Born in Suita, Osaka on February 1, 1968, nimble-fingered guitarist Kotaro Oshio is famed for his work on the steel-string guitar, celebrated for his use of techniques such as tapping, fingerpicking, and his own "nail attack" style of strumming – inspired by American guitarist Michael Hedges – in which he slaps the strings with the nails of his middle and ring fingers. Beginning his career in 1999 with his self-titled debut album, he reached a wider audience with his second independently released LP, Love Strings, in 2001. The following year he secured a major label deal with Toshiba EMI and issued his third album Starting Point, developing an association to new age music while also jamming at the Montreux Jazz Festival with the legendary B.B. King. In 2003, he received the Osaka City Sakuya Konohana Award and released his third album Dramatic, before going on to amass a prolific number of records over the next two decades, including live album BOLERO! Be Happy Live in 2004, two best-ofs – Blue sky〜Kotaro Oshio Best Album〜 (2006) and 10th Anniversary Best (2012) – and 2020's Passenger. In 2022, he marked his 20th anniversary with new album 20th Anniversary "My Guitar, My Life".
