Hiyoro Okuda is a Japanese cellist widely known as the wife of American guitarist Marty Friedman. A cellist is someone who plays a musical instrument called the cello. Hiyoro’s husband, Marty Friedman, who has been living in Japan since 2003, despite being an American, is widely known for having thirteen solo albums and solo tours.
Unlike most celebrities, Marty has not been involved in numerous romantic scandals. The only woman he is known to be involved with is Hiyoro Okuda, his current wife, to whom he has been married for eleven years.
Who is Hiyoro Okuda?
Hiyoro Okuda was born in an undisclosed location in Japan, in 1971, according to Encyclopaedia Metallum. As of 2023, she is 52 years old. She is a Japanese citizen and belongs to the Yamato ethnicity. Information on the musician’s parents has yet to be disclosed. Despite being a musician and the spouse of a celebrity, Hiyoro still lives a low-profile life away from the media.
In terms of career, Hiyoro is known to be a musician who does traditional Japanese music. She combines singing with the playing of the cello. Though she started singing and playing the cello early, her professional career started in 2004 when she first joined a label called Square Enix. On the label, she performed with the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra at the Tokyo International Forum.
In 2010, Hiyoro Okuda released her first album titled Eufonius. The album was released under the record label King Records. The album is a compilation of rock, pop, and classical music. She was featured on her husband’s album, Inferno, in 2014.
Hiyoro Okuda has been married to Marty Friedman for eleven years
The marriage between Hiyoro and her husband, Marty Friedman, has been low-key to the extent that it looks like they are not even married. The couple met when Marty, who moved to Japan from the United States of America in 2003, first moved to Japan. The situation under which they met is yet to be revealed.
Hiyoro Okuda and Marty Friedman dated long before they finally tied the knot. According to The Sentinel Newspaper, the couple started dating in 2009. As per Marty Friedman’s Wikipedia profile, he got married to Hiyoro in December 2012. The wedding ceremony took place in Yokohama, the second-largest city in Japan, with a population of over 3.8 million people. The relationship between the two musicians, which has lasted for over a decade, has not produced any children.
Since Hiyoro loves to keep her personal life private, there is no information on whether she had other relationships before marrying Marty. On the other hand, her husband had been once and divorced once. His first marriage was to Chihiro Friedman. The marriage between Marty and Chihiro lasted for only four months. Like most celebrity divorces, the reason for divorce has not been revealed yet.
Hiyoro Okuda’s husband, Marty Friedman, has been living in Japan since 2003
Hiyoro’s husband, Marty, who was born on December 8, 1962, and is 60 years old, moved from his home country, the United States of America, to Japan in 2003 and has been living there to date. He lives and records music in the island country of East Asia.
In an interview with Greg Prato, Marty disclosed that he had always wanted to do Japanese music, and the only way to do that was to live in the country and immerse himself in the culture.
He said: “It was the music. I wanted to make Japanese music, and the only way to do that was to be here and be completely immersed in it. When I came here, I got very lucky and joined the band of one of my favorite Japanese singers, Aikawa Nanase. So, I was doing exactly what I wanted to do as soon as I got here — six or eight months or something.”
Marty Friedman was born in Washington, D.C., to a middle-income family. After attending a concert of the New York-formed rock band, KISS, he developed an interest in playing the guitar. He largely taught himself the musical instrument and later formed a band that played covers of original songs.
According to his Wikipedia profile, he used his band to better his guitar skills and played for some popular musicians of those days. He released his first solo album in August 1988, Dragon’s Kiss.
After his debut album, Marty has been active in his career as a solo artist and a band guitarist. Since his move to Japan, he has worked with various Japanese musicians.