She studied children’s culture at Japan Women’s University (日本女子大学, nihon joshidaigaku), then studied at the Yamaha Music Foundation. She started the band Cosmos, which recorded four albums. She recorded her debut solo album, A Drop of Water (Passport, 1987), with her husband Kazu Matsui. She signed with MCA and released the albums No Borders and Under Northern Lights. In 1992 she signed with White Cat. Sapphire (1995) reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Contemporary Jazz chart.

Her 1997 mini-CD A Gift of Hope went to support the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization, and her music appeared in a Lifetime channel special about breast cancer. She performed at an ice skating event in 1997 to support the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Proceeds from A Gift of Life went to the National Marrow Donor Program and the Marrow Foundation to help Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches, which promotes the registration of people of ethnic minorities as marrow donors to improve their chances of finding a matching donor. Royalties from her album Wildflower supported the United Nations World Food Programme. She performed at the United Nations Headquarters building in New York City on December 17, 2003, to benefit the program.