keisuke Kuwata from Southern All Stars or in duo with Maaya Sakamoto. She later worked again with Yoko Kanno on "Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex" as the lyricist for the impressive track Inner Universe with Origa.
In 2003, she began her own project and made her solo debut on stage. She released her first independent album, Share My Air, in 2008. This album was recorded in France with talented musicians Jean-Michell Kajidan and Jean-Philippe Rykiel. From October 2008 until March 2010, she was co-TV host for "J-MELO", a weekly musical program on NHK where she also had the opportunity to play her own songs. This program had a big impact on her popularity as it was broadcasted in more than 180 countries worldwide through NHK world.
In 2010, she signed with Columbia Records and released her first major album in June of the same year. Born To Sing compiled covers from SADE, STING and Joni Mitchell, as well as original songs, and though it was not a pure jazz album, it achieved first place on the Jazz iTunes charts. Although she did not work for "J-MELO" anymore, she still played as a guest in November. In December, she released a limited Christmas single.
In January 2011 she released her second major album, Romance With Me which also reached first place on the Jazz iTunes charts. She promoted her new release at "J-MELO" in February and co-presented from April in another show called "El Mundo." Accompanied by musicians Fumio Hank Nishiyama, Ryosuke Jihara, Pascal Mulot and Tommy Snyder, she returned to Europe in June for a tour supported by the Japan Foundation.
She began with a show at the Japanese Cultural House in Paris during the yearly music event, la fête de la musique, and continued the tour through Germany, Spain and Portugal with a final in Paris during Japan Expo. A mini-album, called Sunny and Blue - J-pop'n Jazz was released the same month with a French version of Koi to machine gun.
