Keiko Matsui was born in Tokyo as Keiko Doi on July 26, 1961, is a Japanese smooth jazz/new age pianist and composer whose career spans three decades, during which time she has released twenty CDs (in addition to various compilations) and has received international acclaim.

Keiko and her husband Kazu Matsui (b. June 5, 1954) have two daughters, Maya (b. ca. 1988) and Mako (b. Sep 12, 1995). At age 19, Yamaha sent Doi to America to record an album, and there she met Kazu Matsui, who had been selected as a producer for the project. They married, and Keiko relocated from Japan to America. Kazu Matsui would produce all of his wife's future albums.

In 1987 Matsui recorded her solo debut LP A Drop of Water using money from her honeymoon. The album's title, the name of a song by Carl Anderson, was in memory of those who had died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster the year before. Its success led to a record deal with MCA Records.

Matsui's music shows signs of evolving over the years. Her American debut album A Drop of Water showed a promise of east meets west with a jazz fusion flavor. However, her recordings for MCA Records in the early 1990s lacked this appeal and, for many, sounded indistinguishable from the rest of what is now known as smooth jazz.

Starting with Cherry Blossom, though, her music increased in popularity as she differentiated herself from the rest of contemporary jazz. By the time Sapphire was released in 1995, her music flirted with everything from funk music to Latin and world music.