PORTLAND -- The line-up for Sunday's "From Oregon with Love" fundraiser at the Aladdin Theater keeps getting more impressive. National acts from Portland, like Pink Martini and Storm Large, are now being joined by one of Japan's most legendary singers.
Saori Yuki knows how to make an entrance, and several Japanese Americans were brought to tears just by the shock of seeing her in person in Portland.
Pink Martini pianist Thomas Lauderdale performed one of Yuki's songs on one of the band's albums; he invited her to perform at an Oregon fundraiser for relief efforts in Japan.
"I was just floored that she volunteered to come over here to help," Lauderdale said.
Yuki and Lauderdale visited Hazelbrook Middle School in Tualatin to practice with a Japanese student choir, which will be performing with the stars at Sunday's fundraiser.
Yuki has recorded about 50 albums in her 42-year career and has starred in countless movies and television shows. Her graceful, yet powerful voice filled the practice room, thrilling everyone there.
"You know I think she's so beloved in Japan that singing with her would be like going to the Vatican with the Virgin Mary," said Lauderdale as he smiled from his piano seat.
There will be two shows at the Aladdin Theater Sunday. Both shows were sold out. A similar concert for Earthquake victims in Haiti last year raised more than $162,000 for Mercy Corp.
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