Saori Minami was born in Okinawa, Japan on July 2, 1954 to Okinawan parents. She became a singer in Japan when she made a hit song "Seventeen Year Old". For years, she has denied her fact that she was born in Okinawa due to Japanese discrimination presented against ethnic Okinawans. Not only did she hide her birth place, she hid the fact that her stepfather is a Filipino engineer who lived in Okinawa.

She later married photographer Kishin Shinoyama

Kishin Shinoyama

is a Japanese photographer.Shinoyama graduated from Nihon University. He worked with the Light Publicity agency while still a student, and freelanced after graduation....

and their son is actor Akinobu Shinoyama.

Singles

#	Title	Release Date/Chart Position
1	Debut single and biggest hit	1971-06-01 (#2)
2		1971-10-01 (#7)
3		1972-02-01 (#7)
4		1972-06-01 (#3)
5		1972-09-21 (#3)
6		1973-01-23 (#11)
7		1973-05-01 (#3)
8	'	1973-07-05 (#77)
9		1973-08-21 (#4)
10		1973-12-05 (#8)
11		1974-03-21 (#15)
12		1974-06-21 (#16)
13		1974-09-21 (#17)
14		1974-12-21 (#23)
15		1975-04-21 (#19)
16		1975-08-01 (#8)
17		1975-11-21 (#27)
18		1976-03-01 (#29)
19		1976-05-31 (#44)
20		1976-09-1 (#20)
21		1976-11-21 (#45)
22		1977-03-01 (#45)
23		1977-07-21 (#36)
24		1977-11-21 (#63)
25		1978-01-21 (#25)
26		1978-04-21 (#74)
27

}||align="right"|1978-08-21 (#80)
|-
|28||align="left"|||align="right"|1978-10-21 (#-)
|}

Studio albums

#	Title	Release Date/Chart Position
1

}
Debut album||align="right"|1971-10-01 (#8)
|-
|2||align="left"|||align="right"|1971-12-05 (#10)
|-
|3||align="left"|||align="right"|1972-06-21 (#2)
|-
|4||align="left"|||align="right"|1972-09-21 (#4)
|-
|5||align="left"|
||align="right"|1972-12-21 (#18)
|-
|6||align="left"|||align="right"|1973-05-21 (#9)
|-
|7||align="left"|||align="right"|1973-09-21 (#5)
|-
|8||align="left"|'||align="right"|1974-02-21 (#6)
|-
|9||align="left"|
||align="right"|1974-07-21 (#7)
|-
|10||align="left"|||align="right"|1974-12-10 (#19)
|-
|11||align="left"|||align="right"|1975-06-21 (#28)
|-
|12||align="left"|||align="right"|1975-12-05 (#19)
|-
|13||align="left"|
||align="right"|1976-04-21 (#20)
|-
|14||align="left"|||align="right"|1976-09-21 (#19)
|-
|15||align="left"|
||align="right"|1976-12-21 (#39)
|-
|16||align="left"|||align="right"|1977-04-01 (#42)
|-
|17||align="left"|||align="right"|1977-08-21 (#29)
|-
|18||align="left"|||align="right"|1978-06-01 (#39)
|-
|19||align="left"|||align="right"|1978-10-01 (#37)
|}

EP's

#	Title	Release Date
1

}
||align="right"|1975-11-21
|}

Live albums

#	Title	Release Date/Chart Position
1

}
First live album||align="right"|1974-09-01 (#5)
|-
|2||align="left"|||align="right"|1977-12-05 (#74)
|-
|3||align="left"|
Goodbye concert||align="right"|1978-12-05 (#-)
|}

Greatest hits

#	Title	Release Date/Chart Position
1

}
First best of album||align="right"|1975-02-21 (#40)
|-
|2||align="left"|||align="right"|1983-11-05 (#-)
|-
|3||align="left"|||align="right"|1986-05-21 (#-)
|-
|4||align="left"|||align="right"|1992-02-21 (#-)
|-
|5||align="left"|
||align="right"|1996-06-21 (#-)
|-
|6||align="left"|||align="right"|1998-11-21 (#-)
|-
|7||align="left"|||align="right"|2001-10-11 (#-)
|-
|8||align="left"|'||align="right"|2001-10-11 (#-)
|-
|9||align="left"|
||align="right"|2002-06-19 (#-)
|-
|10||align="left"|||align="right"|2003-11-19 (#-)
|-
|11||align="left"|||align="right"|2006-07-21 (#-)
|-
|12||align="left"|||align="right"|2006-09-21 (#-)
|}

External links

• Minami Saori's Fan Site
• Minami Saori's Official Web Site