Thelma Aoyama (October 27, 1987) is an R&B singer of Afro-Trinidadian and Japanese descent. Born in the city of Nara, she spent six years of her life in Japan and then relocated to California with her family at the age of 12. In 2002, Thelma Aoyama returned to Japan and settled in Tokyo, where she attended Sophia University. Her admiration for Janet Jackson led to ambitions of becoming a performing artist, a dream that materialized in 2007 with the release of her debut single “One Way.” The track made its way into the Japanese Top 100 and was followed by a feature on SoulJa’s hit single “Koko ni Iru yo,” which reached Number 6 on the Oricon charts and turned her into a star almost overnight. Further success ensued with her own track “Soba ni Iru ne,” a response to “Koko ni Iru yo” that debuted at Number 3 in Japan and quickly rose to the top of the charts. In 2008, Thelma Aoyama released her platinum-selling debut album Diary, followed in 2009 by her second studio effort Emotions and the chart-topping compilation Love!: Thelma Love Song Collection. In the subsequent years, she solidified her status as one of Japan’s most vibrant and innovative R&B artists with albums like Will (2011), Lonely Angel (2014), 10th Diary (2017), and High School Gal (2018). Preceded by the single “Stay with Me,” which peaked at Number 86 on Billboard Japan’s Top 100, her seventh full-length Scorpion Moon arrived in 2021.
