Vocalist and composer, Ryutaro Makino, was born in the beachside town of Kamakura, Japan on November 19, 1979. As a child, Ryu originally trained as an actor. In his pursuit to learn more about acting, Ryu decided to move overseas, landing in places such as Gainesville, Florida and Victoria, Canada. He eventually moved to New York City for college to study acting full-time.

But acting never felt quite right to Ryu. It was music, not acting, that constantly tugged at his heart. Ryu decided to switch his studies and finished his last few years in NYC studying music. He then went back home to Japan to help out his parent’s business – a jazz live house in his hometown.

That’s where Ryu met Jazz, and Jazz met Ryu.

While working at the live house, Ryu met and sang with incredible jazz musicians from all over the world. It was in this environment that borne Ryu, the jazz vocalist. In 2008, at the tender age of 28, Ryu made his jazz vocal debut with the release of his first solo album, “R.M.” He was one of Swing Journal’s nominations for “Best Japanese Male Jazz Vocalist.”

For the past years, Ryutaro has been continually pushing the jazz genre, composing and performing songs all around Japan influenced by Pop, R&B and even House music. During this time, he has also experienced many emotions in life -- crushes, heartbreaks, longings. It is with these ardent feelings that have inspired him to release his second album, “Kind of Love”, set to launch in September 2012.